Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Deep Waters #1

Whispers of the Deep

Rate this book
One of the many engineers that keeps Beta, the city under the sea, running, Mira only wants to make her family proud and to prove herself worthy. She knows the mysterious city better than anyone and it's her dream to help it flourish.

But then, on a solo job in an abandoned section of the city, she encounters a monster of legend. An undine. A dangerous merman from an ancient civilization, long forgotten.

Arges has fought his entire life for his people. With deadly creatures under his control, he plans to eradicate Beta once and for all to protect his kind and their peaceful way of life. But when a human woman saves him, she unknowingly creates a bond between them, one he can't ignore. Even though her flaming red hair haunts his dreams, he needs her for information on the undine's enemies.

So he steals her. Keeps her. Feeds her. Only to realize their bond is far deeper than captor and captive. He cannot let her go-but he cannot keep her under the sea. In a battle to determine if love can survive a war beneath the waves, it will be their decision that changes the tides.

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2024

4116 people are currently reading
41236 people want to read

About the author

Emma Hamm

72 books4,529 followers


We all know you don't really care about reading my background. Enjoy Cap instead.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
7,427 (30%)
4 stars
9,550 (39%)
3 stars
5,715 (23%)
2 stars
1,387 (5%)
1 star
328 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,690 reviews
Profile Image for Kat.
366 reviews331 followers
January 30, 2024
Good for her!!

(So many plot holes and retcons but by god that woman fucked that fish man)
Profile Image for DIVINITY🌙.
248 reviews522 followers
January 16, 2024
“ 𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓶𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓴, 𝓴𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓸𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓴𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓰𝓸 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓼𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰.”

Whispers of the Deep by Emma left me thoroughly surprised. I wasn’t expecting to love this book as much as I did. The world building was intriguing and the romance was a real enemies to lovers.

Brief Summary: Mira is an engineer at the Beta underwater city. One day she’s working on a solo mission when she is kidnapped by the dangerous merman Argnes who plans to use her to get information about the humans to take them down. After spending time with her he starts to realize their relationship is more than captive/captor and he can’t let her go.

Tropes & What to Expect
🖤ENEMIES to LOVERS
🖤captive/captor
🖤HumanXmerman
🖤language barrier
🖤Dual POV
🖤sloowww burn

Spice level
1.5/5🌶️

I’m not going to lie I read this book wanting to know about the mer-dick 🍆 and I’m going to get to those details soon but I want to say this is a sllloowwww burn. There is no spice until then 80 percent mark!!!! I know I almost couldn’t make it 😓 now there is plenty of gill and tail touching so it’s still steamy and some sweet intimate scenes so don’t be too alarmed.

The romance is slowly built and I loved that because they didn’t wake up loving each other their interest and feelings grew over time. The language barrier plays a huge factor and made it difficult for them to communicate obviously. They learn each other and observe each other it’s the sweetest 🥹 The relationship is so taboo and unheard of but they are both determined to make it work.

“𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓸 𝓼𝓸𝓸𝓷,” 𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓭𝓮𝓭. “𝓦𝓱𝔂 𝓷𝓸𝓽?” 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝓼𝓴𝓮𝓭, 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝔀. “𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝔀𝓸.” 🍆

Now back to the mer-dick.. it’s two of them and it’s hidden within the scales so it can pop out. This is my first time with a twoer but let’s just say there are benefits 🤭🤭 use. your. imagination.

Do I recommend? YES there is a second book coming in September and I’m super excited about the continuation of the series
Profile Image for Fiza · ia.
103 reviews407 followers
February 18, 2025
This mermaid my day and octopi my heart-eu!

came to re-sea-rch but stayed for merma-zing, fin-tastic and sea-sational slowburn and tension!

In conclusion, me after reading this book:

.

.

.


