novelheartbeat's review against another edition
DNF
I'm sorry to say that I couldn't bring myself to finish this one. I only got about 100 pages through (which is actually almost half the book because it's so short) and was so bored out of my mind that I decided it was time to put it down. Reading should be enjoyable, and I'd rather spend my time reading a book that doesn't send me into violent fits of narcolepsy.
The writing was a bit sophomoric and dry, which was a main cause of boredom for me. The second cause was that there was practically nothing happening. Aside from Dosinia going missing, it was basically just Esmerine constantly complaining about how annoying her clothes felt. And how annoying everything else felt against her skin, for that matter. A couple times would have been fine, but almost every page just became too much for me to take.
There was absolutely no world-building or descriptions. I didn't know what anyone or anything looked like, and I was constantly forgetting in the beginning that we were supposed to be under water. Until someone mentioned a fin or tail - and then I was like, "Tail, whaa? Oh wait...merpeople. It's in the ocean. Right." There was no description of their undersea city and no background on the merpeople. Then there were the Fandarsee - winged people. Who are they? Where do they come from? NO background whatsoever. And I didn't understand the relationship between the Fandarsee and merpeople. Or the relationship between mer and human...what is this about taking a mermaid for a wife and her being unable to get away? And the sirens being taken or disappearing? None of it really made sense to me.
The characters were terribly one-dimensional. Esmerine, our main character, had zero personality to speak of...which is probably why I was practically falling asleep on this book. Alander wasn't much better; the only personality he had was through being bipolar. I thought he was an asshat, personally. Maybe I just didn't stick around to get to know him well enough, who knows. He must have improved (at least I hope so), considering the ending. Yep, I read the last page. I still didn't feel inspired to continue.
I didn't feel it fair to give this book a rating since I didn't finish, but my feelings for the first half only rank at about one star. Despite my excitement over the mermaid aspect, I guess this book just wasn't for me.
I'm sorry to say that I couldn't bring myself to finish this one. I only got about 100 pages through (which is actually almost half the book because it's so short) and was so bored out of my mind that I decided it was time to put it down. Reading should be enjoyable, and I'd rather spend my time reading a book that doesn't send me into violent fits of narcolepsy.
The writing was a bit sophomoric and dry, which was a main cause of boredom for me. The second cause was that there was practically nothing happening. Aside from Dosinia going missing, it was basically just Esmerine constantly complaining about how annoying her clothes felt. And how annoying everything else felt against her skin, for that matter. A couple times would have been fine, but almost every page just became too much for me to take.
There was absolutely no world-building or descriptions. I didn't know what anyone or anything looked like, and I was constantly forgetting in the beginning that we were supposed to be under water. Until someone mentioned a fin or tail - and then I was like, "Tail, whaa? Oh wait...merpeople. It's in the ocean. Right." There was no description of their undersea city and no background on the merpeople. Then there were the Fandarsee - winged people. Who are they? Where do they come from? NO background whatsoever. And I didn't understand the relationship between the Fandarsee and merpeople. Or the relationship between mer and human...what is this about taking a mermaid for a wife and her being unable to get away? And the sirens being taken or disappearing? None of it really made sense to me.
The characters were terribly one-dimensional. Esmerine, our main character, had zero personality to speak of...which is probably why I was practically falling asleep on this book. Alander wasn't much better; the only personality he had was through being bipolar. I thought he was an asshat, personally. Maybe I just didn't stick around to get to know him well enough, who knows. He must have improved (at least I hope so), considering the ending. Yep, I read the last page. I still didn't feel inspired to continue.
I didn't feel it fair to give this book a rating since I didn't finish, but my feelings for the first half only rank at about one star. Despite my excitement over the mermaid aspect, I guess this book just wasn't for me.
cestdanielle's review against another edition
2.0
I really didn't like this. It was a... weird book. In some parts, it was too simplistic. In other parts, it was too complicated. I could completely skip some parts (some spanning several pages) while other parts weren't elaborated on enough. It felt very rushed to me.
alexperc_92's review against another edition
5.0
A sweet beautiful story similar with Jaclyn's Magic under the glass. My only con would be the lenght. Although the story has great ptential it is not too stretched for a novel. Apart from that it's enjoyable
amy_inthecatacombs's review against another edition
4.0
Esmerine is going to become a siren. When she was younger, she would go on land and play with Alander, a winged-boy, and often made fun of because she played with him. Eventually, they stopped playing and reading together when he started to go the Academy and was ready to become a messenger.
Esmerine has found it easier than some mermaids to walk on land, but it still causes her pain to walk on land. All mermaids have a belt that if given to a human, will let them live on land without pain, but this must be done with caution because once the belt is given away there’s no returning to the sea as a mermaid. Dosinia, however, isn’t at her ceremony. Esmerine can’t believe her sister would do this to her. She decides to go on land to find out what happened to her. With Alander’s help, will she find why Dosinia left?
I started this book earlier in the year, but I ended up setting it aside because it was taking me a while to get into the story. I usually can read the first couple of pages fairly quickly, but it was a challenge for me for this book at first. I recently picked it up again, and found myself finally enjoying the book. I felt bad that Esmerine’s sister didn’t come to her siren ceremony. I liked that Alan helped Esmerine when she needed him. I thought he was a very sweet character, even though at times he didn’t seem the most socially inept person. There were times, he was just too matter of fact. I’m glad I picked this book up again. This ended up being a very sweet book.
