The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea

Margrete has an abusive and violent father who controls her life. In one of her moments of desperation, she asks for help to the god of the sea. Why does he answer?

What I enjoyed:
- The plot felt original and I particularly liked the story of the gods and its connection with Margret and Azantia.
- The characters were likable and diverse and I hope to see them work as a team in the next novels. They were not too powerful witch limits the “mary and gary sue” potencial.
- I liked how Margret was able to find herself and the strength to keep fighting for freedom.
- Bash kept his people as priority instead of changing all his plans for Margret. This is not very romantic, and may hint something for the next books. However, I think it's the natural thing considering his position and responsibility towards his kingdom.
- The epilogue was great and let me very curious for the next book.

What I think it could have been done better:
- Being tortured while growing up, particularly with an Iron Maiden, I was expecting Margret to be a more troubled and scarred character. She felt more like a secluded girl than a torture victim. While we are able to see Margret grow and reach her potencial, it didn't feel like the victory it should be. I think this was also a missed opportunity to confer a greater depth to the story.
- We get some introductory bits of the worldbuilding but we never go into too deep. We don't know how Azantians are different from humans except from the aging and healing. Why would they be a myth? Just because of the sea monsters? Why does Bash hate humans? Is it just because of Margret father? How is Azantian culture and politics? This is common issue in romantic fantasy books but I think this story has potencial to be a bit more.
- Margret questions very little of Azantian life (and everything else in reality). Again, it feels like a missed opportunity to build the world. Why wouldn't she question the Bash's moving tattoos? And the voices in the stairs? Especially if she thinks Bash hears them. I hope the next book will clarify and correct these issues. The lack of questions also made me feel their relationship is mostly physical and that it resembles more Stockholm syndrome than romance.
- Margret's escape in the end felt too easy and her father villainy didn't live to the expectations. I would have liked to see a greater confrontation between the two.

Overall I think this was a great debut and I had fun reading it.
I was convinced this could have been a standalone but the epilogue let me intrigued with the series.
I recommend this book for fans of the bridge kingdom and Sarah H. Mass (while keeping in mind that is a debut novel).