Quotes:

(🧜🏻‍♂️)⋆.˚〃His scales seemed to clasp her scent underneath them. As though he wished to taste her later, when it was just him and the sea.〃

(🤿)⋆.˚〃Because you make me weak, kairos, and I should have killed you long ago to prevent that weakness from spreading.〃

(🌊)⋆.˚〃But then, every day that you have been with me, I have found something new to admire.〃

(🐟)⋆.˚〃I draw that scent into my gills and tuck it underneath my scales for times when I am not by your side.〃

(🐳)⋆.˚〃“Arges?” she repeated. “What do you call someone who isn’t kind?”
Dead,” he replied without thinking. “We call them dead."〃

(🦈)⋆.˚〃I have thought a long time about what I would like you to hear me say first. A part of me wishes there were kinder words I could say. That I could tell you how rapturous it is to see you swim through my world and to see you love it as much as I do. Or perhaps I would remark on the way your hair looks like blood underneath the water and that stirs some feral part of me. But what I settled on, the first most important words you must hear from me, are that I am deeply sorry.〃

(🐚)⋆.˚〃Nothing ever hurts when you touch me.〃

(🪸)⋆.˚〃“This can’t be comfortable for you. You’re laying on a hard floor.”
“You’d be surprised, Mira.” Then she swore he added, “Having you in my arms is the most comfortable I’ve ever been.”〃

(🐙)⋆.˚〃“Go.”
He caught her wrist, dragging her closer to him. “What if I don’t want to?”〃

(🪼)⋆.˚〃“You make my hearts bleed when you worry like that.”
“Hearts?”
“I have two.” Arges brought her hand to first one, then the other. “One beats for my people, and it will never stop beating for them. But the other beats for you, Mira. I’m sorry it took me such a long time to realize that.”〃

(🧜🏻‍♂️)⋆.˚〃I cannot let you go. I would be denying my heart the reason it beats.〃

(🤿)⋆.˚〃Let me be your breath.〃

(🌊)⋆.˚〃You hold my soul, kairos. Keep it safe for me.〃

(🐟)⋆.˚〃You are and always will be the soul of my soul, the heart that beats in my chest.〃

(🐳)⋆.˚〃You are a gift from the sea, Mira. A rare pearl I am so lucky to have found. I do love you, you know. More than anything else in this world. You hold my soul in your chest. Wherever you go, I will never be far from you.
Profile Image for ajpc.
100 reviews30 followers
March 18, 2024
This book taught me a lot about myself. Like the fact that I would have this merman’s baby
Profile Image for Laura Greenhalgh.
207 reviews5,542 followers
January 2, 2026
I LOVED THIS!!! Set in a dystopian time where the surface is inhabitable and so the human’s have built their cities underwater. Humans being humans, they have destroyed aquatic ecosystems to build their cities and are willing to destroy any sea life that threatens to stand in their way… including the Undine (sexy sea creatures). Our FMC is a human engineer who captures the attention of a dangerous Undine male leading to him kidnapping her and keeping her in an underwater cave. I don’t know what it is about monster romance but I just love the whole language barrier trope and the lack of understanding the characters have about each other’s anatomy 🫣😭. The plot and world was so interesting, the slow burn was perfect and I love how this first book has set the scene for the next interconnected standalones in this series and I am SO excited to read the next one 🤭👀 (IYKYK). I was hooked immediately and did not want to put this down. I did feel there were a few plot holes but overall I had such a good time with this. 👏🏼
Profile Image for britt ⋆୨୧˚ (catching up 🖤).
145 reviews286 followers
May 15, 2024
ignore me…just heard the mmc has two of…everything


⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭑/5
4.2/5
-



i thoroughly enjoyed this a lot more than i thought i would. this was written very well and in a manner that makes me want to reread it again. i will definitely be picking up the second book.


