A Bone in His Teeth

A sailor and his siren

If I was only rating the relationship, it would be higher and could even have been a highlight, but the slow pacing, especially in the beginning, was kinda exhausting. Also, the way the mysteries were solved felt a bit weird at times. Still, all in all, a nice book with a great monster romance and trans (man), as well as chronic pain representation ❤️ We follow the story of Alba Marsh, a sailor having to work for the evil sailing company Warren, just like his dad, who left him and his mother his debt with them when he died. When Alba has an accident that leaves him with pain in his hip and he comes back home, he finds his mother gone, but not without sending him notice where to follow her. Her trace leads to Moon harbor, where Alba gets a job as a wickie tending the lighthouse, continuing his search while hearing a lot about creatures lurking in the sea... So, it starts with the search for his mother, and he obviously later meets a merman, with whom a love story transpires. I liked how their bond slowly formed and they took care of each other ❤️ But the general slow pacing of the story unfolding was too slow. The first 80 pages were just the setup, and only when the merman finally appeared was I more interested in the story. The book was just too long, some descriptions too drawn out or often repeated (though the writing style itself was nice). What happened in the town was pretty obvious at some point. Just the mystery about the mother was a bit more tricky. The highlight really was their relationship. Eridanys (the merman, or merrow, how they are called here) had somewhat of a tsundere personality sometimes, not wanting to admit he cared for Alba 🤭 But care he did. He might have eaten a few humans, but that doesn't mean he can't take care of one 🤷🏻‍♂️😂 I love monster romances, and this didn't disappoint. I liked how often he was in his merrow form (which btw looks more like a sea snake with a really long tail), also in the spicy scenes 🤭 Yes, there is some great merman smut here (even with a little surprise down there 👀) ✨️ I also think this was the first spicy book with a trans character I've read, and I loved how the representation was handled (generally and in those scenes). Their banter was also great, but I mostly enjoyed them feeling safe with each other. One of my favorite scenes was the one in the merrow baths 💙 I also liked the end, though a few things felt a bit weird. Still, all in all, a good book that just could have been better. Maybe the other ones from this author will be. I already have the first 3 volumes of the Rowen Blood series 👀

Ich liebe die Welten, in die Kellen Graves uns jedes Mal entführt und auch die Charaktere, die wir kennenlernen dürfen. Auch hier habe ich die gezeichnete Gesellschaft und Umwelt genossen; konnte durch Graves wundervollen (gerne auch etwas düsteren) Schreibstil die Welt förmlich riechen und hören. Wie auch bei den Vorgängern handelt es sich bei „A Bone in His Teeth“ um ein wundervolles und irgendwie schwermütiges Buch, welches Strukturen der Unterdrückung und Ausbeutung darstellt. Die Geschichte selbst mochte ich, aber irgendwie, ich weiß auch nicht, habe ich mehr erwartet? Oder etwas leicht anderes? Ich kann es gar nicht beschreiben – vielleicht habe ich es mir einfach noch ein wenig düsterer vorgestellt. Weniger Romantasy-esk. Ich kann es gar nicht genau sagen und dies heißt auch nicht, dass das Buch schlecht war. Ich mochte es wirklich gern, gehe aber eben mit einem leicht unbefriedigten Gefühl aus dem Buch raus. Die Behandlung der Trans-Thematik und wie dies in diesem Universum umgesetzt wurde, fand ich unglaublich spannend. An sich hätte ich gern mehr darüber erfahren, aber irgendwie mag ich es auch, dass wir gar nicht so viele Erklärungen bekommen haben. Magie ist und bleibt halt Magie. Ach ja, die Sex-Szenen waren übrigens wirklich toll und ich habe es genossen, wie auch dort auf körperliche Einschränkungen von Charakteren eingegangen wurde. Ein tolles Buch, auch wenn ich irgendwie nicht ganz weiß, wo ich jetzt damit bleibe.

Sehr gut geschrieben

Ich mochte das Worldbuilding und Mythen dieser Welt und die düstere bedrohliche Grundstimmung. Bonus: Ich liebs, wenn Meermänner/frauen blutrünstig sind