Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

Author: Lily D.
Publisher: BooksGoSocial
Released: November 1, 2023
Received: NetGalley

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Book Summary:

Aria has never quite felt at home beneath the deep blue sea. Sure, merfolk are supposed to be happy living in the city, but Aria dreams of more. Life outside the city limits. A life of her own. So when she finds a secret and forgotten map, she knows what she needs to do.

Unfortunately, Aria’s father has a different opinion. Still, he lets her go – on the condition that she take along one of his warriors as her protector. Together, these two are about to stumble upon the unthinkable.

My Review:

I love a good Little Mermaid retelling. Unfortunately, I don’t think A Mermaid Tale of the Lost Empire is the one for me. Or maybe I’m not the one for it? The biggest problem is that I missed the label as a Christian fantasy, which significantly changes the connotation of the tale. At least it does for this one!

To be clear, I don’t have a problem reading a book with religious subtext. The problem is that A Mermaid Tale of the Lost Empire took it beyond subtext. This kept throwing me out of the story, making for a more jarring experience than I had hoped.

Likewise, while the romantic plot had a lot of potential (I love enemies-to-lovers), I feel like this one fell short. It was okay, but it would have been better without the love triangle (that’s probably my bias showing, though, as I am not a fan of love triangles).

Highlights:

• Mermaids
• Romantic Fantasy
• Retelling
• Enemies-to-Lovers

Thanks to BooksGoSocial and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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