-


”you make my hearts bleed when you worry like that. i have two,”


“one beats for my people, and it will never stop beating for them. but the other beats for you, mira. i’m sorry it took me such a long time to realize that.”



mira is a welder that inhabits beta, an underwater biome that is created because the surface of the earth is no longer habitable. she is stolen away by a creature the humans call ‘undines’. the push and pull between her character and the undine we come to know as arges.


arges is a merman (idc what you say he is a merman) with the people of the water and a strong hatred for archnoms which we call humans. he affectionally calls mira kairos. to learn more about him it’s definitely worth picking the book up. if you’re into monster romances and yes merman’s with two cocks this is the book for you.


honorable mentions


byte the cutest little droid that i fell in love with. i think you will too.


overall


i walked into this book expecting it to be all monster porn with no plot and i was so elated to realise that it is not. there is 2 smut scenes max and the way this world was created…i enjoyed reading it. i am so happy to know that there is a second book and i cannot wait to dive into it. what a spectacular read.
Profile Image for Lorena ♡ (semi-ia).
471 reviews469 followers
January 15, 2025
well, it started strong and i was really enjoying it... until the last 6 (?) chapters that were complete nonsense 😭
“You are and always will be the soul of my soul, the heart that beats in my chest. I would do anything for you, Mira.”
↪ plot:

Humans no longer live on land but in an array of underwater cities, one of them being Beta in which Mira is an underappreciated engineer. In one of her tasks, she encounters an undine, a monster from a species that wants to eradicate her people for ruining their home, but contrary to what everyone else would do she helps him. Arges, leader of his group and always ready to fight for his people, stays intrigued by Mira and looks for her again, except this time to observe and kidnap her. The plan is to learn enough about humans to end them all, but the more time he spends with her, the more he wants to push aside his plan and fight for their love instead.

↪ thoughts:

Pros:
✔ Mira and Arges were lovely, their interactions super funny, and their love for each other so palpable
✔ Once feelings started developing between the MCs they had me giggling and so eager to keep reading their scenes
✔ There's the cutest, funniest, and most charming robot ever here (Byte, my baby)
✔ The descriptions of the settings in this book were gorgeous (just like the cover, let's take a moment to appreciate it)

Cons:
✘ Some stuff here was sooo convenient to the point of suspicion and other things/subplots appeared out of nowhere
✘ The last chapters felt like they belonged to another book and had such a lazy approach to the conflicts that arose throughout the story that they left me with more questions than answers
✘ The last sex scene was so ridiculous that Maeghan and I spent a good time cackling about it and quoting its most insane lines to each other 😭🤣

I didn't have any big problems with the romance, and this book started so well that I thought it'd be a 4½-star read, but the plot outside of it was super lazy and its ending disappointing and underwhelming. Now, the buddy-read experience is another thing because it was incredible as it always is with my girl Maeg, who I love very much and I have the best time reading with 💗🫂
Profile Image for Lucie V..
1,228 reviews3,658 followers
October 8, 2025
✅ 2 POVs / Dual narration
✅ Gorgeous cover
✅ World-building and descriptions
✅ Captor/captive / Enemies-to-lovers
✅(🆗) Cute romance
✅🆗 Plot
🆗 Smut
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: attempted murder, stabbing, beating (mild, not too graphic, mostly punches to the face), loss of a member (secondary character)

This story is set on Earth, but in a dystopian future (that may not be so far away), where humans cannot live on land anymore due to the weather. Due to climate change, hurricanes and storms became increasingly out of control, so humans built cities underwater. Mira is a nobody engineer in Beta city, but her life changes drastically when she is abducted by an undine who is tasked by his people with learning the humans’ secrets from Mira so they can destroy them and their underwater city once and for all.

The setting, just like the cover, is gorgeous. The descriptions are detailed, but not overly so. Just enough to help us envision the magical underwater world of Arges, and the beauty Mira is discovering every day she spends with him. It would have been nice to see more of the cities and their working though.

It started well, but the ending felt a little rushed. It was a slow-burn, with not much action, and it focused mostly on Mira and Arges’s interactions, until the last 7 or 8 chapters, when suddenly there was action, fighting, fleeing, and everything built up and got resolved in only a few chapters, making it a little underwhelming. Honestly, the plot felt like a second thought. The romance was well built and developed, but the plot had some very convenient bits, a very random villain in the end, and other aspects that came out of nowhere, it felt a little lazy at times, but still good overall.

