Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Lyle, a merman, and Ben, his human, work together in a seaside ice-cream parlour and their life together is bliss. Or would be, if not for Ben's constant worries about career and money, and Lyle's dark past—a myriad of secrets, lies, wild magic, and foul deeds, which now threaten to catch up with him.

When Lyle's merfolk family accuse him of murder, Ben and Lyle's bond is stretched to the limit. Not only does Lyle seem unsuited to Ben's dreams of domestic happiness, hismagical powers are spinning dangerously out of control. Even Lyle isn't entirely sure he's innocent.

With Ben dragged deep into the enchanted processes of merfolk justice, escaping with his life—and getting home to an important job interview—is just the start of the challenge. Uncovering Lyle's inner truths without destroying their love could be a step too far…

Lyle's Story is the second in Kay Berrisford's Landlocked Heart series and I think it succeeds far better than the original story.  I liked so much about Lyle's Story, especially in comparison to The Lonely Merman (Landlocked Heart, #1) which I liked but had issues with the format and ending.

Lyle's Story is straightford lovely storytelling.  All the gaps and narrative whopping holes from the first story are filled in beautifully here, the characters and their relationship show real growth, and I just loved some of the elements (mysteries) that the author added into the overall series arc.

Ben and Lyle's relationship is still in its formative stage and they are adjusting to each other and their hopes for the future.  It's charming and oddly realistic considering one is a merman.  Lyle's nature is not that of a human, Ben is human...there's fins, magic, and much more to deal with, including Lyle's past that he hasn't been entirely truthful to Ben about.

I loved how Berrisford folds practicality and magic, myth and the mundane all together and it works.  This new addition to the series has me totally charmed and now I can't wait to read the next installment.  The Landlocked Heart has captured mine.  If you are a lover of merman, romance and HEA, perhaps this is just the series and stories for you.

Cover art by J. Ang is simple and brands the series.

Nice little romance about two men and one happens to be a merman.
Light, easy, ridiculously cheesy.

This was overall a pretty cute story but I think I liked it a little bit less than the first one. It picks up directly where the last book left off with Lyle and Ben trying to settle into their new life. I enjoyed that we got some more backstory with Lyle's curse and his family and a little bit more info on mermaid culture, but it felt like Lyle and Ben's relationship regressed a little bit as well just so they could argue about things for added conflict. Also I'm not sure how I feel about [SPOILER] them possibly adding dragon shifting mythology into the next one. I suppose it could be good if done well but it kind of feels like mashing too many things together to me. Still, it was a fun short story and if you liked the first one you will probably like this one as well [also probably don't read this one without reading the first one, as they are directly related]

Lyle and Ben somehow managed to survive Lyle's curse and to find each other again, but just being together isn't enough. Ben is restarting from scratch after leaving everything behind for Lyle, while Lyle's past is haunting them both. This time if they have to run, it might just be to save their lives.

This book never came together for me. I wanted very much to believe in everything that was happening to them but nothing worked. First was the setting, which started on the edge of the ocean with them both working in an ice cream shop. I've worked retail, so I know the way they were running that shop wasn't the least bit realistic to real life. That set the tone for the rest of the story, which lacked realism in every aspect.

It also felt disjointed, what with the awkward flashback suddenly cutting into the middle of the story. A little rearranging with the flashback as the prologue might have helped since it wouldn't have disrupted the flow of Lyle and Ben's relationship quite so much, but the story was overall so poorly written I don't know that much could have helped it. Lyle and Ben's relationship never really meshed either. They always felt like they were operating from two different worlds--which they technically were since Lyle is a merman and Ben an human--but the point of their relationship was to meld their two worlds into one strong relationship. I liked where that was going after the first book in the series, but this book killed it for me.

3.5 stars for me, rounded up because I enjoyed this one more than the first book in this series. This story picks up where the first book ends, so I definitely recommend that you read the first book in this series since it's the same characters and what is next for Lyle and Ben.

I kinda adore Lyle. He's a drama llama according to Ben, and it's totally true. I do love how he interacted with people in the beginning, don't we all sometimes wish we could say whatever is on our minds like Lyle does!

We get to find out what happened to him during the time before he reunited with Ben, and for the most part I did enjoy Lyle's tale. I still wish that there was more explicit detail in Lyle and Ben's love life (c'mon, you can't have these fins and not expect to get to read about some hot, kinda kinky lovin' with them!) and the writing still seems a tad...awkward? But, overall, I did enjoy this continuation and am glad we got to read more about Ben and Lyle!

I received a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told from Lyle's point of view - a previously landlocked merman, who has broken the curse that landlocked him by finding true love with Benjamin. Now, he and Ben try to combine Lyle's magic (and finns that he contains with magic, but sometimes lets lose unintentionally) with the human world. However, the newly-engaged bliss is tainted by Lyle's conscience, because in order to escape his brother after the curse is broken, Lyle kills him - at least he thinks he did. He can't really remember - all he knows is that the seagulls are keeping an eye on him, and it will only be a matter of time before his people find him...

This book has a slow start that I found it hard to get in to. Lyle is a drama llama (Ben's words, not mine) so naturally his POV is dramatic, which was quite a change from Ben's quiet demeanor in the first book. It picks up around the halfway mark when we actually hear why Lyle feels guilty and the pair is forced to face the consequences of Lyle's (alleged) actions, which was a very interesting and exhilarating part. I would have loved to see more of Lyle's interaction with regular humans, because the little there was was very entertaining.