This was enjoyable and I loved it as a audiobook. The narrator did a great job with acting the different characters.
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Possible spoiler:
I always love retellings and this story was an origin story of the Little Mermaid focusing on Ursula.
It took me a little bit to realize it was an origin story but I liked that I didn’t know going into it.
I felt for Sereia and I was rooting for her! I also liked the Atlantis setting.
A couple of things I didn’t enjoy were some parts felt drawn out and I didn’t like how some things didn’t get resolved, but overall I enjoyed this and I would recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, CamCat Books and the author for the audiobook.

Sereia is a mermaid with extraordinary magical powers. Powers that surpass her brother’s, Triton. He is in the hopes to rule the kingdom when their father’s trident is passed down to him. But when Sereia’s younger sister is captured by humans it is up to her to destroy them with all that she has. This incident will forever change her fate. When Triton is outmatched by Sereia he curses her to live life as a human hoping she will never return.
Washing up on the shore of Atlantis, Sereia finds she must adapt to her new life and new found legs. She must find a way back home to exact her revenge. Can she find the twin to her father’s trident and undo her curse? Or will she find love that will make her forget about all who have wronged her?
Overall rating 3 /5
I liked the prequel feeling of this book to the Little Mermaid, and to add the conspiracy of Atlantis. I love a story about a strong willed woman character, and especially if they get their revenge. I do feel like the story lagged a bit in some spots and could have been supplemented with a little more of a slow burn romance. I would also not classify this as a Children’s book, which I thought this was, but more of a YA.

*Thank you to Kristi McManus, Netgalley and CamCat Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for the audio book copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

This was a fun read. A great great story of how Atlantis became, how the little mermaid started. I really enjoyed. The narrator was great also.

Thank you so much for letting listen to this audiobook. Ariel inspired stories are usually a hit or miss for me. And this one was definitely a hit.

I never write reviews with spoilers, and I’m not 100% sure that this IS a spoiler, but the fact I’m about to share wasn’t explicitly stated in the book blurb (although it was hinted at). So this is your warning to stop reading if you don’t want to know a piece of information about this book that I wish I had known before I started.
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This is an origin story for the infamous villain Ursula (the big baddie in The Little Mermaid). The only description I was given from NetGalley was “A cursed mermaid seeks revenge against the brother who betrayed her while fighting to protect her secrets and her life in the realm of Atlantis.”

That description didn’t scream “origin story” to me. If I had read the Goodreads blurb, the line “into the life of one of fairy tales most famous villains” would have tipped me off, plus the title is close to “Poor Unfortunate Souls” which is, of course, Ursula’s song.

The reason I wanted to state this is because if I had known this was an origin story from the beginning, I think it would have been a 5 star read for me. I was considering it a five star read up until the last few chapters, and then everything fell apart and I was just SHOCKED at the things that were happening to Sereia. I knew there wasn’t enough time for everything to be resolved before the end of the story, and guys, my heart HURT.

I know what you’re thinking… Don’t you like to be shocked by books, Meredith? Isn’t that literally what you say you want out of a novel? Well, yes… but not in this case. Origin stories are one of my favorite types of stories to read because I love watching a hero become a villain… but I guess I needed to know what I was getting into before I started because I wasn’t prepared for that heartbreak.

Anyway, this was a great read and I highly recommend it, but I know I would have loved it more if I’d realized whose story I was reading from the beginning.

Thank you to CamCat Books for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book and it is beautifully-written. I really like that Sirea focuses on her strength and her ingenuity and that she’s really powerful. And it’s a good story. It was a bit militaristic and violent for my taste, and I didn’t enjoy the descriptions of the fight scenes, but to each their own.

My only complaint is that there were some points at which that beautiful writing felt repetitive and/or just dragged down the pacing of the novel. I felt like we got too lost in description. I was “reading” it as an audiobook, but if I were reading it on the page, I would have skipped a lot that just felt unnecessary. Again, beautifully written, but just not necessary.

Specific to the audiobook, I wasn’t a huge fan of the way that the narrator did the voices. Sirea and her mom sound “normal” and everyone else sounds a bit cartoony. Like, the voice for the “baby sister” was a little annoying, but made sense for a 10-year-old….but then it was also basically the same voice for Kona, who is supposed to be the same age as Sirea. And all the male characters sounded really cocky and yet also spoke really slowly? I was just not really a fan of how it was narrated when it came to the dialogue.

