The Wicked Bargain

On Mar León-de la Rosa's 16th birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice. But their magic isn't enough to reverse a wicked bargain made by their father, and now el Diablo has come to collect his payment: the soul of Mar's father and the entire crew of their ship.

When Mar is miraculously rescued by the sole remaining pirate crew in the Caribbean, el Diablo returns to give them a choice: give up their soul to save their father by the Harvest Moon or never see him again. The task is impossible–Mar refuses to make a bargain, and there's no way their magic is any match for el Diablo. Then, Mar finds the most unlikely allies: Bas, an infuriatingly arrogant and handsome pirate – and the captain's son; and Dami, a genderfluid demonio whose motives are never quite clear. For the first time in their life, Mar may have the courage to use their magic. It could be their only redemption – or it could mean certain death.

The MC is Mar, a transmasculine non-binary pirate who is a crew member on their father's pirate ship. I enjoyed that there was no transphobia or homophobia in the book, and Mar was treated with dignity throughout the book. The writing was amazing, and once I started reading, I tore through the book in a couple of days. Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, and I rated it 5 stars.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Turn the Page Tours for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a good story! Took me about 5 chapters to get into, but then I didn't want to stop. There is a romance, but it is suuuuuper lowkey and way in the background.

Highly recommend and I'm looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.