Gay fish? Yes please.

But seriously, this book was a love letter to Italian coastal culture as well as a story of abandonment, found famly, and new love. I'll admit I was surprised at how slow-burn the romance felt, but that's because this wasn't really a romance - it was about finding love through friendships, family, and yes, maybe a boyfriend down the line, but the self-love comes first. Atreus' embrace of Giovanni, Marina, and the whole of Baia Vita was such a beautiful turning point for his character. The voices in our head may try and stop us from finding love, but a support network helps us reach through and find it ayways. This is clearly set up for future stories in the same universe and I'm excited to see what comes next.

Storm and Sea is an absolutely beautiful story with characters you will instantly love. This book is written with such beautiful detail that its easy to fall in to the settings and really feel like your a part of the adventure. I loved the romance, found family and character growth the story brings to life. Tereza Kane has a lovely writing style i thoroughly enjoyed and I cant wait to read whats next in this series!

"Storm and Sea" by Tereza Kane is a beautiful adult reimagining of Disney’s Luca, infused with openly queer representation and an original take on Mer lore that makes it wholly its own. Set in the charming Italian fishing village of Baia Vita, the story follows Atreus, a Mer exiled for the color of his scales, who has carved out a quiet existence among humans—until Nyel, a runaway Mer fleeing rigid traditions, disrupts everything he has built. As they navigate their growing connection and the rising threat of a criminal family depleting the bay’s fish, their struggle to protect the people they love is complicated by the fear of exposing their true nature. Kane balances cozy fantasy vibes with high stakes, making this story both heartwarming and gripping.

I adored this book. The Mer lore was fascinating and layered, adding a fresh spin to the genre while deepening the worldbuilding. Atreus was incredibly relatable, his pain and mistrust stemming from past rejection, while Nyel’s sweetness made him the perfect counterbalance. Their relationship was tender and deeply satisfying, but I have to admit—Nephi and Leo stole the show for me! Their enigmatic dynamic had me desperate for more, and I would devour an entire book about them. The secondary characters were all beautifully developed, and the rich, seaside setting made the story even more immersive. Storm and Sea is a stunning, emotional journey of love, belonging, and found family, and I highly recommend it.

storm and sea follows atreus, a lonely mer living in secret among humans after his father abandoned him, and nyel, who crashes into his life after falling out with his family and leaving his quiet mer village. after some initial hiccups - which mainly stem from atreus' fear of being exposed as a mer and losing his human friends - the two develop a deep, caring friendship... and maybe something more.

from the cover (which is gorgeous, by the way) to the premise to the actual characters and plot, this novel is reminiscent of the movie luca in the best possible way. the town of baia vita is cosy and comforting, full of love and life, with vivid characters that you just have to adore.

it was a little jarring at first to read the same scenes from multiple povs; i find that it takes away a bit of the tension and can sometimes be frustrating to endure the repetition. also, i completely forgot that this was a series so i kept expecting certain plot lines in the last 100 pages - totally my fault, but be aware that this is not a standalone 😅

while i absolutely loved atreus and nyel's story, i'm not sure i can get on board with what happens in leo's arc. the antagonist is almost cartoonishly evil, so i'm a little worried it will take a deux-ex-machina level of resolution to fix it in the second book.

highly recommend storm and sea if you love mermaids, found family, queer vibes and the film luca!

Lush, immersive, and full of heart, this is a beautifully written mer fantasy with depth beyond its romance. Atreus and Nyel’s journey is both tender and heartbreaking, woven into a richly detailed world that feels alive. A slow burn that lingers long after the final page.

Did you watch “Luca” and think “This would be so much better if the boys were slightly older and could make out?” I think the author did.

I had a rough time suspending my disbelief at first because why are merfolk wearing clothes and doing TV sitcom family stuff in their homes? Then I realized I was trying too hard to be realistic in my visualization. I started picturing everything in the big colorful animation style of “Luca” and that made all the difference.

The setting is a small Italian fishing village near a colony of merfolk. Atreus has been living among humans most of his life, hiding his nature. Nyel, a mer runaway, stumbles into his life and suddenly everything is complicated.

I enjoyed this story and the budding romance between Nyel and Atreus. I’m not sure where the story goes from here, but I look forward to finding out.

My only real gripe with the book is how Atreus has negative intrusive thoughts that are displayed in a cursive script that seems out of place and it’s distracting. Maybe that’s the point.

I also thought the subplot with Leofel felt too dark at times for the overall story being told. It’s not a deal-breaker, though.

