<i>Thank you to Titan Books for the ARC approval on Netgalley! All thoughts are my own.</i>

I've never been a huge mermaid fan. I liked <i>The Little Mermaid</i> and if I read stories I usually preferred the darker ones about sirens and the like, so I wasn't sure what I was going to make of this collection. I really had a fun time with it. They really did a great job of exploring mermaid lore through different cultures and creating a bunch of interesting stories.

Storm Song by Rebecca Coffindaffer (3/5)
We'll Always Have June by Julian Winters (4/5)
The Story of a Knife by Gretchen Schreiber (4/5)
The Dark Calls by Preeti Chhibber (2/5)
Return to the Sea by Kalynn Bayron (3/5)
The Deepwater Vandal by Darcie Little Badger (4/5)
The Nightingale's Lament by Kerri Maniscalco (5/5)
Sea Wolf in Prince's Clothing by Adriana Herrera (3/5)
Nor'easter by Katherine Locke (4.5/5)
The First and Last Kiss by Julie Murphy (4/5)
The Merrow by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker (2/5)
Shark Week by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (DNF)
Jinju's Pearls by June Hur (3/5)
Six Thousand Miles by Julie C. Dao (4/5)

As with all short story collections, not every story was a hit with me, but I enjoyed my time reading it. I averaged out my individual ratings and it ended up being 3.5 stars which seems about right to me.

Okay so I’m only a little bit (a lot) obsessed with mermaids and I actually died when I heard this book existed - a short story collection all about mermaids?!?!! Aah

All of these stories were incredible, but they all also seemed to leave me annoyed, wanting a full length novel from them! Genuinely I loved them all, but three in particular stood out to me. Oh and just to note that these three came one after another, so there’s a high chance I was just in a happier mood lol

The Deepwater Vandal by Darcie Little Badger
Okay so surprised by this one and I had a big genuine shock gasp towards the end - yeh please give me more

The Nightingale’s Lament by Kerri Maniscalco
Jesus, I was practically drooling reading this. Let’s just say kingdom of the wicked has become high priority on my tbr

Sea Wolf in Prince’s Clothing by Adriana Herrera
Yes! So good, but honestly it needs a full length novel (please). There’s so much more that could be explored and pretty please

All so amazing, might just watch h2o again to keep me dreaming

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my h0nest review.

Only a few months ago I was lamenting the lack of mermaids in modern fantasy fiction, and low and behold this anthology drops into my lap. It was fate.

I really enjoyed this collection of different takes on mermaid mythology from across the world, each one bringing something different and fresh to the table.

Highlights for me were The Story of A Knife, where a girl uncovers the secrets of her family's past after a chance encounter with a merman, The Nightingale's Lament in which a seductive siren preys on unscrupulous men on her island, Sea Wolf in Prince's Clothing about a cruel kingdom and it's vicious enslavement of mermaids, and Six Thousand Miles, a tale of a young Vietnamese American mermaid torn between her mother's homeland and the place she's grown up.

With such a variety of voices, this anthology really has something for all types of readers, from cute queer contemporary romance, to a more speculative fiction edge with sci-fi like seamonsters.

Individual ratings:

Storm Song by Rebecca Coffindaffer 4/5
We'll Always Have June by Julian Winters 3.5/5
The Story of a Knife by Gretchen Schreiber 4.5/5*
The Dark Calls by Preeti Chhibber 3.5/5
Return To The Sea by Kalynn Bayron 3.5/5
The Deepwater Vandal by Darcie Little Badger 4/5*
The Nightingale's Lament by Kerri Maniscalco 4/5*
Sea Wolf In Prince's Clothing by Adriana Herrera 4/5*
Nor'easter by Katherine Locke 4/5
The First and Last Kiss by Julie Murphy 3.5/5
The Merrow by Zoraida Cordova and Natalie C. Parker 3.5/5
Shark Week by Maggie Tokuda-Hall 4/5
Jinju's Pearls by June Hur 3.5/5
Six Thousand Miles by Julie C. Dao 4.5/5

* all these stories are ones I'd read an entire full length of because the world building captured my interest so hard!

I’ve only recently got into reading anthologies so maybe take my opinion with a pinch of salt - get it?

Anyway… I think this really started off strong for me. My personal favourites actually being the first three stories funnily enough - Storm Song, We’ll Always Have June, and The Story of A Knife.

Even though my enjoyment started to sink as I got further into the depth of the book (sorry I had too!) I do think all the stories belong in this collection to appeal to a wide variety of readers and preferences. The authors have done a great job of proving a well rounded mix of representation and depictions of different variations of what it means to be a mermaid.

You can look forward to vivid descriptions of the sea, stormy atmospheres, charming romance, and stories of empowerment!

Mermaids are my favourite mythical creature and these authors did the mermaid girlies justice so thank you!

I think I’m right in that happy medium of I didn’t absolutely love it, but definitely didn’t hate it either. I’d normally for a 2.5 star rating in this situation but as these stories will provide some comforting representation for multiple communities then I’m happy to give it a 3-star.

And of course, thank you to NetGalley + Titan Books for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Like a lot of short story collections, this was a mixed bag. I tend to read collections all written by one author that I like but it was nice to read lots of different authors.

My favourite story was probably Storm Song by Rebecca Coffindaffer because I my favourite short stories are always ones that are more obscure and poetic. I did find the use of the second person narrative a little jarring although respect the author for trying out a rarely used narrative for this.

I liked how Kalynn Bayron brought in the discussion of cultural appropriation into her story - Return to the Sea.

I also would like to read The Deepwater Vandal by Darcie Little Badger as a longer story. The premise was really interesting but it was all wrapped up a little too quickly. I wanted more character exploration and I was left with too many questions.

All in all I loved the mermaid theme because…well….I still want to be a mermaid. Some stories were great and others fell flat for me. I can’t say it will be a collection that will stay with me but I definitely enjoyed it regardless.

My thanks to Netgalley, Titan Books and the authors involved for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this anthology. Whilst all of the stories are really good, the one that stands out the most for me was the Nightgale's Lament by Kerri Maniscalco, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me and knows how much I love her writing and her imagination.

Overall, really good, and I will definitely be buying to add to my collection!

As with any short story collection, some will be great, some quite mediocre, and some just simply not enjoyable. This was the case here, a big bag of mixed things. Only one stood out to me the most.

As a huge mermaid lover I am thrilled to acquire this collection of stories! Especially since the resurgence in popularity of TLM live action readers have been more anxious for stories involving mermaids. This is a great book for people of all ages to share in the mystical fun!

For a collection of 12 stories all about mermaids they all felt very unique and had their own spin on the legend and told their own story in their own way.

I generally find with anthologies that they ebb and flow a bit (pun intended) but each story in this had my attention fully. Some are serious and melancholy and some are quirky and weird (looking at you Shark Week) but I absolutely loved this collection of stories, honestly not a bad one in the bunch

I would highly recommend any of these and I'm off to find out more about the authors that are new to me but Standouts were Deepwater Vandal and The Nightgales Lament (I would love more of this one)

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan books for the chance to read this early. Definitely a stellar follow up to the Vampires Never Get Old anthology!