The Assassin's Curse (The Assassin's Curse #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke--Starting August 15th, 2022

[Dr. Andy]

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

[cynthia]

chapter 1
(view spoiler)[going in i knew this was going to be fast paced but oh my god 😭 i feel like i'm starting a show from the second season and watching it on 2x speed
also ananna is annoying in my opinion. might just be me but she sounds stupid (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

cynthia wrote: [Spoilers removed]

(view spoiler)[Yes, it's so fast-paced. Action from the first minute and barely no world-building so far. (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[I think the worldbuilding is very interesting, I would love to see a litte more from it. Where do the assassins come from? Where do they learn what they can do? How much magic contains this world?

So far, I like Naji, he seems like a decent character. Ananna, however, still annoys me. (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Chapter 10 (view spoiler)[I'm glad they're leaving Leila now, just like Ananna, I don't trust her. And she seems to toy with Naji.

I hope we get to see more of Ananna using magic, that was really interesting. (hide spoiler)]

[cynthia]

Ta || bookishbluehead wrote: [spoilers removed]

completely agree with everything you said!!

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

Chapter 12 (view spoiler)[Just have to say how much I love that she's so enthusiastic about learning and that she always thinks about how Naji might feel, even if doesn't consider himself that important. (hide spoiler)]

[Ta || bookishbluehead]

The End (view spoiler)[What??? Why is it ending like this? It's right in the middle of the story!!! I forgot about that...

Final thoughts: I enjoyed reading it. Ananna has grown on me and I liked Naji from the start. I think the romance is cute and I suspect Naji liking Ananna more than he lets on, because he thinks she could never like him with his scars. (hide spoiler)]

I'm done! I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this and I'd love to continue this series, if you're up fot it. :)