This book really just was not for me. I loved the idea of the book but I seriously just could not get into it. I forced myself through hoping it would change but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this reimagining of the Little Mermaid, but I was pleasantly surprised! I hadn't thought that the Little Mermaid could be turned into a more adult version, but I'm really glad that it was.

This was an original spin with a great character set and fun characters.

"For mermaids and humans, the rules are the same: be careful around strangers, be wary of magic and before you dive in, check what’s lurking under the waves."

I thoroughly enjoyed the writer's style as it is descriptive enough to help me create a mental image, but not so descriptive that it takes too long to get somewhere. The idea of being able to change from mermaid to human is different, at least for me, and I enjoyed it a lot; It makes me wish I could change into a mermaid from time to time haha I highly recommend this book to everybody who likes fairy-tales retellings, in a way, fantasy and adventure. I am so excited for the next book in the series, I cannot wait! Meanwhile, I will pick up other books by this author as I became a big fan of her work after reading Cruel and Splendid Mermaids.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I went into this book completely blind and was pleasantly surprised. Super interesting premise, mermaid has a certain window to get pregnant or will be committed to a life of drudgery, but plot twist her siren voice doesn’t work correctly. And it was well executed besides some loose ends which is what will be a lead into book 2.

The FMC is a bit whiny but it makes sense for plot purposes because of how obtuse she really is and this book is her breaking through her naivety and being concerned with more than just herself.

I want to read book 2 when it comes out!

I loved this!!! I could not stop reading this book! The world building for this was superb and I could not get enough of this!! I loved Ellaras character and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!!! I am absolutely obsessed.
I just reviewed Cruel and Splendid Mermaids by Julie Catherine. #CruelandSplendidMermaids #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Received this via netgalley. All opinions are my own!

Honestly, this book was such a struggle to get through
It wasn't necessarily poorly written, but the plot, the dialogue and the characters were so strange it bordered on ridiculous and I just wanted it to end. Although, I do see where the author it coming from, having the main character's only trait for the majority of the book be "horny" is just not interesting to read and it was impossible to connect or have any type of investment in her whatsoever.
This just wasn't for me.

I thought that this was a solid four star read. It took me a while to get into it, but once the story started going, it was really interesting and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Ellara is a "Squirt in transition" which essentially means that she is in a limbo period of her development. If she is able to mate with a male before the end of her transition she will become a Fert, but if she fails to she will become a Barre. The Ferts are basically used for breeding purposes and it is their sole job to get pregnant and keep the Merme population growing. A Barre is a mermaid who didn't mate by the end of their transition for one reason or another and their role is that of maids, cooks, house mothers, etc, they do the labor so that the Ferts can live with no other purpose than to get pregnant.

For Ellara, becoming a Barre is the worst possible outcome and she would do just about anything to become a Fert. The only problem is, that she only has three days before the end of her transition and her Siren Voice is broken. The broken voice means that even when she tries to proposition a man, everything goes haywire and she gets rejected.

In an effort to find her first mate, she ends up saving a sailor from a boating accident. Unfortunately, The sailor was a she. But again, her voice doesn't work so when she couldn't sing her memories away, they team up. Maggie, the human, will help Ellara find a man to have sex with in exchange for information about the Merme.
I won't go into too much detail past that because I don't want to spoil the main points of the story.

I'll be honest, at first I found Ellara really self centered and obnoxious, but by the end of the story, not only had she gained a lot of character development, but it is also made a bit clearer why she behaves the way she does at the beginning of the book. Her obsession with sex was also a bit annoying, but again, it does start to make sense as the book progresses. It also made for some hilarious dialogue between Ellara and Maggie, which was my favorite part of the book.

It was stated in the description that the book was "dark". I did not find that to be the case in this book, but there were some plots that have yet to be fully developed and have the potential to be a bit dark later in the series. But as for this book, I found it funny more than anything.

I will say that the one thing absolutely did not like about this book..... the phrase "holy snot buckets"
No.
Just No.
I never want to read that again.

Other than that, this was a solid read. I look forward to seeing what the author does with the rest of the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The mermaids may be nineteen, but their maturity is a lot younger. I was looking for something other than a walking pregnancy trope and was a bit disappointed to find that the whole book was based on this one trope. Still, I haven't found a lot of mermaid books recently so happy to read any. It was well written for what it was.

This was an honest NetGalley review.

Okay ive been wanting yo read a mermaid fantasy/romance book for so long and when i came across this book, after reading the description i knew right away that it was going to be such a god and compelling story. I love how this book also takes place underwater and we get a glimpse of the mermaids pov for once in fantasy books. Overall i really enjoyed reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for this honest review.

The writing wasn’t for me unfortunately and I ended up DNFing.

So I have a hard time with this rating. While I had a hard time getting into this story— by the end of it I was really into it and loved every moment.

By the end of the book, I really fell in love with the characters. Some of the ways the author was building the world took me out of the story. The focus on having babies for Neptune’s army also took me out of the story at the beginning. I’m glad I stuck with it because it did make the stakes higher for the romance part toward the end. I’m curious to see what happens next because there is a bigger story that is being set up.

Thank you to GCMW Publishing and NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book.


It is a fun and intriguing read. It's been a while since I read mermaid books. I love a good mermaid story.

Cruel and Splendid Mermaids
by Julie Catherine
DNF.

I wanted to like this so so so badly, and I really tried, but I just couldn’t get into it. It’s really confusing as to who the audience is; very adult things are discussed by what feel like pre-teen/teen characters. I couldn’t make a connection with any of the main characters, all of which resulted in this being a DNF for me.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC!! 🩷📚

I love mermaids and fantasy books. The synopsis of this one sounded interesting, but I really slogged through this book. The plot of this book wasn't YA, but the writing was so simple as to make these complex topics childish.
The world building was unique, especially for a mermaid story, but I could not get into these characters or their motivations.

I guess mermaids just aren't my thing, no matter how hard I try. And I did try. The story itself was entertaining, I just couldn't get myself to connect to the characters more. Still, I think this is a good choice for anyone who enjoys mermaid books, coming of age book, and nice entertainment.

I'm a pretty big fantasy reader, and the premise of this one really drew me in right from the beginning, but I really struggled through this one. The fantasy world or Merme was really interesting and immersive, but the writing style just didn't quite hit the sweet spot for me. While the content of the book was very adult in nature, the writing style and tone came off as quite young, and this mismatch just made the audience a little bit unclear.

dnf @ 53%

*A special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

I really tried to get into this one and I just kept putting off reading it. So, I'm taking that as a sign that it's time to dnf. The writing style just isn't for me. The tone is very young but the topics are quite adult, so I'm not sure who the audience is. Similar to that, the language was just kind of cringey? And I just couldn't get passed how unlikeable all of the characters were.