Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Amor Azul

A non-binary MC that just so happens to be mer?? Sign me up. I really liked so much about this book even if I have somewhat mixed feelings about how it ended. I easily fell in love with the characters, the humor, and all the merfolk stuff. It was really cute.

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shelvesofivy's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Definitely a fun read for the most part! It falls into some cheesy tropes that I don't love, and I think I would have loved it a lot more if I'd read this when I was around 15-17.
There were times where I wanted to shake certain characters by the shoulders because of their hypocrisy. I think I'm also a little bit upset that

Sean and Crest don't end up staying together in the end, because I'm a sucker a happily ever after. But I'm also torn, because I appreciate that each MC stayed true to themselves and their own lives and passions without sacrificing that for someone they've known for just a month.

All of that said, I love that we have nonbinary and fat MCs, I love fake dating stories, and I love the ways this reminded me of Aquamarine. Unrelated, but the cover art is also so lovely and a huge reason I got this book in the first place.

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offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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littlesmaug's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I wanted this one to hit different. It was one of my top anticipated reads of the year. It was just too quick-paced to allow the plot to breathe. Granted, it had to be, Crest/Ross only has a month on land but there was just these aspects of the plot that needed more attention.

The ending itself could have been expanded on more, as well. How did that epilogue come to be?

I dunno, it just wasn’t that PUNCH of a book I was expecting it to be. Still a cute little read though!

Since it’s not an option on storygraph, tw for mentions of cheating

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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? Yes

3.5

This is a sweet story. I liked it a lot at the beginning — funny references, good character voices, social commentary — but after a while it started to feel like it went on too long. There were about 5 conflicts too many as things got more and more complicated. Not my personal favorite, but I definitely get why people like it.

I will say, the fat rep in this is fantastic

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dryadsreadingnook's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A genuinely sweet and fun queer rom-com that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

What I loved:

A non-binary main character!
An actual considered approach to what it would mean for a mermaid to remain on land.
The ending & the message
you can’t build your life around someone else! Especially not someone you just met!!
Kavya. Just everything about her — the “funny side character who snaps the main character out of their selfish nonsense” but with more dimensions. Honestly, I would take a book with her as the main character any day.

What I didn’t love:

Characterisation felt a little inconsistent. Some motivations for the way characters acted came across as an afterthought by the writer (trying to avoid spoilers so won’t go into depth!)
On a similar point, some plot points also felt as if they came from nowhere, and I felt as if they disrupted the flow of the narrative.
A little TMI re: sexual attraction. The POV characters get turned on at every little thing, and it felt like a bit much at times (I’m asexual so maybe this is normal for allo folks lol).

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sssssoup's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for over six months, but unfortunately, I found it to be a huge letdown. The premise was really interesting and it had so much potential, but for me, it ended up being incredibly mid.

Things I liked:
-The casual representation was really nice to see
-I thought the world building with the merfolk and their culture was interesting and pretty well done. I especially liked the stuff about gender
-I liked Crest’s exploration of gender presentation
-It was a pretty fun and quick read
-The portrayal of teenagers felt pretty realistic. Teenagers make a lot of stupid choices, as did the characters in this book (I myself am a teenager)

Things I didn’t like:
-Personally, I found all the mer-slang to be cringy and overused
-The extent of Crest’s confusion about human culture didn’t make sense to me. They supposedly took human culture classes for years, yet they didn’t know how to cross the street or open a door? Also, in one of the first chapters, it says that Crest has mer magic to help them understand human things if they get confused, but it’s only used one time and never mentioned again?
-I was uncomfortable with how much the teenaged characters talked about sex-related topics (I myself am a teenager and I thought it was weird). It’s not bad to have teenage characters who aren’t ashamed of being horny or anything, but I felt like Sean and Crest were often reduced to their sexual attraction and I found it took away from the other more important parts of their characters. I also didn’t like how their relationship was built so heavily on physicality and lust, yet they kept talking about how they were in love
-The pacing was also off in my opinion, especially toward the end. It felt like the author kept adding in more and more things just to add to the drama of the situations. I saw another reviewer who said that they should’ve focused in on a few things instead of having so many, and I’m inclined to agree

Overall, it was a fun, quick read that you don’t have to think too much about, but I was disappointed because I didn’t love it like I thought I would. I don’t hate it, but I definitely won’t be recommending it to anyone either.

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