4 Stars
Okay, I loved this retelling! A great, clever, and modern take on the classic Disney movie. As a Little Mermaid fan myself (I have the first and second movie on VHS), I appreciated how all the characters from the movies are integrated here. This take on Ursula was super refreshing and I loved the relationship with Ariel/Melody and her sisters. A super sweet, slow-burn romance with great tension, though not too steamy. A bit predictable but still a super fun story. I shipped Ariel/Melody and Eric from the beginning and adored this addition to the Meant To Be series.

Thank you NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the ARC!

Very cute slow burn romance. Fun read though I couldn't help comparing to the movie and wanting to know WHO WILL BE THE SEA WITCH? because you love to hate Ursula. LOL

A sweet and ever-so-slightly spicy take on The Little Mermaid. I found Cordova's twist to be a satisfying take on a fish out of water story with Ariel coming out of stardom and going undercover on Eric's tour bus as the merch girl. The characters of Ursula and King Tritan both got way more depth and I love that Vanessa had a part to play.

Sha la la la my oh my!
I have loved all of the Meant to Be novels so far so this one had a lot of hype to live up to and it did NOT disappoint. I loved the modern real life changes they made compared to the Little Mermaid, and I loved Ariel/Melody and Eric’s love. Such an easy read, and now it makes me want to rewatch the OG Little Mermaid!

{Read this if: you love The Little Mermaid, Disney, stories of finding yourself, original concepts, music}

Big thanks to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Group for this ARC!

If you grew up watching The Little Mermaid and love reading rom-coms, this is the book for you! Fun and sweet, this book is sure to delight Disney fans. Readers will love Ariel and her journey to find her voice. Kiss the Girl is a summer rom-com must-read!

I'm sure it was no coincidence that this book is slated to come out the same year as the live action The Little Mermaid. As a girl who was born in the 90's, I grew UP with the Little Mermaid. I was obsessed or so my mom tells me. (I don't fully remember). This book was a complete delight as a modern retelling of The Little Mermaid.

I appreciated that Melody, "Ariel" is a pop star whose "rebellion" is wanting to leave the spotlight behind. Her dad is a combo of Ursula and King Triton (and yeah, I kind of hated him) but otherwise, every single character is likeable. Eric, the guitar playing heartthrob. All seven sisters have a CLOSE relationship. It was refreshing to have positive relationships.

Yes, there was the typical misunderstandings that often happen in romcoms. It was predictable, yes, but still adorable. I'd almost call this new adult, even more than adult. It's cleaner than Colleen Hoover (one brief, non explicit sex scene in Kiss the Girl). It has lots of crossover appeal!

Ariel Del Mar is ready to spend some time finding herself. As the youngest of the seven Del Mar sisters and a member of the super group Siren Seven, her life has never been her own. Instead it has been carefully controlled and choreographed by her father. But Siren Seven is breaking up and Ariel has been promised a year to do what she wants. Except her father is going back on his promise and wants Ariel to start a solo career, leaving Ariel disappointed, angry and feeling stuck. Then she meets Eric Reyes, the lead singer of up and coming band, Starcrossed. Eric doesn’t recognize Ariel and she introduces herself with her legal name, Melody Marin. After a magical night exploring New York together, Eric offers Ariel a job as the merch girl on the band’s upcoming tour. Ariel surprises herself and accepts the job after a huge blowup with her father. Even though Ariel and Eric are drawn to each other, they both have reasons to keep their relationship strictly platonic and decide to just be friends. As the tour winds its way across the United States, Ariel and Eric become closer and feelings start to develop, but Eric’s band is on the rise and Ariel is still running from her reality. With so much going against them, will the two lovers be able to make a relationship work?

Kiss the Girls is such a sweet take on The Little Mermaid. Córdova’s premise was fun and fresh. Ariel and her sisters as pop princesses managed by their controlling father was pure magic! Ariel and Eric are perfect together. They have an instant connection and form strong, genuine feelings for each other. They’re sweet, supportive and kind. They both have hard relationships with their fathers, but have other great relationships that give them solid emotional foundations in Ariel’s sisters and Eric’s band mates. The secondary characters are unique and quirky and make the reader smile. Cordova has an easy and engrossing writing style that draws you quickly into the story and holds you there. She brings the joy of Disney’s The Little Mermaid and splashes it across the pages of the book. Just a warm, fuzzy, happy story.

