The mermaid queen of the Pacific Ocean is murdered. With her last breath, she casts a spell to protect her underwater kingdom until the next successor can be found, but the spell has an expiration date. It's up to Zoe, a college student, and Baxter, her Humanities professor, to find the murderer and save the mermaid kingdom from ruin. Zoe struggles to understand that the stories and myths she has been studying weren't actually stories but real accounts in magical history. With the spell’s expiration date nearing, she cautiously accepts her fate. Together they embark on a journey around the world solving riddles and meeting other mythical creatures along the way.

The novel started out very curt and choppy. There was very little character or situational development. The reader starts by meeting the characters, and then moves right into the quest. I would’ve liked to learn a little bit more about Zoe and her experiences on the swim team. It’s alluded that she was a great swimmer and the scandal around that, and I think that was an attempt to introduce the mermaids but wasn’t clear. Once we get through those first few chapters, the story picks up and the writing is much more cohesive. It’s easy to follow and the reader learns more about the characters.

When I chose this novel, the genre was listed as NA/Sci-Fi fantasy. I didn’t feel that this was an adult fiction novel. While there are some non-graphic sexual situations between characters, It read more as a middle age fiction to me. The writing was simple and straight forward. It wasn’t deep or thought provoking. There was very little foreshadowing. The reader knew exactly what was happening and when. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the entire novel. Sefarina’s name was misspelled in one place that I can recall, it was written as “Serafina.” The word “taunt” was used instead of “taut” when referring to the pendent’s chain. The word “past” was used instead of “passed” when referring to movement of the SUV. The word “titled” was used instead of “tilted” when Cavan tilted his head back. Those are a few of the mistakes I found.

The end a bit anticlimactic. In an effort to avoid spoilers, there was a part near the end when Ainslinn casts a spell that was almost exactly what occurred in a very well known mermaid story making it a complete let down for me. It was just too cliche. Otherwise, everything wrapped up nicely in the end. The reader knows if the kingdom gets saved, and it is left open for a sequel.

I really liked the premise of this story, and I am glad that I read it. The riddles were fun to read through and try to decipher. The author did a great job describing the underwater world. I could really see the images in my head from the see-sea, tail colors, swim speeds, and portal hopping. I could especially envision the oil spill in the Alaskan territory.

I would recommend this book as a middle age or fan-fiction novel after some more editing.

This book had an intriguing concept in that it was based around mermaid lore - focussing on the fact that Zoe, one of the main characters in this book, was a reincarnate of a mermaid queen.

The general backstory of the book and the beginning were fascinating and drew me right in; I settled myself in for a good read filled with mermaid myths, magic and adventure. To an extent, I do feel that the book offered that, I was 25% in when the plot lines with the mermaids really began to emerge.

However, I did stop reading at 25% as I was struggling to continue to be enthralled with the concept of the story. I found that the characters were quite boring and the writing was extremely simple. This book just was not for me But i guess it is very much part of a younger adult genre so I'm sure it'll be enjoyed by many others.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This was a nice adventure and it was beautifully written. I can say that I felt like reading a rick riordan book. The details and back story was to the point. No info dump to distract from the main story. Nice side characters that do have characters. Zoe was really the heroine, and the action around mythological creatures was really just to the point. Not overwhelming and not shallow.
Thanks!

Mermaids, murder, mayhem. Oh my! Zoe has found her way from college athletic drama straight into chaos among immortal beings in a magical realm. And I'm here for it! Using mythology from all around the world as the foundation, Michelle Sauer has created a unique world that I hope we get to explore again.

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. I really wanted to give the book 2.5 stars even though I wanted to love it so much! The characters were well-developed and really likeable. We had friends to lovers, friends to enemies, enemies to friends, all of it. We went all over the world. There was "magical technology". There were ghosts, demons, lycans. You name it. It was fun to read and the overall idea is there! I hope this is the first book of a series.

However, some of the writing was so darn confusing! I don't like to discuss things that could potentially be cleaned up in editing when I read an ARC, but it was impossible to ignore. Pretty much any scene that should have been fast-paced was absolute WORK to follow. I would have to reread passages multiple times trying to understand what was happening. Even then, I just had to move on and accept being clueless at times. I hope that there will be some edits made before publication so that this is corrected. It would be unfortunate for a great story to fall flat because of something that could be pretty easily remedied.

Another issue that I had was the lack of tension and magnetism between the main love interests. I know that when reading YA there will be less "spicy". But when reading love scenes between Zoe and Baxter, it all seemed forced and just slapped together. I want the scenes to build and naturally progress. I want them to suffer for each other and then get that release when they are together. I didn't get that from these two. It doesn't have to dirty to be hot.

Overall, I liked the book. I want more. But I want it to be better.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishing company and the author for giving me the chance to read and review Pacific Tails.

Retelling of Little Mermaid vibes.

I felt like the characters were a little flat and boring, but loved the concept of the book.

This book had such promise, sadly I wasn’t into the whole story line. The characters didn’t seem to have much dimension, but if this turns out to be a series then some redemption can be made!

Mermaids, murder, mystery with a side of a treasure hunt and a smudge of romance, what could be better, right?
This novel was nourishment for my inner child. It has everything you need in a book: adventure, danger, suspense, history, romance, comedy, sarcasm, character building, and a world the reader can get fully engrossed in.
It's a fast-paced and suspenseful story with interesting characters and a nice love story. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. I really enjoyed the story, but wish there was more romance between Baxter and Zoe. I would love to read more into their relationship. I’m so excited for the story to continue in the second book!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Pacific Tails merges the 21st century with mythological creatures in a unique way, accounting for mermaids from different regions and detailing a humans rise to mermaid queendom. While the premise is engaging. The overall storyline is somewhat predictable and the characters are not given much depth.