Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an e arc of this one!

What a great anthology of diverse mermaid/siren stories!

Some of these stories had me in an absolute chokehold I loved them so much! A few others were just okay and there was one that I DNF'd because it seemed incredibly boring and predictable after the first four pages lol.

I really did love this as a whole even more than Vampires Never Grow Old and I look forward to more anthologies like this!

CW: death, racism, fatphobia, queerphobia

Okay I’m going to be honest. I went into this thinking “am I going to get bored? How different can we make mermaid stories?” But I went for it anyone and I am so happy to say that I was wrong. This collection was diverse, haunting, romantic, and exciting. I have to hope that Kalynn Bayron’s story is inspired by the Hey Arnold episode (if you know you know), I loved Cordova & Parker’s collab, and each story carried on its own. This is a wonderful take on mermaids and I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology.

What's not to love about mermaids and short stories? I loved Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite and its fresh takes on the vampire myth, so I was so excited to see there would be a similar collection about mermaids. This was so fun and there was something for every reader.

I’m surprised to tell you that most of this book was, for lack of a better word, meh. Most of the stories did not feel very original and ran together. It’s not for lack of talent; these are some great writers. The stories aren’t bad; they just aren’t memorable. I wondered if perhaps the common theme made things too similar, but no, I think you could do a LOT with mermaids and sea creatures. The standout story for me was “Sea Wolf in Prince’s Clothing” by Adriana Herrera, which I would love turned into an entire book. “Shark week” by Maggie Tokuda Hall took a different direction from the others at least, so I would have liked for more of the authors to have gone in a different direction. For someone who has not read many mermaid tales, this may be a winner, but after reading Skin of the Sea and Soul of the Deep by Natasha Bowen, this seems like a weak showing.

3.5 Anthologies are almost always a mixed bag. We have some excellent contributions, from the usual suspects. Little Badger and Maniscalco have super contributions. Coffindaffer was a surprise to me, very well done. I really enjoyed it. Everything else was a little expected. Admittedly, I like vampires better. I do think that the rom-com and rom-fantasy fans will devour this. Recommended for those who love shiny scales and swoony romance.

These were all such good stories, and while I understand the concept of a story collection - I just wanted more from each of them! The first one was by far my favorite, though! The world building was so good, and I would love to see more from those mermaids… Will highly recommend!!

This was a pleasant read. I really enjoyed the fresh takes on mermaid folklore and mythology that most of these stories retold in their own voice. The pacing was also moderately quick so I had an easy time reading through the stories and getting my fill of them. The only downside I had while reading this anthology was the lack of connection with some of the characters in different stories. I just couldn’t bring myself to care for them. I did like the summer time vibes throughout the book, but some of the stories just weren’t doing it for me.

I wish I could give this book more than five stars! That's how much I loved it. I am a completely and utterly obsessed with mermaids and this collection of stories creates a microcosm of a world that holds mermaids of diversified cultures, ideologies, abilities, and sexualities. Ugh. I love it.

This is such a fun, short, anthology about MERMAIDS!! I absolutely loved this. This book contains stories about mermaids and sirens. It's a fast-paced fantasy anthology.

As with any short story anthology, some of these spoke to me more than others. Overall, though, this is a really interesting and solid collection of short stories that are cohesive together, yet each approach their shared topic (i.e.: mermaids) from a unique angle, which makes it easy for each to be memorable in its own right.

This is a great book! The stories focus sometimes on myths, other times original stories, showing the perspective of both the sirens/merpeople and the humans. I really loved how magical and escapist this book feels! You get lost in this reality, where merpeople and humans live together.
Some of the stories are sad, others are filled with joy, some have open-endings, while others get wrapped up easily, there's a story for every type o reader here.
I also really enjoy how diverse the stories are! There's people of all races and sexualities, which not only is inclusive, but makes various types of people relate to these stories.
I loved this anthology! Mermaids were my favourite type of creature when I was young (they still are to be honest), and this book didn't disappint!

I've read a lot of these and I think this collection is, collectively, one of the better ones. It feels like a cohesive set. Even the ones I didn't like as much were still pretty stellar.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. It was super cute and I loved it

Oh, I absolutely adored this! Julian Winters' and Kerri Maniscalco's stories were my favorites, no surprise there, but I also really loved Kalynn Bayron's, Julie C. Dao's, and Jane Hur's. All of these were so unique and diverse and they were really fun, cool takes on mermaids. 10/10 recommend.

“A Vietnamese mermaid caught between two worlds. A siren who falls for Poseidon's son. A boy secretly pining for the merboy who saved him years ago. A storm that brings humans and mermaids together. Generations of family secrets and pain. Find all these stories and more in this gripping new collection that will reel you in from the very first page!”

Another truly excellent collection of short stories! Any fan of speculative fiction & fantasy should add this to their collection.