Reviews - Voice of the Ocean

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670 reviews for:

Voice of the Ocean

Kelsey Impicciche

3.8 AVERAGE

spalmer24's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tobereadbookshelf's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional reflective 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: Complicated

✩ 4.35 stars ✩

What to Expect:
➼ Little Mermaid Retelling
➼ Natural Enemies-to-Lovers
➼ From Different Worlds
➼ Prince x Princess
➼ Pirates
➼ Found Family
➼ Siren/Mermaid x Human
➼ Forbidden Love
➼ Kiss or Kill
➼ Secrets & Betrayal
➼ Young Adult Fantasy
➼ Debut Novel
➼ Third Person POV

Can we just have a moment for this cover art?! Seriously, @frostbite.studios killed it! 🙌🏻

As a millennial gal who has watched The Little Mermaid roughly five thousand times, I was one hundred percent the target audience for this book. If you’re here for pirate booty 😉, you’ve come to the wrong place because this was true YA and therefore did not include spice. I really don’t think you’ll miss it though! I wouldn’t have minded a few more lingering looks or touches here and there, but I mostly thought the slow burn build up between them was very well paced.

Among the Sirens, strength is valued and empathy is seen as a weakness and Celeste has always felt her feelings very deeply making her feel like an outsider among her people. They are taught to believe that all humans are evil and should not be allowed to live, but after observing Prince Raiden and his crew, dancing, smiling and generally showing their humanity, she begins to doubt that the humans are as bad as she has been lead to believe. In a moment of doubt, she chooses to save the Prince and his friend, a choice that could lead to her banishment. She is given one chance to fix her mistake and kill the Prince, but the more time they spend together, the harder her task becomes.

Much like in the Disney movie, Celeste does not speak once she is on land. I was very impressed by how much I enjoyed the banter in this book, even though it was mostly one sided from the Prince. The author was able to convey a lot of emotion and meaning through Celeste’s character, even without the use of words.

I am extremely impressed by this debut novel! This was incredibly well written and I’m genuinely excited to read book two. The audiobook was also exceptional! I adore Natalie Naudus! She is easily one of my favorite narrators. This was just an all around great read in my opinion! Little Mermaid lovers, please don’t skip this book!

Thank you to the author, Blackstone Publishing, and Libro.fm for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

sweetestwindmill's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Eh. Honestly I'm being generous with my score, because the first half of this book was significantly worse than the second half. I was really disappointed with this! I enjoy fairytale retellings as a rule, but the narrative was sloppy, the characters felt under-developed, and inconsistencies and errors (both grammatical and plot-related) were sprinkled throughout. Celeste wasn't a very interesting protagonist, but Raiden was a downright repellent love interest, sleazy and insincere and totally unappealing.

The second half was much better because the action really picked up, and I liked some of the twists at the end, but like other commenters I was annoyed to discover that the book ends on a cliffhanger. I don't think I'll be reading the second one when it comes out, unfortunately. Kelsey Impicciche certainly has the potential to hone her skills in the future, but sadly I think her YouTube fame has worked against her here, because it's allowed her to publish something that just wasn't quite ready yet.