I love a good villain origin story.

With that being said, I'm completely on Sereia's side.

It all starts out with a father who favors his oldest and youngest children and completely disregarding his middle child. I can only assume it's because of his fragile masculinity and how he seemingly can't deal with how strong and powerful she is in comparison to his precious male heir.

This fragile male ego was passed down to his son who couldn't handle that his sister was better than him so he did what he could to get rid of her.

While in exile Sereia learns the truth about her father and gets to experience life away from men who only seem to want to bring her down. However, the fact that she can't get revenge out of her head seems to be her final undoing.

I feel that if she were able to actually let go of things, she would've lived her days happily in Atlantis.

As a grudge holder, I can understand not being able to let go of things, but she seemed to have so much going for her once in Atlantis.

Triton eventually gets his dose of karma, even if it took centuries.

I enjoyed this origin story and I think I like Ursula even more now.

It took me until the end to realize that this is an origin story; prior, I'd just thought it was a "twisted telling" of The Little Mermaid. There are many recognizable elements from the well-known story and this iteration isn't without some dark elements of its own. Sereia and Triton are pitted against each other. There are boundaries in place to protect the merpeople. There's still a romance. There's still a divide between humans and people of the ocean. There's still so many turns where things could've been different... but as soon as the story takes off, it's easy to see how vengeance becomes a motivator for several characters.

While the characters weren't particularly engaging for me, I did appreciate floating along the story and seeing where it all ended up. This is a good YA story.

Overall: 4 stars (I really liked it)

**Thank you to NetGalley & Swift & CamCat Books | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Our Vengeful Souls is a fantastic origin story, which I didn’t realize going into. It’s engaging from the get-go. You’re thrown into a world under the sea where siblings compete for a crown, hoping to outshine one another in their father’s eyes. When the brother becomes overly jealous and worried he’s losing, he curses his sister and sends her on land.
The author's novel had me rooting for our FMC, waiting for her to avenge herself and claim the throne. What disappointed me, though, is that I didn’t care as much for the romance. I know this is a YA novel, but I couldn’t get behind the romantic interest and was unconcerned by his fate.
I did enjoy the narrator. She did a great job acting out all the characters' lines and pulling me into the story.

This would be an excellent book for younger YA and readers looking for clean but whirlwind mermaid book.

Thank you, NetGalley, Independent Book Publishers Association, and Kristi McManus, for the advance listener copy!

** spoiler alert ** I was very surprised at the end. I don't always read the epilogue but this time I felt I needed to because the storyline was kind of lacking at the end. I am so glad I did. The author has great word imagery. She does a great job of explaining the world around them and even emotions.

Now lets' talk about the story itself. This story takes place when triton of The Little Mermaid was younger. It is not Triton's story though. It is his sisters. Sereia is a powerful mermaid. Her parents are thinking of giving her the kingdom but Triton will have none of it. So he attacks her with a poison that turns her human. If she returns to the sea she will turn into a hideous creature and not ever be able to return to her kingdom. As I was reading all of this all I could think is it is similar to The Little mermaid.

She washes up on the shore of Atlantis. She is Saved by a nice gentleman that she eventually develops feelings for. She joins the Guard and has a rivalry with a fellow Guard who eventually gets banished for attacking her during a battle. She is shown the library and the temple. Where she finds another trident that can help restore her and return her to the ocean.

Overall the story is kind of slow and a on the confusing side till you read the epilogue. I would go more in-depth in the story but I don't want to ruin it for everyone. Bit let just say I did not expect who the story was about and it broke my heart how sad her story is.

Overall it is well written and i really enjoyed the story. I did do audiobook and the narrator did an amazing job reading the story.



For those that made it this far down and want the last spoiler the story is about Ursula the sea witch in The Little Mermaid.