Sha la la la la la my oh my.

Ok sorry I couldn’t resist. But really, what other sentence so neatly sums up Zoraida Cordova’s Kiss the Girl, the third book in the Meant To Be series, which retells Disney’s fairy tales in a contemporary setting. As the title suggests, Kiss the Girl takes on a certain little mermaid who wants to be part of another world, and Cordova really takes the source material and molds it in to a story that is sweet, sexy, swoony and powerful all in one.

The story follows Ariel del Mar, the youngest of seven sisters who have spent their whole lives as Siren Seven, who are something like a cross between the Spice Girls and the Olsen Twins back in their heyday. Each has a distinct marketable personality, and the girls have the kind of staggering level of worldwide fame that means they’ve seen it all, done it all, and appear on more merchandise that they can possibly hope to keep track of.

Well, maybe it’s more accurate to say they’ve almost seen and done it all. As part of Atlantica Records, and under the authority of their dad-ager Teo del Mar, the seven of them haven’t had much of a chance to be where the other people are. When their plans for a promised hiatus are suddenly thrown up in the air, the sisters are thrown for a loop.

On the other side of things is Eric Reyes, front man for an up and coming band called Star Crossed. They’re about to embark on their first national tour, with the hopes of signing a deal that will launch their careers in a big way. The night before they leave, Eric meets Ariel in disguise and is so taken with her, he invites her to join the tour as their merch girl. Not being much of a Siren Seven fan, he has no idea who the cute new girl he just met is.

While the music-centric premise is obviously very Little Mermaid, and the Easter eggs will make any fan smile - especially when the less obvious ones click - the story feels like a worthy new entry into the canon rather than a retelling played straight. Rather than events hoping over 1:1 from the movie, Cordova puts a unique spin on them, making this world her own while keeping the spirit of The Little Mermaid fully intact. And of course, there were a few genuine surprises in there that kept the story feeling fresh. Ariel’s sisters, too, get their due (though their baby sister obviously remains the focus), each of them given a distinct characterization outside of the general grouping they’ve been stuck in in the popular imagination.

Ariel and Eric’s romance was simply the most delightful of slow burns, with the friendship really having time to develop before progressing — and probably helped by the fact that Ariel can actually speak the entire time. They help each other learn and grow, and the moments between them alternate from sweet to swoony and everything in between.

Cordova says in the afterword that The Little Mermaid was her favorite movie as a child, and that she has loved it since she first saw it, and that love really shines through. This book is a loving tribute, and a fresh take all in one, the kind of clever story born from true love.

Kiss the Girl is available August 1, 2023. Special thank you to Disney Books for the advance copy for review purposes.

What was your favorite princess movie growing up?

Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Córdova

If you are a Little Mermaid super fan, this book is definitely for you. This book is peppered with all sorts of cute nods to the movie. So keep a look out for them!

Ariel is a famous pop star being controlled by her overbearing father. So she decides to take a break from her life and joins another up and coming bands tour bus, as somebody else. She thinks she’s falling in love with the lead guy too, the problem is… he doesn’t know who she really IS!

I seriously loved that Eric kept dissing her band with no idea it was her. Idk how she didn’t give herself away. 😂🤣😂

Fantastic contemporary retelling of The Little Mermaid! I am a fan of Cordova's writing style and was excited to see that she was adding to this series of retellings. This was a fun, romantic read and I really enjoyed all aspects of it. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This might be my favorite Meant To Be book yet? I grew up loving The Little Mermaid and I love that Ariel is having a resurgence right now. This book totally captures the heart of the story and adapts it perfectly to a modern setting. I love that the sisters got to be characters themselves outside of just "the sisters" and I loved the way everyone in animated Eric's life got adapted into book Eric's bandmates. But my favorite little easter egg was when Zoey Castille, the author's romance writing alter ego, showed up in the fictional online comments section of this book! I can't wait to see what the next book in the series will be!

I had such a good time reading this one especially with the new little mermaid releasing, it just felt like the perfect time to read this one. I loved Ariel and Eric, both as characters and in a relationship. This book made me feel so many emotions and I am so glad that I got to read it.

I’ve read all the books in the “Meant to Be” series and I hadn’t really enjoyed any of them so I wasn’t holding my breath for this one.

