A Kiss of Salt & Sea

Darkstone Academy, Book 1

By: Bliss Devlin

Narrated by: Beth Roeg, Hugo Locke

When my evil stepfather sold me into slavery, I thought things couldn't get any worse. Then they send me to Darkstone Academy, a reform school for psycho mages.
The human students here are the rejects from other academies, out-of-control young mages. And then there are the supernaturals. They hate humans and aren't shy about showing it.
Danger shadows my every step—until I find myself unexpectedly soul-bonded to four powerful men: Tama, a possessive and deadly Merfolk prince; Boreas, a loyal and fiery dragon lord; Gwydion, a seductive, cursed Dark Fae prince; and Ilhan, a noble mage lord whose honor is both his strength and his burden.
As students and supernaturals begin dying all around us, I'm plunged into a vortex of murder and political intrigue. Are my new protectors the solution to the problem... or the cause?

©2023 Bliss Devlin (P)2025 Bliss Devlin

amazing story

BRUV. I can't tell you how much this book drew me in. obsessed. the female narrator does this weird inflection, you get used to it but Def listen to the sample before buying. if you can't handle it. then read it. it is WORTH it.

Loved it

A great story. I really liked the characters and their stories. The narration was great too, can't wait for book 2.

Seems to be an interesting twist on a Cinderella

I have started to listen to these books and have found myself fascinated by the story. I have always enjoyed fairy tale retellings and the synopsis of the book led me to believe it had the making of a Cinderella type story. However the author has built a much more complex world for this series and I cannot wait for her to finish the series.

Jacinthe is the main character, She is living with her step-father while her mother and half sisters are heading to the Imperial Academy to enroll. She was told she has no magic which is why she has not enrolled into an academy herself. They were told that her mother's ship was lost at sea with no survivors, and not even a week later, her step-father is now engaged to her mothers rival. The new family treat her little better that a servant until the day that her step-father tries to sell her into indentured servitude. He lied to the officials and wound up having to pay a steep fine, yet Jacinthe still became a servant heading off to Darkstone Academy. At least there she hopes they will treat her better that her step family did.

Upon boarding the ship she gets put in charge of the younger children who are also indentured to Darkstone. She also winds up befriending a Merfolk Lord against the advise of the ship captain. Arriving at the Academy it seems rumors abound about her friendship with the merfolk lord and she begins to feel ostracized by every but the children who arrived on the boat with them and the other "Monsters" that are being held as political prisoners'.

I don't want to go into more detail than that without giving away too many spoilers of the book but I would definitely give this a listen to.

awesome

excited to start the next book. definitely trying to figure out what she is and what all is happening