By: E.M. Barne
A retelling of the little mermaid where the MMC is a sexy Pirate?! YES PLEASE.
I really loved the way Barne took inspiration from the classic tale. He turned it into something that I could enjoy now. THIS IS NOT A KID SAFE BOOK!! GIVE ME SPICE OR GIVE ME DEATH I SAY.
Aurelia, our FMC, is a sweet mermaid. Drake, our MMC, is dark and dangerous human. Aurelia saves Drake after he falls from his ship during a storm and takes him back to her island. There they become enchanted with one another. Drake cannot help but look upon the mermaid with coral hair and turquoise eyes with lust and desire. Aurelia cannot help her curiosity with a human.
Drake and Aurelia have trouble communicating in the beginning. I really like that Barne made this a species thing and not a standard miscommunication trope. In this world Merfolk have a limited range of emotions that are mostly primal. With the Sea Witches spell, Aurelia now has a full range of human emotions. She also has legs. She truly has never experienced emotions until she interacts with Drake. This clarified the miscommunication significantly. From Aurelia’s POV, she is just honestly confused. She is not actually just holding stuff back.
We discover that Aurelia can transform into a human outside of water. This is possible thanks to a sea witch’s abilities. UMMMM Aquamarine vibes!! If you don’t know that movie, it was basically what I dreamed about as a kid. Drake doesn’t find out about Aurelias ability to transform until she returns to her island with a shark bite. He rushes to heal her and is in awe of her when her tail turns into legs. Those things he’s been thinking about doing to her just became a whole lot more realistic….
These two characters FINALLY give into their lust and desire. Drake teaches Aurelia all about the pleasure of the human body. Honestly the “I’ll teach you” thing totally works for me.
I don’t want to give away the whole book, so I will say just one more thing.
Drake is dark, dangerous, and possessive. Aurelia is sweet, innocent, and curious. Fireworks explode… BOOM
January 29, 2025