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emlickliter's review
4.0
Mortimer somehow managed to straighten out a mess instead of merely making it worse in this one! Practice granting boons seems to be improving his odds of success. This story follow's the Woodcutter's only son, Martin, to his new job as a bodyguard for a prince. Prince Lukas, total flirt training to be king, is suffering from a would be assassin and a need for a wife while his regent uncle is prepping him to ascend the throne. Clio, a mermaid princess, seems to have a knack for saving the prince from near death experiences. Mortimer grants her the traditional little mermaid boon (legs in exchange for her voice) against her will. Clio demands Mortimer help her fix the mess he made, and between them they manage to help heal the very tense relationship between the mer-people and their land-dwelling neighbors. For those of us who poke at the holes in fairy tales, this one patches up the voicelessness problem with literacy! Yeah for a princess who can still communicate!!
destiel74's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
It was a funny little reimaging of the little mermaid.
sharon1112chh's review
3.0
The story was quite enjoyable, there are some continuity issues in Clio's thought processes but that could be easily glazed past. The character building was satisfactory while the chemistry was underdeveloped, especially between the main characters. The book was, otherwise, a nice, light/medium-ish read.
In comparison to [b:The Ugly Stepsister|23162056|The Ugly Stepsister (Unfinished Fairy Tales, #1)|Aya Ling|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425195799s/23162056.jpg|42708375]'s Kat and Edward, from the author's previous work, the romance part of this book was weaker. Where Kat and Edward had overcome obstacles together and grown stronger as a couple, Clioand Lukas was love at first sight -she admired Lukas's looks even though he didn't have a tail and I count that as already having a unconscious crush on him- and they didn't really do much except one keeps flirting with the other who keeps hitting back in response.
However, I must point out that I enjoyed this book because of the mystery. It was so unexpected, I thought this was a fairy tale romance with a formula story pattern but the story turned out to be a mystery story too. The revealed suspect was a good surprise.Damen, I had suspected was behind this. I had a theory that he might have been Lukas's half brother (in the book he was described to look a little like Lukas) so maybe that's why he plotted all those accidents... But I didn't suspect a single thing about Hermia, I cried out in shock!
I have always enjoyed the author's writing style and this one was no exception. Also, I love how the author drop some references of Disney and also Hans Christian Anderson's version of the story in, it is cleverly hinted so that it becomes part of that world...
I am grateful to the author, Aya Ling, for the opportunity to review this ARC.
In comparison to [b:The Ugly Stepsister|23162056|The Ugly Stepsister (Unfinished Fairy Tales, #1)|Aya Ling|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425195799s/23162056.jpg|42708375]'s Kat and Edward, from the author's previous work, the romance part of this book was weaker. Where Kat and Edward had overcome obstacles together and grown stronger as a couple, Clio
However, I must point out that I enjoyed this book because of the mystery. It was so unexpected, I thought this was a fairy tale romance with a formula story pattern but the story turned out to be a mystery story too. The revealed suspect was a good surprise.
I have always enjoyed the author's writing style and this one was no exception. Also, I love how the author drop some references of Disney and also Hans Christian Anderson's version of the story in, it is cleverly hinted so that it becomes part of that world...
I am grateful to the author, Aya Ling, for the opportunity to review this ARC.
danaherrmann's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
candidcopywriter's review against another edition
4.0
It was a nice, whimsical twist on The Little Mermaid, and I quite liked it. The human prince already knows Clio is a mermaid, which is a welcome change from all other Little Mermaid stories. It's sweet, funny, a bit romantic but also a bit rushed. There's very little talk of the change in Clio's feelings towards Lukas, and not much substance in Lukas himself. However, I found the book light-hearted and interesting, which made me keep reading it till the end.
But I'm a bit disappointed in this book, to be honest. After all, the books in this series are supposed to be about the siblings, aren't they? Not about anyone and everyone affected by Mortimer's bumbling ways. Martin, sadly, was relegated to "random secondary character" in the book. It would have been much more satisfying if either Clio had fallen for Martin instead, or if they had ended up bonding and becoming great friends, at least. Or maybe Martin could have been instrumental in bringing Lukas and Clio together, or in foiling the villain's plans.
We don't really learn anything about Martin in the book, or in any other book for that matter, and that disappointed me, especially since I got pretty attached to that entire family because of the first 4 books.
All in all, nice story but little connect to the series. It could have been better.
But I'm a bit disappointed in this book, to be honest. After all, the books in this series are supposed to be about the siblings, aren't they? Not about anyone and everyone affected by Mortimer's bumbling ways. Martin, sadly, was relegated to "random secondary character" in the book. It would have been much more satisfying if either Clio had fallen for Martin instead, or if they had ended up bonding and becoming great friends, at least. Or maybe Martin could have been instrumental in bringing Lukas and Clio together, or in foiling the villain's plans.
We don't really learn anything about Martin in the book, or in any other book for that matter, and that disappointed me, especially since I got pretty attached to that entire family because of the first 4 books.
All in all, nice story but little connect to the series. It could have been better.
silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition
3.0
This was nothing amazing, but a fun story, and well worth reading if you like mermaids and/or fairy tale retellings.
It *almost* bothered me that some of the setting details didn't make sense (Mermaids use bars of soap? How does it not dissolve underwater before they can use most of it?) but I decided that since this is light fantasy and not hard sci-fi, it was more amusing that bothersome.
It *almost* bothered me that some of the setting details didn't make sense (Mermaids use bars of soap? How does it not dissolve underwater before they can use most of it?) but I decided that since this is light fantasy and not hard sci-fi, it was more amusing that bothersome.
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