Esmerine has found it easier than some mermaids to walk on land, but it still causes her pain to walk on land. All mermaids have a belt that if given to a human, will let them live on land without pain, but this must be done with caution because once the belt is given away there’s no returning to the sea as a mermaid. Dosinia, however, isn’t at her ceremony. Esmerine can’t believe her sister would do this to her. She decides to go on land to find out what happened to her. With Alander’s help, will she find why Dosinia left?
I started this book earlier in the year, but I ended up setting it aside because it was taking me a while to get into the story. I usually can read the first couple of pages fairly quickly, but it was a challenge for me for this book at first. I recently picked it up again, and found myself finally enjoying the book. I felt bad that Esmerine’s sister didn’t come to her siren ceremony. I liked that Alan helped Esmerine when she needed him. I thought he was a very sweet character, even though at times he didn’t seem the most socially inept person. There were times, he was just too matter of fact. I’m glad I picked this book up again. This ended up being a very sweet book.
catnipped's review against another edition
2.0
There was just something missing for me here. The characters were empty, it was hard for me to really picture the surroundings and what the characters looked like.
What details I could imagine and the premise were wonderful, but the execution needed something.
What details I could imagine and the premise were wonderful, but the execution needed something.
sunsess's review
5.0
So, fun fact: this was my favorite mermaid tale back in the day. It was even favorable to the classic Disney Princess. And there's a few reasons for this.
-The main character loves to read and is constantly fascinated by the things around her. I found her to be very relatable
-You have winged people! I loveeeeeeeee having characters with wings, and a sea and sky forbidden romance? Come onnnnnnn
-Though in hindsight this seems to be more my complete dismissal for writer descriptions than Ms. Dolamore's own writing, at the time the opening scenery seemed very unique compared to others underwater worlds. Lets be real, they're all cliche, and terriblyyyyyyy droll. I do think it is vague enough though that you can manipulate the world to your liking which is nice
I did, however, notice one issue as I was rereading this. The siren's belt isn't very well explained. When I was younger I must've made up my own rules because the one's in the book aren't very concrete. Does the belt stop working when given to a human? Why can't they just go back and forth without removing their belt (yes, it hurts their feet... but it goes back and forth how big of a deal this is, and with all the moving Esmerine did, I'm not convinced it's all that great) Honestly there's just so many questions I feel could've been resolved, quite easily, by simply explaining the siren belt a little better.
But, this book is stilllllllllll one of my favorites. Perhaps I'm biased, but it just brings back so many lovely visuals. AND AND AND I forgot to mention, it's my favorite ship, best friend x best friend. Now tell me: how does it get better than that?
The answer is: it doesn't.
Four and a calf cows! I know in my heart I can't give it the full five but I really want to. <333
-The main character loves to read and is constantly fascinated by the things around her. I found her to be very relatable
-You have winged people! I loveeeeeeeee having characters with wings, and a sea and sky forbidden romance? Come onnnnnnn
-Though in hindsight this seems to be more my complete dismissal for writer descriptions than Ms. Dolamore's own writing, at the time the opening scenery seemed very unique compared to others underwater worlds. Lets be real, they're all cliche, and terriblyyyyyyy droll. I do think it is vague enough though that you can manipulate the world to your liking which is nice
I did, however, notice one issue as I was rereading this. The siren's belt isn't very well explained. When I was younger I must've made up my own rules because the one's in the book aren't very concrete. Does the belt stop working when given to a human? Why can't they just go back and forth without removing their belt (yes, it hurts their feet... but it goes back and forth how big of a deal this is, and with all the moving Esmerine did, I'm not convinced it's all that great) Honestly there's just so many questions I feel could've been resolved, quite easily, by simply explaining the siren belt a little better.
But, this book is stilllllllllll one of my favorites. Perhaps I'm biased, but it just brings back so many lovely visuals. AND AND AND I forgot to mention, it's my favorite ship, best friend x best friend. Now tell me: how does it get better than that?
The answer is: it doesn't.
Four and a calf cows! I know in my heart I can't give it the full five but I really want to. <333
snowbenton's review
1.0
It is not a romance when your main character almost gives up on the chance of finding her missing sister because the male lead is being a jerk.
It is not a romance when the mermaid main character is disgusted and ashamed of her mermaid form when in front of the non-mermaid male lead.
It is not a romance when neither character is willing to grow or change to be with the other.
This book was garbage.
It is not a romance when the mermaid main character is disgusted and ashamed of her mermaid form when in front of the non-mermaid male lead.
It is not a romance when neither character is willing to grow or change to be with the other.
This book was garbage.
yungokssss's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the first third of this book. I thought it was awesome how the author made it that mermaids and humans knew of each other, and could even visit each other. Then came in Alan. Sometimes he was amazingly heroic and romantic, and I was all "I need a man like that". But sometimes he was such a big pussy I wanted to slap his idiotic guts out. Also, the romance. I hated the way they "fell in love". If you can call it that. Also, the author made many implications, like, "he looked at her with pity, or something more". And you're like, "Ooh, he probably likes her!" And then you find out he really WAS pitying her. O.o
rebar351's review against another edition
3.0
Been wanting to read this and finally found a copy at my library. I love mermaids and really enjoyed this book. Cute romances with tough decisions and lots of talk of books :) I would recommend this book to other readers.