I requested this ARC through NetGalley, had the feeling of Little Mermaid spin-off erotica.  I like fairy tales and retellings, so I went with "why not?"  Saucy re-tellings can be lots of fun.

I gave up on this book maybe 50 pages in, at most.  I just couldn't do it.  It was too painful to read.  The writing is undeveloped and the story unengaging. Even the constant lust and longing is untitillating.

I don't like describing characters as "Mary Sues" but I'm not sure what else to use, such sparkling innocent feminine perfection with absolutely no substance.  Maybe it got better a few chapters in, I just couldn't stomach it to that point.  Just so much no.

She was supposed to monitor human activity on the lake, not grow to actually care about it. That was not a part of her job. She was not to be reveling in vibrations of human copulation like this.

I have to say this, no matter how weird I thought things became in this book I was interested in it throughout. This book follows Aliya, a mermaid with a forbidden obsession of a human male; Devin, a human with a past that continues to fill him with grief and regret; Raea, a fairy who is friends with Aliya; and Kyne, a fairy who is ashamed of his true identity and of his feelings towards Raea.

I started this book off a bit weirded out by what was going on. Aliya's obsession with Devin and watching him get it on with human women was a teeny bit weird (but she wasn't the only magical creature that seemed obsessed with watching humans get it on). I found myself giggling through the beginning until Aliya and Devin had their steamy encounter when they were both in the water together, I completely lost it then. I have never read a book about a mermaid and a man together and I'm not sure it was supposed to be but I found it to be hilarious. The technical difficulties because of her fin had me in stitches.

I really enjoyed the magical aspect of this book. Aliya's telepathic abilities were really interesting and I was fascinated by the fairies and how they all had different jobs in order to keep the human's happy.The magical creatures and their abilities were what really drove this book for me.

I understand that once Aliya gets her wished granted that she isn't going to know human culture right away. At times her questions and naivety became really annoying. She wasn't a strong woman at all and it annoyed me how she seemed only to want to please Devin and make everything okay for him. She had no backbone whatsoever. It is almost as though Devin didn't really realize the sacrifices that she was making for him until towards the end of the book.

I really loved the secondary storyline of Raea and Kyne. They were both such interesting characters and I loved their banter and their chemistry (even if they were trying to fight it). Kyne was pretty much my favorite character from the book. I was really interested in the Fairy Council and the different roles that fairies played. I loved that Raea and Kyne came together towards the end to help Aliya and Devin.

Ultimately I would recommend this book if you are interested in a love story involving magical creatures and you don't mind a really sappy story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the galley.

I requested this from NetGalley because the book description really reminded me of The Little Mermaid (the Disney version). As I read this it is clear that the main character, Aliya, is a bit different from Ariel. Aliya is able to feel the emotions of this human man (I think mermaids in this book have abilities to feel emotions) and so she is in the water next to his boat purposely feeling his emotions as he is getting it on with another woman and it clearly sounds like she has done this before. If that isn't creepy, I don't know what is.

(eta: it turns out the guy isn't a prince so I edited my reading update. Also  Aliya isn't the only magical creature in this book that is obsessed with watching humans get it on.)