It was sweet to see Mira and Arges trying so hard to communicate with each other. On the other hand, it took most of the space in the book, making the romance the center of the plot. I would have liked the animosity and war between humans and undines to take a little more room in the book, to make the stakes feel higher. It was present in the story, and the tensions between Arges and the rest of his pod due to all the time he spends with Mira are getting more important as the story progresses, but somehow, I was expecting a story with a more complex plot. It is not a bad book at all, but it is a romance with a side of plot, not the opposite.

The sexual tension between Mira and Arges was well built, and the smutty scenes were well written, but I am just not a fan of humans having sex with other species, I guess. It was not my first time reading a merman/mermaid story, but while I enjoy these stories overall, the spice is not my favorite part. Arges resembles a human enough to not make it too weird, but still, it felt weird reading it. That’s a “me issue” though.

The smut is all in the last 25% of the book, making this romance a “true” slow-burn. Even though Mira and Arges start having feelings for each other earlier, they do not act on them right away, and they tiptoe around each pther because they cannot understand each other at first, and then because they are supposed to be enemies, and know that they can have no future together as long ads Arges remains with his pod, and as long as Mira hopes to get back to her city. If they want to be together, they will have to sacrifice the life they know and start fresh somewhere else.


Follow me on Instagram 🙂
Profile Image for Maeghan 🦋.
593 reviews538 followers
January 15, 2025
BR : ♾️ ✨, always love our BR my girl 🥹💗
This book : 3 laughing ✨

« He’d never had a more difficult pet in his life. » <- says the merman about the human woman.

Byte (the robot) carried this story. You cannot convince me otherwise.
« But some part of me hopes that perhaps they are simply waiting for someone to find them. As I was. »

But omg the problems this had 😂 I don’t feel like doing a big review so here, some points :
🔺 Byte was swept under the rug in the last 20%. My little robot carried this story. It was a crime to just sweep him off
🔺 Kinda turned into a mafia romance for 2 chapters it was weird lol
🔺 SO CONVENIENT
🔺 the final smut scene… omg Lorena and I laughed so hard 😂😂 I’m still cackling
🔺 There’s a very important information that was completely swept under the rug in the last part
🔺The random villain???😂

—• pre read
First BR of the year - and 3rd one with my girl Lorena 🥹💗 loving this already!
(GR doesn’t have my Aurora Crate edition but yous should check it out because it’s GORGEOUS)
Profile Image for Willie.
131 reviews1 follower
January 13, 2024
2.5/5

Aigh~ I’m a simple gal who loves to devour a monster fantasy romance as much as the next girl. And did I started this because of the cover? Absolutely! However everything just felt so ...flat the whole way. Btw, I stoped that end of chapter 28. Then, I just read the epilogue and I was right...it’s the same flatness.
This world feels incredibly weak, I know it should not make sense, but I wish the author could have built it better/stronger in the fantasy universe sense. The guy is supposed to be a strong warrior/leader, but there was not a moment where I felt his power or influence comes out for the page. The water people’s leader felt very one-dimensional...and short-sighted, not in a ethereal mysterious way; which I’m assume the author is trying to show. The whole time reading, I imagine his people consists of handful individuals. Some of the dialogues didn’t do it for me. The sassiness and comedic dialogues were repeated in multiple individuals. There were scenes /sayings that felt like they needed to be there regardless of progress of the story; like the fighting scene between the main characters came out of nowhere and then nothing. Information is not consistent throughout, like it was revealed that some info was known but then later on the similar info was not known. OR that character decided on an action as though it would be significant later but then nothing became of it. This story should need another round of edit or 2.

I wish it has more angst. Everything is solved so quickly. Wish that it’s a true enemies to lovers. Nothing like that here. They are pretty much instantly attracted to each other or at the least very intrigued. Wish that characters (even side ones) are more complicated.

