A review by ladyazulina
Tied to the Waves by Vee Debras

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As part of Vee Debras’ ARC team, I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit: I’m not part of their right audience. In fact, I even decided, before taking on this ARC, to only read low steam / clean romance books, but I have been following Vee for a while on their newsletter and I was curious about their writing. I felt, with this book, the time had come and I could put aside my boundaries temporarily to know if I liked their writing as well as I liked their newsletter’s words.

And I did.

Fortunately, none of the many spicy scenes triggered me, so I enjoyed it more than I thought.

Until a certain point, I liked and related to Ness a lot. Even though they were trying to keep a wall between them and everybody else, I adored their dynamic with June and Dusk. The way they just could not help Echo and make sure he was alright, even if they wanted nothing to do with Brimrey anymore.

Echo wasn’t my favorite character but I liked him a lot, mostly ‘cause he reminded me of my partner more than I would like to admit. Much, very pretty much more than I would like to admit. Embarrassingly much.

The cozy feelings I got from the friends, Ness’ found family, is pretty much what I’m pointing at at this stage of my life. June is The Friend™️ we all need, but my favorite above everyone is Dusk. I couldn’t fathom, maybe because I haven’t had or experienced that kind of friendship before, how he and Ness got to that point, of trust and camaraderie, of chaos and confidence. I didn’t have enough of their interactions, though June instilled into the book everything I needed to heal what this book didn’t break.

Apart from all the (hot 🥵) wet scenes (pun intended), I had a good time with this book. I’m currently trying to settle down in a place where my found family can be within reach, to heal, be at peace, grow, and even maybe fly, so reading about Ness, everything they went through, and how in the end they were able to find what they didn’t think they needed, helped me believe that maybe I will be able to do the same as well.