I was pleasantly surprised and I found it hard to put down! Lots of diversity in the characters with a Latinx twist!

This is my first book by this author so I’m looking forward to reading her other works!

The only issue I had with the book is that the ending felt a bit rushed.

Thank you to NetGalley & Hyperion Avenue for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really enjoying the updates on the Disney princess stories and seeing how they integrate elements of the classic movies into the new story. This one might be my favourite so far. Can't wait to see which one they tackle next!

Now THIS is a PROPER ROMANCE. You have your meet-cute! Your appealing leads! Your forced proximity! Your moderately logical reason why they cannot consummate the sexual tension right away and instead get to know each other and fall in love! Your adorable cast of supporting characters! Your comedically wicked roadblock to the relationship which must be overcome! Absolutely nails all the beats, I enjoyed every second of the book, I would not have wanted it to be any longer OR shorter. Taylor Swift AND Little Mermaid fans, rejoice.

Kiss the Girl is the third installment in Disney’s “Meant to Be” series of adult fiction retellings of their films, all released near the live action films that inspired them. (The series entries are completely unrelated to the others, so consider them standalones.) Like her Little Mermaid namesake, Ariel del Mar is the youngest of seven sisters. Her life has been that of a privileged pop princess as part of the wildly popular “Siren Seven” singing group with her sisters, run by their domineering father. They have just completed a farewell tour, and everyone wants to take a well-deserved break from music and publicity. Ariel has an anonymous evening out with one sister and their friend, where they watch a new group starring Eric Reyes with whom she strikes up a friendship. Without her trademark red wig and flashy costume, she is known to him only as a fan named Melody. After a fight with her dad, Ariel impulsively decides to take a job working for Eric’s group on their tour. Can she make a living on her own, without her powerful family’s help, and even find love? I thoroughly enjoyed this take on the familiar story, with many nods to the original animated movie.

Thank you Hyperion Avenue for this ARC.

I’ve been so excited to read the third Meant to be book. I love the concept of mixing Disney fairytales with modern romance.

I’ve loved Zoraida Cordova’s writing since Bruja Born, so I was hyped to read her take on The Little Mermaid. This one might be my favourite in the whole series and I really hope Disney continues it. It’s a fun IP to get lost in and all the easter eggs and direct Disney references are fun. It hits the nostalgia button hard.

The romance is hot, despite this being a closed door romance. The conflict keeping them apart is believable and ups the tension. It’s the rockstar trope twice over, but also secret identity romance.

The supporting characters are rich and well drawn out. The thing I love about the series as a whole is that the villains are always complex and three dimensional. Under Cordova’s skilled hand, the Ursula stand in is sexy, fierce and protective. But also concerned with contracts. Chef’s kiss.

Would recommend this book for anyone who loves fairytale retellings, rock stars, latin x, and well modern romance in general.

This book was disappointing. After the other two Meant to Be Series being clean and having no language, this was a surprise and a huge disappointment. The plot fell flat. The same things kept getting brought up. I feel like there was no character growth. The story was unbelievable. This one just wasn't good.

Adorable take on this classic Disney fairtale, but with a twist. This is my first time reading anything by this author, however I have read the previous books in the Meant to Be series (also produced by Disney), and I would have to say that this book is by far my favorite. The author does a great job of walking the thin line of paying tribute to the book, while not going so far as to be considered too cheesey, while at the same time still feeling completely original in its story. Honestly, you wouldn't know that this were a modernized retelling of the classic Little Mermaid movie if you were to change some of the details, and I honestly think that has to do with the strength of the storytelling in this title. While there is clearly a source the author has drawn inspiration from, they didn't rely on it. It is very clear that it was inspired by the animated classic, and it pays tribute in a beautiful way.

This is a story about a young woman looking to break free and find her own identity, crashes into her own meet-cute moment, with a summer of discovery, road trip curses, rock-n-roll dreams and supportive sisters. This book is appropriate for adults and teens who are comfortable reading about adult relationships. While it isn't graphic, certain behaviors are (lightly) discussed and relations are implied.

Highly recommended.

I love seeing larger bodies on book covers!!! This whole series has been so charming, this book being no exception. I loved the writing, the wit, and the heartfelt nature of this book. Highly recommend.