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alanadcr 's review for:
The Merman's Kiss
by Tamsin Ley
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
TW: miscarriage, suicide attempt, child death, abandonment, adultery
This book flies by and I'm really thankful that it did. I know you have to get her into the ocean so she can have her meet cute with Zantu, but the opening was excessive. The book opens with a late miscarriage, suicide attempt straight into sex with a merman who is trying to save her as she is on the verge of drowning. Now, the merman with a truly unremarkable penis is bonded to her and thinks "well at least she can't leave me." WTAF is going on here.
Brianna was an absolute mess of emotions, understandably, but I had a really tough time handling the adultery in this book. She ends up explaining away the cheating by reasoning she had already abandoned her husband by trying to kill herself and was essentially dead to the surface anyway so *SHRUG*. Insta-lust/love strikes hard even after Brianna calls Zantu a monster and decides she wants to stick around because he treats her better than her husband ever did. The suspension of belief was already at critical levels and then we hit the mermaid culture whirlwind.
I was disappointed by how "one note" the mer-culture was. All mermaids are sexually aggressive psychopaths that hit it and quit it, trapping mermen in a bond that lasts forever only coming back to give birth and abandon their children with the various mates they have floating about. Truly, the only noticeable difference between mermaids that I could see is the color of their hair and color coordinated nipples.
Merman are the "softer" sex. Exclusively nice, solitary, driven by nesting instincts, and mated for life after having a romp in the coral. I'm not sure how Zantu has managed to evade the mermaids thus far because I count at least twice AFTER he is bonded to Brianna that the siren song still manages to seduce a response out of him. While one of those involves a "love toxin" (what.) so I suppose I should give him a break.
Overall, I ended up feeling irritated by the combination of tropes and not liking the characters. Also, I refuse to believe a merman has a typical human penis. I won't continue with this series but I would try the author's work again.
This book flies by and I'm really thankful that it did. I know you have to get her into the ocean so she can have her meet cute with Zantu, but the opening was excessive. The book opens with a late miscarriage, suicide attempt straight into sex with a merman who is trying to save her as she is on the verge of drowning. Now, the merman with a truly unremarkable penis is bonded to her and thinks "well at least she can't leave me." WTAF is going on here.
Brianna was an absolute mess of emotions, understandably, but I had a really tough time handling the adultery in this book. She ends up explaining away the cheating by reasoning she had already abandoned her husband by trying to kill herself and was essentially dead to the surface anyway so *SHRUG*. Insta-lust/love strikes hard even after Brianna calls Zantu a monster and decides she wants to stick around because he treats her better than her husband ever did. The suspension of belief was already at critical levels and then we hit the mermaid culture whirlwind.
I was disappointed by how "one note" the mer-culture was. All mermaids are sexually aggressive psychopaths that hit it and quit it, trapping mermen in a bond that lasts forever only coming back to give birth and abandon their children with the various mates they have floating about. Truly, the only noticeable difference between mermaids that I could see is the color of their hair and color coordinated nipples.
Merman are the "softer" sex. Exclusively nice, solitary, driven by nesting instincts, and mated for life after having a romp in the coral. I'm not sure how Zantu has managed to evade the mermaids thus far because I count at least twice AFTER he is bonded to Brianna that the siren song still manages to seduce a response out of him. While one of those involves a "love toxin" (what.) so I suppose I should give him a break.
Overall, I ended up feeling irritated by the combination of tropes and not liking the characters. Also, I refuse to believe a merman has a typical human penis. I won't continue with this series but I would try the author's work again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Abandonment