A review by sharon1112chh
A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling

3.0

The story was quite enjoyable, there are some continuity issues in Clio's thought processes but that could be easily glazed past. The character building was satisfactory while the chemistry was underdeveloped, especially between the main characters. The book was, otherwise, a nice, light/medium-ish read.

In comparison to [b:The Ugly Stepsister|23162056|The Ugly Stepsister (Unfinished Fairy Tales, #1)|Aya Ling|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425195799s/23162056.jpg|42708375]'s Kat and Edward, from the author's previous work, the romance part of this book was weaker. Where Kat and Edward had overcome obstacles together and grown stronger as a couple, Clio

and Lukas

was love at first sight

-she admired Lukas's looks even though he didn't have a tail and I count that as already having a unconscious crush on him-

and they didn't really do much

except one keeps flirting with the other who keeps hitting back in response.

However, I must point out that I enjoyed this book because of the mystery. It was so unexpected, I thought this was a fairy tale romance with a formula story pattern but the story turned out to be a mystery story too. The revealed suspect was a good surprise.

Damen, I had suspected was behind this. I had a theory that he might have been Lukas's half brother (in the book he was described to look a little like Lukas) so maybe that's why he plotted all those accidents... But I didn't suspect a single thing about Hermia, I cried out in shock!

I have always enjoyed the author's writing style and this one was no exception. Also, I love how the author drop some references of Disney and also Hans Christian Anderson's version of the story in, it is cleverly hinted so that it becomes part of that world...

I am grateful to the author, Aya Ling, for the opportunity to review this ARC.