Overall, I liked it. This is what “Luca” could’ve been if the filmmakers had a little more guts.

A beautifully written and adorable tale of genuine love, found family, and hope.
I loved the characters immediately, and continued to love them throughout. The cultural aspects of this work were also done very well. I could tell how much care went into crafting the characters stories and the Italian culture they are surrounded with.

Storm and Sea by Tereza Kane scratched an itch I did not even know I had. The story follows a similar concept to Disney's Luca while breathing new life into it. Our story mainly follows Atreus and Nyle as they traverse the human world as mer. This book switches between five different character's points of view. I have mixed feelings about so many POVs on one hand it adds a lot of perspectives on the events of the book but on the other hand, it does remove some of the suspense of not knowing what other characters are thinking. This book also included a glossary placed at the beginning of the book as opposed to the end. I found this to be a welcomed change because it allowed me to refer back to the glossary without flipping through pages I had not read yet.

Special thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced reader copy.

4/5 arc review, provided by net galley

storm & sea is a novel about two mer, atreus & nyel, navigating the human world in vastly different ways and finding something (maybe love?) along the way, all while trying to find a way to help their way of life from being destroyed.

while the beginning of the book started off slow, i appreciated the depth of description in the writing. the characters and relationships are what truly made me fall in love with this book. atreus and nyel’s growing relationship really had me rooting for them. nephi was particularly intriguing, as well. and i LOVE baia vita. every description of it made me want to drop everything and help out this lovely little fishing town.

what i didn’t expect were the amount of pov’s. it was a bit jarring hopping from one pov to the next, especially if the timelines were overlapping. for example, a scene would happen and end, and then there would be a second pov that would go back in time and describe the same scene from another’s perspective. i understand why it was done, but it took quite a bit of getting used to.

there are a lot of character plot threads left hanging at the end of the book, leading to a sequel, which i didn’t expect. while i appreciate this, i also feel like the main plot of the book was wrapped up too swiftly at the end.

overall, i really liked aspects of this book and am eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Like Luca but all grown up!
I’m not going to lie, it took me sometime to get into the story, but once it picked up I was hooked. I loved the characters and the setting! Like I said, it definitely has Luca vibes but with a more grown up theme.
My heart was broken repeatedly and only sort of fixed so I will definitely need more of this story!
Give me more Atreus and Nyel and definitely give me more Leo because I need him to have some happiness in his story!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. If you love mermaids you will love this book. This was like H2O and Mako Mermaids but make it gay. I just loved how we got chapter povs from four different characters. The characters and the pods were so interesting. I also really love the interesting love triangles happening throughout the story. Can’t wait for part 2 of this story.

This book is basically Luca if Luca was for adults, gay, and had way more trigger warnings. I worry slightly about this book because it is basically Luca, the Disney movie, with the characters, the setting, the plot, and some key details.

I liked most of the characters in this book but some of the characters just rubbed me the wrong way. One of the characters is meant to do that but we don’t get his viewpoint so I can forgive it. However, there was another character that was basically the same and we did get his viewpoint. It just made me feel really gross every time that we got his point of view. The other characters were written fairly well except sometimes they feel like really stupid and oblivious when they weren’t previously. Also, the characters didn’t really develop at all through the book. It was written like they did but they really didn’t, except for the side characters which is strange.

The plot of the book was fine, very similar to Luca. Except that nothing really happens in this book. The one piece of tension in this book, one of many but the only one that gets resolved, is resolved in 1 chapter. It was super annoying and I wanted so much more from this book. Especially since this book is almost 500 pages long. Almost nothing happens in 500 pages. Ugh.

I think that this book shows a lot of potential with the writing. As the books progress, because this is a series, I think that the writing will evolve and become better. I want to see what happens with the rest of the story but if the books are super similar to this one in the future, I think it’ll have to be a pass.

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital copy. I love the cover, it immediately reminded me of the movie "Luca" and once I started reading it, it became quite clear that the book was heavily inspired by this aforementioned movie. Due to that, it was unfortunately not a story I found particularly riveting. It wasn definitely not bad, it just didn't add anything that I didn't alrey know from the movie and thus I found it pretty lackluster.
If I didn't know the movie, I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more.

"I told you before. You aren't alone anymore."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It follows Atreus, a Mer lives a life as a human. All these years, he lives cautiously, because he doesn't want the humans around him to find out that he's a Mer. But things change quickly when he meet another Mer—Nyel, and they're faced with a bigger problem: Baia Vita, the lovely town they live in, is dying. They have to do something to save Baia Vita, or the beautiful place will be gone forever.