I do like the android in this and how helpful it was. That was imaginative and fun. I also like the mermen’s appearance or how they were described, very beautiful and frightful. I also love that the main female is an engineer. But these were not enough to make the story for me. In the end, it didn’t care of they were together or not. So meh ~.~
Profile Image for Averie.
1,121 reviews1,727 followers
January 7, 2024
I lovedddd this one!!!
I couldn’t stop reading it and was obsessed with these two characters. I loved seeing both of these main characters grow and slowly fall in love. Their romance was stunning and I can’t wait for other people to learn about their epic love story!

Thank you so much for Emma Hamm for sending me an early copy to review :)
Profile Image for ashlyn.
356 reviews501 followers
March 22, 2025
Buddy read with Kendall 💗🧌

Mira got RAILED by a fish boy IN A PLANT (I know you’re intrigued now 😏).

This was so freaking fun—and I mean freak with a capital F—WHEWW 🌶️🌶️. The tension? The steam? The underwater drama?? It gave everything I needed and more.

But y’all, that last sex scene had me crying laughing. I don’t know if it was the logistics, the sheer absurdity, or the fact that I will never look at aquatic life the same way again, but it sent me.

Would I recommend? Absolutely. Just be prepared to never trust seaweed again.


(Also, shoutout to the book blurb for making this sound like an epic war between civilizations when really it’s about a girl getting held hostage by a hot fish man and somehow thriving. We love an enemies-to-lovers with questionable ethics.)
Profile Image for Allison E.
308 reviews
March 26, 2025
Listen once you realize you’re here to see a girl fuck a fish, you adjust your expectations accordingly. Really though this is just Ice Planet Barbarians with mermaids ok?

Despite my low rating I thought this book was mostly a blast. Really a high 2.75 almost 3. If I only looked at the creativity when it came to merman descriptions and the more intimate scenes, even higher. But I simply could not ignore the amount of inconsistencies this book had. Some things occurred that even I, hand wave in the air to disregard a thing master, could not ignore. Actually if you look at anything (world building, magic system, character motives, plot progression etc) in this book too closely it kinda falls apart. But FUN? fun I did have.

Mira is a human engineer for an underwater city at war with the “undine”, a merpeople who rule the ocean in their own mysterious ways. In this world the ground above the sea is no longer habitable and so humans did a lil parasite pivot and make home in the deep blue instead. The mermen hate the humans bc we suck blah blah blah but when our resident merman Argnes abducts Mira as part of some truly shoddily planned espionage work to save his people, none of that matters because he’s gonna develop a big fat crush on her. Which is especially awesome because Argnes finds Mira completely grotesque. <3

“One fin popped off, revealing multiple tiny flippers at the base of her twin tails. If he hadn’t been so startled, he would have used the moment to snag her. But he was horrified at the sight of them. They were mangled. Cut at the ends as if someone had taken a sharp stone to her flippers for decoration. They were so small, too. Was she deformed? Was that why her people had sent her out on her own?”

Like pls that’s so funny

Or can I interest you in:

“She was... lovely. Damn it. He hadn’t wanted to think about it, but she really was. The kelp tangled around her legs and the golden light made her turn into a hue that his people so rarely saw. She was a rare and delicate creature, if a little ugly, and he had captured her.”

Also, Mira was so self insert, she could have been anyone fr. Which admittedly, kinda works if you’re tryna fuck a fish. But her background was quite superficially fleshed out. What do you mean she has NO friends? Pet peeve in a romance: All there is is HIM.

so to sum: cute, hot, & weird (pros) but distractingly inconsistent and lacking in logic.
Profile Image for Angie.
556 reviews7,264 followers
November 20, 2025
4.25 ⭐️ I really liked it - listened to the audiobook. The narrator are fantastic!