I don't want to reveal the plot too much as that's half the fun of this book but it revolves around Sereia, Poseidon's second child, who is betrayed by her jealous and insecure older brother with a curse that renders her mortal. She finds herself in the city of Atlantis and is consumed by her need for revenge.
I really enjoyed this book, it's actually hard to find anything negative about it (my one tiny eyebrow raise was referring to Ashira's power as being her beauty, particularly as this is aimed at a younger audience).
The audiobook is tagged as Middle School, teens and YA and I agree with the latter two but the book is perhaps only for more mature middle schoolers (there is one fade to black scene). Otherwise the author has done well at writing a book that is accessible and largely suitable for teens whilst not feeling immature for adults.
I felt the plot points in the story were well spaced and the ending was really well done, although I certainly wouldn't complain if the book was longer and spent more on Sereia and Callan's relationship.
Sereia is an interesting and complex character and though the ending was not a surprise I found myself wishing the subsequent story ended differently!
I'd also like to note that I thought the narrator was great.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of novel in audiobook form.

Great audiobook. Story keeps you enthralled throughout. The twists and turns of the story make it an engaging story to listen too

A little mermaid retelling!! How exciting. I enjoyed this one so much so thank you NetGalley. The author did a really good job at keeping the book engaging and interesting. The ending was such a shock. Definitely check this one out if you want an interesting spin on one of the best fairytales.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, it was unlike anything I've read. The world building was great and I loved the character development our FMC went through.
I didn't realize until the end this was an origin story, which probably allowed me to enjoy it as much as I did

This story was enjoyable and engaging, but the dialogue was distracting. The characters lacked any real depth, but it was still a good time.

The narration was good.

Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat Books for providing the audio version of this book in exchange for my hones review. This is a story about a mermaid who ends up with legs and living on land and falls in love with a human male. No, not that story, this is about a different mermaid. I don't want to spoil things but there is a connection between the two stories. It's hard to review this book without being a little spoilery so I'll give warning that there might be some elements of this review that would be considered a spoiler, you have been warned! Overall I would say that this book was okay. Not great, but not terrible either. I feel like the story could have been half as long and been far more enjoyable. In fact, I actually sped up the reading speed on the audio book and decided that was an improvement. The story because much more interesting about half way through, and from there it is pretty engaging from that point on. The only major plot hole that I struggled with is how the "bad guy" knew the best way to defeat the fmc. There's no reason that he should have known what would affect her. I usually prefer a book with a happy ending but that's not real life, is it.

"Don't feed your fear; it will only swallow your strength."

I dived into this without realizing it was a fairytale retelling. I loved the surprise at the end when I discovered who Sereia is within "The Little Mermaid."

This is a true exploration of the different paths of vengeance.

If you love:
>Fairytale retellings
>Mermaids
>Magic & curses

This book is for you! I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator kept me engaged the entire time.

The ending truly shocked me. I went back and re-listened to it a second time because I didn’t believe it! Sereia truly decided to take her revenge to the next level.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I do love myself a good villain origin story, and Our Vengeful Souls did not disappoint.

The story gave me all the things I look for in a good fairytale, love, family, betrayal, friendships and most of all revenge!

It’s a must read!

I've always been a fan of retellings. I realised early on that this was a Ursula retelling and yet I still found myself hoping and rooting for Sereia. Seeing her build a life on Atlantis with her new friends was heartbreaking when you know where she ends up and how her story will inevitably end. Her pain and rage were so visceral that you can't help but root for her regardless of her less-than-ideal choices.

It truly is a story about a young girl who was betrayed and so consumed with a vengeance that she couldn't fathom a life in which she didn't enact her revenge on her brother.

The critiques I have of this book is that sometimes the dialogue, especially when Sereia was reasserting her power to herself, was a bit clunky. The final confrontation between Sereia and Triton, and their father, was a bit anticlimactic, I thought that it would hit much harder than it did.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kristi McManus, and CamCat books for the chance to review!

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this audiobook… I have to say I truly enjoyed this book it was full of everything you need in a book action, adventure, love, betrayal, loss, and mystery.

This book kept me hooked from beginning to end. A retelling of the origins of the sea witch and her brother Triton and how they became who they are and let me tell you it made me feel different about some of the characters in the Little Mermaid🧜‍♀️. The ending was something different one minute. I was so happy that Serina was getting the life she grew to love then the next it was torn from her piece by piece by piece…such a fun read.