Easy 5 star read. Beautifully written, easy to follow, easy to connect with each characters, engaging plot. This book got me sobbing, it's touching, heart warming, it makes me sad but also makes me happy. I care a lot about Atreus, he definitely deserves the world😭Thank you Nyel for always be by Atreus side😭💗

I appreciate the author for providing the playlist to listen while reading this book to get in the mood, and it works!

A queer book? Well, you know that is going to be a five star read for me. This was so well done. Congrats to the author for this masterpiece.

2.75⭐️

Lots of potential but a lot of issues through out the book

Felt that the author put a lot of thought into the world they created and gave readers a way to easily understand the world at the beginning which I really appreciate and made getting into the world really easy

Sometimes the author over explained things which made the book feel abit juvenile in places it was as if the author thought the reader couldn’t understand simple things without it being spelled out for them

It reads a bit more YA than adult in some parts especially when the focus is on Atreus and Nyel

It wasn’t very clear what era this was set or if the human part of the world was supposed to be a reflection of the actual world or supposed to be completely different with aspects of the past and present of the actual world

I think there was too many pov’s

The author clearly has some great ideas however they have tried to fit so many of them into one short book that none of them are able to fully be explored at the depth needed to make the story great, the same can be said about all the characters they are all interesting with their own unique personalities however there is so many of them that the readers are not able to fully get to know and build a connection with them all

The mood shift between Atreus and Nyel’s povs and Leo and Nephi’s was very jarring and didn’t really make sense being in the same book Atreus and nyel’s pov was light and kind of child like where as Leo and Nephi’s was dark and trauma based those being put together didn’t work and they should have been two separate books

This book has a lot of potential and I am excited to see how the authors writing grows as they write more however with this book you can tell that this is their debut, the pacing is off, the characters aren’t consistent, a lot of the world is confusing and not clear overall it just feels quite rudimentary but there is a lot of potential and I can see how the story could be good and I did enjoy reading some a lot of this book

This is the kind of book you need to be in the right headspace for, that's for sure. There's a ton of lore, and make sure you read the content warnings before starting. It's sad but hopeful, and full of magical mystical vibes. And can we take a moment for that cover art!! It's absolutely stunning. Definitely a book worth checking out.

DNF @ 40%

There's a lot this book had going for it. I love monster romances (both with other monsters and with humans) and the promise of merfolk/human queer love really sold me. It's also nice that this is a hefty book, with promise of sequels -- a real chance to dig in and develop things.

However, it really didn't work for me. The whole story was too clearly Luca fanfic with the serial numbers slightly smudged (not just having the exact same sea monster transformation mechanics and society, but down to the protagonist meeting the other merfolk love interest lead in an abandoned lighthouse). Don't get me wrong, I love fanfic, but it made me feel a bit like I had to be more invested in Luca to engage with it, which I'm just not. There were a dash of other influences I feel like I caught (maybe Valdemar, maybe No.6), but those just felt like influences and not the actual core universe being revisited.

There's more in there than just a retelling, though, with five different point-of-view characters all having their own drama and storylines going on -- though I found this itself a bit jarring, especially because a chapter switch between them sometimes involved jumping back ten years in time, sometimes involved retelling the exact previous chapter from a different point of view, and sometimes involved showing events that the characters had previously told each other about. With this many characters, it was hard to track what was moving the story forward and what was revisiting something we already knew about. It just ended up being too many characters (that said, I would probably have been all over this if it was pared down to just Nephi and Leo's storylines).

It wasn't very consistent in terms of storyline or character motivations; a character would in one moment insist on things being one way and then immediately go back on it with no explanation for the change, or a character immediately switching from fear of humans to immediately becoming obsessed with them. Nyal reads as if he's a good six years younger than he actually is, which is meant to be down to his naivete so I don't mind it entirely, but extended to things like impulsively sticking his hand in water or saying "humans" to humans while pretending to be, himself, human, which made me not really want to see him in a relationship. I DNF'd at the point where one of the characters thought to himself that he couldn't come out to his family as a sodomite because of the shame and humiliation it would cause said family, then coming home two pages later to find that they sold him to a pimp to work on their pleasure boats. There was no acknowledgement of the inconsistency of his own understanding of his family, so it felt like it was just the choices that needed to happen for the plot the author wanted.

The writing was solid and sparse, not overly stylistic but well crafted. It was mostly dialogue and narrative description of events and actions without much wordplay, but it flowed well and was quite readable; I got through the part I read (a couple hundred pages) very smoothly.