The world is interesting and I enjoyed the dynamic between the two MCs. Love a story with a language barrier. Some inner dialogue became repetitive and I wasn’t really into the smut (mostly bc banging underwater just doesn’t seem fun) but the smut itself was written fine. I def want to read the second book!
Profile Image for Rochelle ♡.
449 reviews358 followers
April 12, 2025
i’ve wanted to read whispers of the deep for some time now. this book is recommended a lot on social media as one of the best introductions to the bizarre, but fascinating worlds of monster romance—or, more specifically, monstrous mer-men fucking romances, wherein the men tend to oftentimes have weird and sometimes numerous appendages. the idea of meeting an underwater race of creatures with really long tails, colourful scales, fluttering fins and two of everything, including penises piqued my curiosity. it was hard to resist finally diving into this series. i’m an honest woman, i’m not going to lie and tell you the two penises didn’t interest me because they did and they sated my curiosities.

whispers of the deep is far more than mere mer-fucking. with humans unable to live on land, human societies have escaped to the dark, treacherous environment of the underwater, a world inhabited by dangerous creatures known as undine. whispers of the deep is true enemies to lovers, influenced by mutual hatred and disdain shared between two warring species. the romance is dominated with slow burn and scenarios of forced proximity, where a human woman named mira becomes captive to one of the formidable undine, who’s introduced to us as arges, a strong and revered warrior. communication is near unfeasible as these opposing enemies have a language barrier between them, but this doesn’t prevent them from forming a connection over time where they come to understand each other’s differences.

“because you make me weak, kairos, and i should have killed you long ago to prevent that weakness from spreading.”


♡ arges
arges’ supposed to be this frightening creature of the underwater, but he was sixteen or so feet of utter sweetness when he said he has two hearts and admitted that one beat for mira. it was one of the cutest statements a monstrous mer-man has ever breathed, it made my heart flutter and feet kick in absolute delight! “sweet” and “monster” were never two words i’d believe would coincide with each other well. i’m fond of love interests who use actions to demonstrate feelings of care and love, and while the language barrier and arges’ mission does largely contribute towards this, it was a pleasant element to make arges’ character feel less threatening.

“i prefer my time with you, arges. much more than anyone else i’ve ever met in my life. i want to know everything about you, even if those discoveries come without words.”


♡ mira
most humans wouldn’t hesitate to hunt down arges, being an undine. however, despite the precarious position she finds herself navigating, mira does the complete opposite and decides to take arges’ double mer-cock like a boss. i love that for her, to be honest, and she’s become my newest inspiration, in case a mer-man ever decides to kidnap me from the sea. mira sets aside her opinions of the undine to work with arges—though, she doesn’t have too many options being far away from base—and with time, she makes an effort to understand arges and his kind in detail, making me admire her character.

“you are a gift from the sea, mira. a rare pearl i am so lucky to have found. i do love you, you know. more than anything else in this world. you hold my soul in your chest. wherever you go, i will never be far from you.”


this book isn’t all about the spice—there’s tension within each interaction and when the tension reaches its pinnacle, it delivers. the ways emma hamm brought mira and arges together, despite the differences, with a monster grappling with human anatomy intricacies and a human struggling with adapting to an entirely new environment, was well executed. i very much loved and appreciated the extensive world-building; it was detailed and atmospheric, you could visualise yourself swimming within the depths, with all of the dark water pressed up against your skin. whispers of the deep isn’t without its issues and there’s a number of details missing, or that were interchanging. the ending seemed to lose its momentum after all of the contention and the need for survival, and the epilogue felt like it was missing something to tie this book neatly, however this book still remains a delightful and engaging romance.

────────────────────

˖⁺‧₊♡ pre-read review ⋙
entering my monster fucker era. reddit continues to recommend this book as one of the best monster romances. i’m too curious and the idea of fucking a mer-man intrigues me 🤭

follow me on: instagram
Profile Image for Mina.
97 reviews53 followers
June 15, 2025
I was feeling slumpy and, apparently, a fish man with two dicks is exactly what I needed. I’m about to inhale these books. If you know me irl… mind your business
Profile Image for Eliza.
712 reviews56 followers
February 16, 2024
I didn't like it, didn't get it, but LOVE that the author told me to shut up and ignore the unrealistic bits. I appreciate that! However, it just didn't tickle my pickle.
Profile Image for Hot Mess Sommelière ~ Caro.
1,489 reviews242 followers
August 26, 2024
I love mermaids! Teh cover is stunning, gorgeous, ethereal, enthralling!

