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Book: “Mooncursed” by Holly Renee
Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, November 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publihser!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: A cursed sea king, a stolen bride, and a fate meant for another.
They say madness dwells in the ocean’s depths…and in the eyes of the Drowned King. Cursed to take a human bride and break her mind the moment she sees his face, the Drowned King spends his life in torment, watching. Waiting.
Lou was never meant to be chosen. Branded from birth as a saltwitch, she has always been seen as the cursed shadow of her moonblessed twin. Now, veiled and bound in marriage to a man she must never see, she’s thrust into a life of ancient gods and unraveling fate…and unspeakable desire.
Yet even as fear becomes tangled with a perilous longing for the Drowned King’s heated touch, the truth of her choosing looms over her like a siren’s song. It rages louder with every breath she takes as whispers travel through the rumblings of war, of ancient goddesses awakening, of a queen with saltwater on her lips who will change everything.
Review: I’m not too proud to admit that I was definitely drawn in by the cover art on this one. I’m fairly picky about characters on covers, but something about the composition of this one seems to work for me. I’ll also admit that based on the title, I was perhaps under the impression that this was a werewolf story of some sort. Oops! That said, while I had a mixed experience with this book, I did enjoy the main fantasy setup and the ocean magic that was central to it all.
On that note, let’s start with what I did like. Once I settled into the type of fantasy story that was on offer, I did enjoy the general setup. The first chapter, especially, was lovely, detailing the conflict between gods that led to the current challenges faced by humanity. This is kind of an aside, but there does seem to be this odd trend where the sort of introductory chapter we get at the start of a novel is written in the lovely style of prose that feels very fairytale-like. But then, when the story switches to the main text, the style switches to a much more simplistic (and less interesting) style. I always find it to be quite disappointing, as if the author has pulled some sort of bait and switch on me stylistically.
That aside, though, I did enjoy the magic of this world. Not only was this background history interesting, but when the story gave itself time to breathe and focus in on the ocean, the threat of madness, and all of the rest, I really enjoyed how it was all woven together. That said, I don’t feel like enough time was really given to this portion of the plot.
Indeed, I’m not sure I can say that enough time was given to almost any portion of the plot, which is kind of a novel problem to have! Typically, a book overplays one side of things and underplays another, but here, the story seemed to get trapped in a cycle of events that repeated over and over again. And this cycle diligently ate up the page count without ever offering anything new, either to characterization, the story, or to the developing romance.
To the first point, basic facts seemed to be missing. I read an ARC, so maybe this will be added later or I could have missed it completely, but I don’t believe we are ever told the ages of our main characters. Of course, exact ages aren’t a requirement, but I wasn’t even sure what ballpark I was supposed to be operating within. Are these upper teens, like 18–20-year-old new adults? Late twenties? What?
The story also felt very repetitive. This cycle of events did include action, but as it was so often the same conflict and resolution, ultimately, the repetition of these scenes didn’t do anything to advance the overall story. I never came out of one of these scenes feeling like anything new had really been added to the equation.
And the romance struggled in much the same way. By the time these two came together, I think they had had maybe three or four scenes/interactions together. Total. And many of these interactions also felt very cyclical, with similar emotional beats being trodden in each repeated scene. So when the romantic climax comes, it in no way feels earned or like the characters would have had any time to develop these deeper feelings that are now being alluded to.
Overall, there was potential here. The writing was fairly solid throughout, and I think the general setup had a lot of potential. However, something didn’t work with the way things were pieced together. It feels suspiciously like the author had a good world idea and some general characters in mind, but then simply didn’t have enough of a plot to tie it all together into an actual story. All of this said, if you enjoy ocean magic and a familiar-feeling romance, this might still be worth checking out. I just wish there had been a bit more to it.
Rating 7: The vibes are strong, but the actual plot was a bit thin on the ground.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Mooncursed” can be found on these Goodreads lists: romantasy books that have to do with the oceans and starry night romantasy.
