Book excerpt: No man may touch Zaria. Not even her own father. Envy of the other girls, Zaria was born for the sea. Nobody questions her fate as the chosen braenese to marry Keroe, God of the Sea -- least of all her. And even if she did, she has no choice. When Zaria's wedding day finally arrives, she'll become the only islander of her generation permitted to cross into the God Sea. There's nothing more she could possibly want. Until a curious boy washes up on her palm-fringed paradise and Zaria defies sacred law to hide the unconscious stranger. There are only two possibilities with his strange (and strangely handsome) face: he's either a village anomaly or the Sea God himself, in disguise. The alluring boy-creature couldn't have come from anywhere else, because there is no other land in all the ocean. But when the scoundrel awakens, he has the gall to ambush Zaria. As three pageants leading up to her wedding turn unexpectedly deadly, and the enigma of its true purpose looms, Zaria is torn between her long-desired fate as Sea Queen and the infuriating boy who tells her that everything her people know is a lie. ******** Please be advised: In this dystopian series the protagonist grows in a manner similar to characters such as Sansa Stark. She begins as sheltered/ and does not become a strategist until Book II when the story darkens and matures. There is no spice/adult content until Book III. Book I is Mid-Range YA. Book II is Dark/Mature YA better suited to older teen readers. Book III is New Adult and contains mature content. **Winner of Independent Book Review's "The Best Books We Read This Year (2021)"**