ofc I had to read this

This could have been so, so good but unfortunately it fell flat for me :(

- for a monsterfucker book there was too little monster fucking :(
- the language barrier held like an iron fortress and these two couldn't do the nasty without blabbing there words first. painful!
- the author kept skipping through days and weeks like she was fast-forwarding through a video
- I liked the /idea/ of the side characters but they had too little screen time, which means they felt one-dimensional and the relationship between Arges and his brothers was not fleshed out in a way that made me care about their bond
- the humans sucked as usual, but the fact that the heroine had zero friends or any meaningful relationships in her life is just sad
- the robot was cute and I liked how he was used to move the plot forward, but while he was meant to speed things alone, he also served as an excuse for the author to create yet more filler
- I think the author wanted to write a monsterfucker book but she was too anxious about getting a decent plot down on paper I guess which means she fumbled both the pacing & the character development

The worst thing is that I truly believe that a decent editor could have helped the author fix the pacing and the character development (and stop showing the MCs performing meaningless tasks /alone/ while monologuing about off-page time that they spent with each other) and made this a peak monsterfucker book.

There are no truly good mermaid books and that is the sad truth of my life
Profile Image for Bookishgames.
197 reviews85 followers
January 21, 2024
5 stars meaning : is it perfect ? Nope. But did I have a blast while reading this book and could I potentially reread it ? Absolutely. So it's a 5 starts from me.

The world building was chef's kiss ! Especially ghe parts about the ocean. I could really visualize all the fishes and colors and cold beauty of it.

The herione is easy to like and root for. She's strong, smart, and compassionate. As for Arges our merman... I loved his description and how etheral he looked. And his curious, grumpy and mischievous personnality was the cherry on top. I really need more books about merman !

Their relationship is an enemy to lovers and also a slowburn. The first smutty scene happens around 80% of the book and I really appreciated that. Loved to see them trusting each other, becoming friends and then fall in love.

Also, the spice was 👀 that 2 D surprised me 😂

So yeah, loved our merman and courageous girlie and can't wait to read the next book. I really wonder how I'll be able to like Daios but we'll see !
Profile Image for Bex (Beckie Bookworm).
2,529 reviews1,600 followers
June 23, 2024



This surprised me in a good way and it was so much better than I was expecting it to be. It's a fantasy romance featuring a human engineer and an inhuman merman. It's enemies to lovers and these two are very much adversaries on opposite sides of a war. The hatred between their very different species has been cultivated and nurtured and both have very preconceived notions regarding each other. There's also a massive language barrier to overcome and the small fact that Mira our heroine cannot breathe underwater so a future together seems wholly impossible.

So the basic premise here is that the earth is inhospitable and humans have adapted to building cities under the ocean. In the process destroying the surrounding environment and angering the resident species. Mira is an engineer in one of the underwater cities and after catching the eye of Arges one of the mermen he is ordered to take her and learn her secrets so they can destroy the encroaching invaders.

This was highly imaginative and I enjoyed myself this all takes place under the ocean and manages to weave a believable bond which surprised me especially as Mira and Arges needed such different environments to thrive. I just wasn't expecting It to be so good but It was such an easy well-written read that drew me in almost instantly. 

It's the first book I've read by this author but I'd definitely now pick up another. It was very slow burn which worked well making this feel more authentic. The initial dynamic and environmental aspects meant there was a lot to overcome. I'm especially looking forward to book two which I believe focuses on the brother so a redemption arc and I can't wait. I highly recommend this it was a  really good read

Untitled design

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com
Profile Image for vi.isreading.
398 reviews44 followers
August 5, 2024
Devoured. Easy five stars.

An utter joy to read. Both Mira and Arges are such compelling characters. The fact is, they couldn’t even properly communicate for over half the book, and their romance felt so complex and full-bodied. Adore.

Told in dual POV by two clever minds, you can feel the overwhelming press of the ocean and the urgency of their situation. An excellently written investigation of beings from two very different worlds trying their hardest to cling to each other.

