174 reviews for:

Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For

Natalie C. Parker, Zoraida Córdova

3.75 AVERAGE

melinajuliascottage's review

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

ambers_tbr_adv's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

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Read the ones I was most interested in. 

leari's review

2.5

reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Overall, I noticed that I enjoyed the longer stories with less or nor romance in them more, and if they took place in a fantasy world, even more so. Many of the 14 stories in here ended right when it started to get interesting, and none of the stories surprised or trully captivated me, since they were often character-driven and did not really have a lot of plot. I did like a few, mostly because of their writing style and unique ideas, but none of them got 4 stars or more. For mermaid stories in particular, I personally like an atmospheric, detailed writing style, and most of the stories in here focused more on dialogue and romance instead.

Average rating: 2.4/5 🌟

Individual ratings:

3/5 🌟 Storm Song by Rebecca Coffindaffer
- sign language
- written in second person
- finding your own voice
- music
- dark

2/5 🌟 We'll always have June by Julian Winters
- gay human & merprince romance
- learning from each other and overcoming fears/weaknesses (music, swimming)
- not enough plot

2.5/5 🌟 The Story of a Knife by Gretchen Schreiber
- Hans Christian Andersen and Gothic vibes
- feels like the first chapters of a book without a real ending
- dark

1.5/5 🌟 The Dark Calls by Preeti Chhibber
- Indian mermaid family
- eelboy
- sudden setting changes, hard to follow what's going on
- confusing plot

2/5 🌟 Return to the Sea by Kalynn Bayron
- humans & mermaids going to the same school
- sapphic romance
- a sad dying sea turtle

1.5/5 🌟 The Deepwater Vandal by Darcie Little Badger
- leviathan
- a lot of dialogue that tries to be funny
- a lot of telling instead of showing
- learning about the past of multiple characters instead of present events

2.5/5 🌟 The Nightingale's Lament by Kerri Maniscalco
- Sing Me to Sleep vibes
- siren & hunter romance
- open ending

3.5/5 🌟 Sea Wolf in Prince's Clothing by Adriana Herrera
- my favourite story in this collection
- high fantasy
- vengeance plot
- siren court
- being offered as concubines to the princes
- getting out of dire situations with ease

3/5 🌟 Nor'easter by Katherine Locke
- survival throughout a storm that is based on real events
- dual pov (human & mermaid)

3/5 🌟 The First and Last Kiss by Julie Murphy
- sapphic romance
- feels like it could be Ursula's origin story (from The Little Mermaid)

3/5 🌟 The Merrow by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker
- dual pov
- imprisoned by scientists
- Shape of Water vibes

1.5/5 🌟 Shark Week by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
- growing shark teeth during the period
- sapphic romance
- next to no mermaid vibes

2.5/5 🌟 Jinju's Pearls by June Hur
- immortality
- classic fairy tale vibes
- selfish main character

2/5 🌟 Six Thousand Miles by Julie C. Dao
- a whole family hides their scales instead of embracing what they are

 

amyjoy's review against another edition

5.0

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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FANTASTIC!! If you want a collection of short stories about mermaids written for teens, this is the one for you!

thepermageek's review

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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A tender collection that will mostly make yr heart sore. With the odd heart breaker of a story thrown in for good measure! 

ben_readz_books's review

5.0

adventurous emotional fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

bxsicallyisa's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

crystalroses68's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

arca_mina's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

la_libreria_chula's review

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I did enjoy most of the stories in the collection, but my favorites were Jinju's Pearls by June Hur (which heartbreaking to me, but beautifully written) and The Dark Calls by Preeti Chhibber (which gave me the creeps and confirmed that I am still, in fact, scared of the ocean because we still don't know everything about it and it's literally another world).