Oathbound (The Royal Rose Chronicles #1)

Eighteen-year-old Emme, who has olive skin, has avoided the sea ever since the death of her infamous pirate mother, but she’s dying from a rare disease, and her sole hope rests in a substance found only on a distant island. When her friend Arn, 21, the white captain of a pirate ship fallen upon hard times, asks her to join him on a journey to claim the treasure left behind by another pirate on that same island, Emme and her estranged brother Emric join up. But the voyage is long and arduous, filled with danger at every port and no certainty of success once they arrive. As they battle kidnappers, ghosts, and sea monsters, Emme and Arn face their long-buried feelings for each other, but their respective secrets may tear them apart. In this nautical fantasy, a trilogy opener, McCombs (Heir of Roses) keeps the stakes high, maintaining a melodramatic dynamic between the protagonists that emphasizes their youth and relative inexperience against more seasoned enemies, and tracing Emme’s progressive weakness alongside the face of a threat of mutiny. Characters cue as white. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)