A true exploration of enemies to lovers. Also, he has two.
December 9, 2025
Enjoyable

This isn't my first water alien or monster hero and human heroine pairing. This isn't even my first water alien or monster hero and human heroine pairing hiding out in caves. But it is one of the better written ones.


⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅ The good parts ⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ ⋅



━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Profile Image for sydney &#x131fc;.
119 reviews49 followers
September 13, 2025
➳ 3 ★

I was really looking forward to reading this because it got recommended to me by so many people (and of course my love for mermaid/siren stories), but this was so underwhelming and that made me so upset 😭

It took me too long to get into this book and get invested in Mira & Arges’ relationship. I just didn’t really feel it between the two of them and the storyline was meh. I don’t even know how else to describe it because what…what are we doing here people 😩 This had soooo much potential but it took me nowhere. Too much happened the last like 30% of the book and felt like the author was reaching for too much. I’m holding out hope for Emma Hamm’s other books.


9/2/25 post-read: idk about this one guys…that one spicy scene got me tho but this didn’t hit like I thought it would 😭 rtc becomes I’m between 3 or 4 stars
Profile Image for Erica.
711 reviews849 followers
August 20, 2024
Ok I came for the merman smut but stayed for the plot and world building bc WOW. Like no notes. I am starting book two IMMEDIATELY.
Profile Image for  ♡ Maddie ♡ .
68 reviews15 followers
August 11, 2025
4.5/5 ⭐️ I'm blushing, giggling, kicking my feet... hot fish bae can get it 💅🏻✨️
Profile Image for Anna (annareadit).
192 reviews39 followers
November 27, 2024
My rating: (4.75) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tropes:
- monster romance
- human & undina
- enemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- forbidden love
- language barrier
- slow burn
- open door
- mmc with two 🍆
- dual POV

This isn’t the genre I usually read, but after seeing the book’s design and some of the art 😶‍🌫️, I couldn’t pass it by.

Due to cataclysms, people could no longer live on land, and without the ability to leave Earth, they decided to save themselves underwater. This story tells about Mira, who has spent her entire life in the underwater city of Beta, working as an engineer, and Arges, an undine who has fought for his people his whole life.

This story captivated me like a siren’s song and wouldn’t let me go. It breathed new life into me. I couldn’t tear myself away from the book, which hasn’t happened in a long time. It was fascinating to follow the plot’s development and the growth of the main characters.

Is everything perfectly written? No, there are questions I couldn’t find answers to, but you can overlook them because this book has a gripping plot, amazing characters, and vivid descriptions that create a sense of belonging. While reading, I kept getting flashbacks to The Little Mermaid: from the descriptions of the undines to some of the main character’s desires.

Answering the question for those who are curious: is there much spice? No, but there are detailed descriptions. The first explicit scene appears around 75% into the book. If my math is correct, there are only two such scenes in total 😁. That’s definitely fewer than in Ruby Dixon’s books.

I recommend it to anyone who isn’t prejudiced against this genre and to those who enjoyed the show Siren.

Some quotes:

❝ Having you in my arms is the most comfortable I’ve ever been. ❞

❝ She didn’t mean to say “safe”, he knew. That wasn’t at all how she felt in this moment, but a male could dream. ❞
Profile Image for Clarice.
555 reviews134 followers
February 3, 2024
I loved this so much! I can’t believe how beautiful and original this was. Alien romances have to be really good for me to like them, but spectacular for me to love them. The romance was believable and top notch. The world building was *chefs kiss*. The tiny robot companion was icing on the cake! I am very excited for the next book about Daios!
Profile Image for Sam | Haus of Fables.
223 reviews741 followers
December 19, 2024
4.5 ⭐️ Ok this was Great! The audio was fantastic. The world created was so unique I haven’t read anything like it!
It melded science fantasy with monster romance and I LOVE THAT?!
It’s dual pov and slow burn romance (but gets 🌶️🌶️🌶️ at the end! )
I will definitely be continuing the series on audio. I can’t wait to read about the next couple.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,690 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.