This is ultimately a retelling of The Little Mermaid with a few tweaks.

Our main character is a sheltered young lady who’s home without love from her parents. She dreams of escape and is willing to jump at the marriage they propose. At least until she meets a mysterious young man.

This man has been tasked with collecting her for a long ago debt she knows nothing about, but instead he finds himself falling for her.

For me this was a little too insta love fairy tail to be a hit, but it was alright. If you’re a romance fan this might be more up your alley.

I was really excited to receive an arc for this book! I love fairytale retelling but have to admit I am quite picky with them.

It pains me to say that ultimately this one did not work for me.

My main issue was the fact that I just could not connect with any of the characters here. I know instalove is typical and something you often see especially with stories like Little Mermaid or other YA fairytales but it didn’t work for me here. This one, because of the main character, had a really strong YA feel with a naive and sheltered FMC narrating and usually that is not always a con for me if done well- I love stories that show the growth and emotional changes younger characters go through, but again.. didn’t work for me here. Because I didn’t connect with the characters at all, I ended up DNFing at around 60%. The never ending politics and what not she was being pulled between on both sides was just tedious feeling.

Review for the audio- I have heard books from this narrator before and I really enjoy them! No complaints there but the narrator couldn’t make up for it here. I may try and pick this up in an ebook later on after publication to finish it but we will see. I didn’t have the patience to stick it out here.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for a review!

I’m a big fan of Hester Fox and was eager to listen to this retelling of The Little Mermaid; I wasn’t disappointed. Told with gorgeous prose and larger than life characters, this is a sweeping, Gothic tale of love, betrayal, and redemption