keira anne with an e

Not all humans are worth trading your voice for legs.

That’s what Merri realizes when she finds herself learning to walk and being banished from the only land she’s ever known by a prince.

Who loses his memory right before being cast into a strange world.

Far off in another world lies a small town in Wales– where Jac lives and tends to a lighthouse, plagued by dreams of a strange world where princes and mermaids are pursued by darkness.

The truth shrouded under mists and magic, they will each have to summon the courage to face the darkness and save the light.

Please note: Thank you to Alissa J. Zavalianos for providing this advanced copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 stars)

Wow.

Going into this book, I just sort of judged it by it’s cover… although, CAN YOU BLAME ME?

This cover is easily one of the prettiest of this year. I can’t stop staring at it. The colors, the drawings, the characters, THE LIGHTHOUSE??? You better leave me here and let me fangirl for a while, because I don’t think I will ever be over this beautiful cover.

Of course, even more convincing than the stunning cover was the fact that it is written by the amazing Alissa (if you aren’t following her on Instagram, you should be, she’s fantastic). Anyway, I judged it was an epic fantasy filled with mermaids. And, in some ways it was… but it was also so much more. About a quarter of the way into the book, a certain event happened that I’m not sure if it would be a spoiler… but it was AMAZING!!

Usually, I like either the beginning or the end of a book the most, but this time, it was definitely the middle section. To be honest, I would love to read a whole book that was nothing but that setting and relationship dynamic. I mean… it was just amazing, and I was such a huge fan.

I felt our characters had a lot more depth than was my original impression, and I did like how they really had a transformative journey. That was very refreshing to see, and I definitely was rooting for them by the end. And their relationship… aww, it was just the sweetest thing! Honestly.

Without risking some spoilers, I will say my only issue with this book was how a couple of things ended. I’m a sucker for a perfectly “happy ever after”, and I would have made a few slight tweaks, but I understand why the author made the choices she did, and I’m sure other people will appreciate those a bit more.

(And please, authors, follow Alissa’s example here. If you’re going to have a complex magic/portal system, please explain it as this author did. It makes things so much simpler for us poor readers.)

Content-wise, I would say it was very clean if you’re tolerant of some magic (not a ton), and some violence. I did find it slightly disturbing that our main character loses her tongue early on, and I think a lot of readers who are more sensitive like myself might have an issue with that. However, it really is just a matter of personal comfort levels.

This book is now available, which I am so happy about! I can’t wait to hear people talking about this one more in the future, because it was definitely one of my favorite mermaid stories, and I hope many other readers will be able to “dive” (pun totally intended) into this story, and the sweet romance it contains.

EMOJI REVIEW!

• 🌊 mermaids
• 👑 princes and royalty
• 🐋 lots of nautical bits and atmosphere
• 🤫 a silent heroine
• 🔎 amnesia trope
• ✨ gorgeous cover
• 🥹 the sweetest romance
• ⛪ faith content

Thank you so much for reading this review! Please check this book out, and thank you again to Alissa for a copy of this book.