Above the Sea earned a 4.2.5 stars for this YA fairytale retelling, clean HEA romance.
The plot is very fast paced and I don’t feel as if there’s time to settle in a scene or into the characters. Their dialogue is saying exactly what they think instead of making me work and read in between the lines for deeper layers.
Here are my thoughts love while reading:
Right when I start “Above the Sea, a little mermaid retelling, it’s obvious that it’s not the first in the series but I’m hoping I can get away with it and continue. I think I found out a few spoilers from the first book but oh well. The writing feels Indie-esque with a lot of telling instead of showing and with vocabulary meant for age 12-16. The talking to animals is cute but the innocence of it makes the novel feel more YA than expected. I’m hoping it’s a satisfactory comp for my work in progress, a gender reversal: a merman which sees a red haired beauty dancing upon a ship during an incoming storm. This one is written in third person past tense tho which is different than my first person present tense. A similarity we have in common though is two points of view from Lexa and Ryke who would parallel my Eribelle and Axton.
I wish I knew who Jack & Aria were in this story since I skipped the first book. In chapter two the writing is a bit ‘on the nose’ so I’ll probably fall in love with the plot and not the prose.
There’s some inconsistencies. For example, in the first chapter her hair is brown but in the second and third Alexa’s hair is black.
I’m having a hard believing how much she cares that her father is missing when she was cursing his existence minutes ago.
Oooh who is Neri? I can’t wait to see if it’s “Ursula” or not.
So I like that there’s more at stake in this story than the original little mermaid.
… hhmm …It’s a bit coincidental that Lily’s uncle is exactly who Lexa needs to find.
So the almost sex scene kid of felt like stage direction movements without passion. I’m wanting to feel more emotion.
Oooh the unexpected twist in chapter 10! What will Lexa do?
Ok well… once they drink from the waterfall of youth the entire vibe of the story changed. It’s cool to merge two stories and lands together like this but I feel like they lost their progression and focus. Their personalities also seemed to have shifted once in Neverland. The Peter Pan parts seems forced instead of natural and the storyline feels rushed.
The villains keep switching and it’s been jumping around too fast.
I’m overall satisfied with the ending and the epilogue gives us a mini hook to read Ella’s tale. I won’t be purchasing the other novels in this series but as glad I checked out this one.
If you’d like to read a Little Mermaid retelling I’m working on please contact me at info@cassieswindon.com
Cassie Swindon 