Reading with teafortiffany

Hi friends!!

I am so sorry I was missing last weekend. I hope that you’ll forgive me but I just recently adopted a dog and he’s taken up basically all my time. But he’s adorable. I love him. His name is Rex and yes, I will be dressing him up like a T-Rex for halloween.

Outside of that! I recently signed up for NetGalley in an attempt to add ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) books to my review rotation. I’d like to occasionally read an ARC instead of something that I own as a way to explore authors I haven’t heard of or (if I’m lucky) get to read a book from someone I love a bit early! Either way, I just thought it would be nice to read an ARC every so often and do a review. That is where this book came from and the topic of my review today.

Thank you Alcove Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Anyways! On to the review!

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Synopsis from Goodreads

This stunning historical fantasy debut is steeped in the salt and superstition of the Cornish coast, full of forgotten sirens, mischievous sea gods, and the lore from days long since passed. Perfect for readers of Circe and The Bear and the Nightingale.

The people of Portscatho are bound to traditions and to the sea, living side by side with the spirits, gods, and monsters that inhabit the rollicking waters. When Kensa and her half-sister come across a dying sea beast on the Cornish shore, Kensa is quick to claim credit for the discovery, and in doing so steals the glory and her sister’s position as apprentice to the local wise woman. It seems an appropriate station for Kensa, who has always existed out of step with the others in the village.

Yet to be a wise woman is to be alone—unmarried, childless, relied upon and lusted after yet never truly wanted. Kensa’s only real company is her mentor, the wise woman Isolde.

But Isolde won’t live forever, and when she falls ill, Kensa will do anything to save her and retain her newfound elevation within the community. Even if that means having to seek help from the Bucka, a terrifying and unfathomable sea god who guards the tides around Portscatho. In doing so, she’ll risk her life, her family, and everything she’s sworn to protect.

Beautifully written, expertly crafted, and full of engaging and compelling Cornish mythology, A Spell for Drowning tackles the expectations and limitations put on women by society, what it means to be feared and needed at the same time, and how the desire for acceptance can either save or destroy us.

• Author: Rebecca Ferrier
• Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Historical Fiction, Mythology
• Spice: None
• Trigger Warnings: No Trigger Warnings
• Pages: 304 (subject to change)
• Publishing: Jan 27 2026
• Publisher: Alcove Press
• Series: Not a series that I am aware
• Goodreads Rating: 3.89
• StoryGraph Rating: 3.71

Alright, so lets get into it.

I had a fairly good interest in this story. The synopsis of the book captured my attention and the book cover was honestly just fantastic. I don’t know anything about Cornish mythology and I do wonder if that would have changed my opinion of this book at all, but I find any kind of mythology that isn’t Greek mythology interesting at this point (there have just been so many Greek mythology retellings recently that I’m a bit burned out.)

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. There was this sort of grey-scale vibe for it in my imagination. I got the feeling of a somber and cold space, something like a cloudy, cold, and rainy day. It was a bit of a comfort for me as well because I grew up in a lobstering community so I felt like these were people that I have met (even though this is definitely not set in a modern type of time). While this is a fishing community set in Cornwall, it’s hard not to insert what you know into a novel and I felt like this was a community I knew and could relate to.

I didn’t love any of the characters in particular but I appreciated the struggles and thought processes of our main character. While I didn’t necessarily agree with what she decided to do most of the time, I still sympathized with her. I felt like the author did a good job describing why her thoughts and actions led her to make the choices she did. Did I agree? No, but I’m not the main character of this novel. I don’t have to agree. As a reader, my job is to try and understand their thoughts and potential justifications and when an author doesn’t provide those, it makes it much more difficult for the reader to accept or even acknowledge. Thankfully, this author provided that information for us, which is something I greatly appreciate as a reader.

For me, the largest issue I had with this book was in the pacing. It felt like it was taking so long for a book that’s only 300 pages long. We go through many phases of the main character’s life from childhood to adulthood. Sometimes, I wondered why I needed to stop at that particular age. I was trying to understand the significance of that time and in some cases, I didn’t really come up with an answer. There were also times when it felt like I couldn’t figure out where we were in the timeline of the story. For instance, a character left for a period of time and then suddenly she was back. At first I thought I was reading a flashback type of moment but then it seemed like it might have been after they had already returned. Maybe I missed something as a reader, but this did happen to me a few times and it threw me out of the novel.

I think this author has promise. If I remember correctly, this is their debut novel and I saw a lot that I liked, but the pacing issues and the jarring disconnect I sometimes felt with the order of events means that I cannot give this as high a rating as I would have liked. I love the vibe and I could be tempted to read the physical version again when it is published. I definitely will keep my eye out for more from this author and hope she has great success. In the end, I decided to give this book a 3/5.

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