THE SEAFARER'S KISS
Author: Julia EmberSeries: N/A
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Publisher: Duet Books
Publication Date: May 4, 2017
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Summary:
Having long-wondered what lives beyond the ice shelf, nineteen-year-old mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded on the mermen’s glacier. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king.
Determined to forge a different fate, Ersel seeks help from Loki. But such deals are never as one expects, and the outcome sees her exiled from the only home and protection she’s known. To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.
Purchase:
See a Guest Post from Julia about Plus Sized Heroines, my review of UNICORN TRACKS, and an interview with Julia prior to #Sapphicathon!
This was super cute and probably the best way for me to start getting back into reading this year and kick off #Sapphicathon! I love Julia's writing style and her characters because they are relateable even when they are mythical creatures. I would have liked this to be longer - especially the second half - but I thought it was a good book and one I would recommend if you are looking for a f/f retelling of The Little Mermaid!
I think one of the best parts of reading a book that Julia Ember writes is that her characters are real people. They don't fall into specific tropes or stereotypes but break free of those. And this was especially impressive in a story that is a retelling where you already know the characters. Ersel wasn't a carbon copy of Ariel from either the original text or the Disney franchise, but her own person that made choices and decisions that you could see yourself also doing. I absolutely adored Ragna and thought she was a fantastic secondary character but I need more from her.
I liked the plot of the story and how it played out. I liked that Ersel learned how to read between the lines and became less naive as the story progressed. I thought it was a good progression and didn't feel forced - it was a little quick but I think that is more because the novel itself wasn't that many pages (230!) so I would have liked the second part to have been a bit longer so it could have been fleshed out a bit more.
The shortness of the story is the stem of all the problems I had with this one because it felt as though everything happened in a short period of time even though I know it was over the course of months. But that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel itself. If you are looking for a quick read that is a great f/f retelling, THE SEAFARER'S KISS is the book for you.
Oh I'm so glad you enjoyed this one! It definitely sounds like a great story. I think the issue with the shortness of it sounds similar to the issue I had with one of her other book's being really short and not expanded enough! Regardless, it still sounds lovely--great review!
ReplyDelete