All in all, not a story for me, but it might be one for you if you either loved or have never seen/heard of Luca, enjoy a rougher linearity and multiple points of view, and want a slowburn merfolk summer romance that's an easy read and has a found family through-line. Genuinely, I want it to do well and to see more from this author in the future, so if you think these points match your interests, you should check it out.

Thank you to Whispered Words Press and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

'Storm and Sea' by Tereza Kane is a brilliant tale of love, fear, hate and so much more. It weaves a narrative that navigates the complexities of humanity as a collective, but also individually, so well that I challenge any reader not to find a character they can relate to.

Each chapter is from a particular character's point of view, much like 'Dracula' and 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. That's fine, but what I did not appreciate was when the next chapter starts, it sometimes replays a previous scene from that character's perspective. This made it feel as if I were taking two steps forward and one step back. It frustrated me because I want the story to flow, and when I am crying because a scene is so beautiful, I don't want my tears to stop because we hit rewind.

Kane has created something truly magical here, and I can't wait for the next book.

I received a free copy from the author and through Netgalley. I voluntarily reviewed it and all opinions are my own.

When I spotted this cover on Netgalley I knew I had to read it. Not only is it so pretty, but the vibes made me really excited for this book and the book definitely lives up to what the cover promises. Storm and Sea is a m/m romance featuring mer set in Italy shortly after the second world war. It's a story about found family with lots of cozy and sweet moments, but also can get dark and heavy at times with the threat to the island as well as some well done mental health rep. It has the fish-out-of-water trope (literally as it involves mer on land) and the main romance has grumpy-sunshine vibes. I really enjoyed this book and had a great time reading it.

I hadn't expected this book to grab me as much as it did, but from the first chapter I was hooked and wanted to keep reading. This book had such a great balance between the fun and cozy scenes, but then also could be hard hitting with the emotional scenes. The characters, plot, romance and world building are all so well done. My only complaint might be the few times there are scenes told from both point of views and the few times a new point of view gets introduced and it goes back in time a bit, as those could feel a bit jarring to me.

The characters are all so well written and feel so real and alive. I really liked reading about them. I probably related most to Atreus and some of his mental health struggles could hit a bit close to home, but I thought it was handled and written very well. I felt so bad for him and how he was abandoned by his family and thought there was something wrong with him. And the moments he realizes he has a family and people who care were so emotional and well done. I really liked the slow burn romance between Atreus and Nyel. They were so good together and I really liked how they lifted each other up and were there for the other. It is a very slow burn, but I liked that and thought it worked well here and fit the characters.

Besides the main romance between Atreus and Nyel there are some side characters as well with hints of their own romance. Most of the time I thought the multiple point of views worked well as the focus stays on Atreus and Nyel, but with enough of the others as well. There is Leo, his point of view was probably the darkest and hardest for me to read and I ended skimming some of them when he gets into trouble as I couldn't handle those bits. Nephi's point of view could be tough to read as well, he has been trough a lot and is still struggling, but I also kept feeling that sliver of hope that he would find his way eventually. Then there is Marina and I liked the insight her chapters gave in her personality, the parts she didn't show on the outside. She was always happy and sunny and it was interesting to see the struggles she had as well. There is a set up for possible romances for all of them.

I thought this would be a standalone, but by the end of the book it's clear this is only the first book in the series. I am really excited to see what happens next. The romances and plot lines don't get resolved yet, but I thought it did end in a good place with a feeling of hope. And I can't wait to see how the series continues.

I loved the world building in this book, it was so well done. I liked reading about the mer and their culture, I liked how we get to see a bit of Nyel at home in the sea before he goes on land. I liked how there are different types of mer. I also liked how they are not the typical mermaid with a tail instead of legs, instead these mer have legs like humans, but they have a tail. And they don't have hair. I also liked reading about the Italian city and this cozy island setting.

To summarize: I really liked this book. It grabbed me from the start and I wanted to keep reading. I liked the unique take on the mer as well as the cozy vibes, but the book could also get more dark and heavy in places. The balance between the uplifting cozy themes and the more emotional struggles was well done. There is some well done mental health rep as well as one of the character being dyslexic. The characters are all so well written and feel very alive, they were all very interesting to read about although Leo's point of view could be a bit tough to read and I sometimes skimmed the darker scenes. Atreus mental health struggles could be tough to read about as some of those themes hit close to home, but I did really like reading about him and the moments he realized he has people who care about him were so emotional and wonderful. I liked the way the mer people were described and we see a bit about their culture as well. All in all I had a great time reading this book and I can't wait for the next one.