Voice of the Ocean

by Kelsey Impicciche

From popular content creator Kelsey Impicciche, Voice of the Ocean follows a daring young siren who defies her people to save a human prince, unearthing ancient magic and igniting a dangerous romance amidst treacherous waters.

As the youngest daughter of the Siren queen, Celeste's life is tightly controlled. Desperate to prove her worth, she intends to join the Chorus - an elite group of siren warriors. With her final test on the horizon, Celeste must finally gain control over her temperamental Song. But when Celeste encounters a seemingly harmless ship, helmed by the intriguing Prince Raiden Sharp, her path veers towards forbidden waters.

Believing the handsome sailor to be innocent of any wrongdoing, Celeste defies Siren law to save Raiden's life - despite knowing he is the son of a king who has murdered many of her kindred. The penalty for Celeste's betrayal should be death, but the queen offers her an right her wrong by assassinating the prince. Determined to first discover the truth behind the prince's clandestine mission, Celeste agrees to become human.

The human world is nothing like she expected, nor is the prince the charming and noble man she assumed him to be. But as Celeste finds her place aboard the ship, friendships - and attraction - begin to grow. Will Celeste be able to save herself? Or will her choices unravel a kingdom, devastating sirens and humans alike?

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy, Young Adult, Retellings, Mermaids, Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2025

Reviews

[Kelsey Impicciche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voice of the Ocean is my debut novel and a fantasy retelling of the fairytale I loved most as a little girl: The Little Mermaid! It is a swashbuckling and coming-of-age story of magic, forbidden lovers, romance, and adventure.

This book has everything!
🪼 An emotional siren princess who feels as though she doesn't belong
🌙 Mysterious magic and ancient lore
🐶 A very good dog with plot armor
🩵 A handsome and charismatic prince who keeps a lot of secrets
🏴‍☠️ And a rag-tag group of loveable pirates

If you are a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Little Mermaid, or morally grey romantic interests you'll love this book. I should know, I wrote it.

Thank you for reading my biased review! You can find me on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or any other social media platform @kelseydangerous or on my website www.kelseyimpicciche.com

[✨Julie✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

✩ 4.35 stars ✩

What to Expect:
➼ Little Mermaid Retelling
➼ Natural Enemies-to-Lovers
➼ From Different Worlds
➼ Prince x Princess
➼ Pirates
➼ Found Family
➼ Siren/Mermaid x Human
➼ Forbidden Love
➼ Kiss or Kill
➼ Secrets & Betrayal
➼ Young Adult Fantasy
➼ Debut Novel
➼ Third Person POV

Can we just have a moment for this cover art?! Seriously, @frostbite.studios killed it! 🙌🏻

As a millennial gal who has watched The Little Mermaid roughly five thousand times, I was one hundred percent the target audience for this book. If you’re here for pirate booty 😉, you’ve come to the wrong place because this was true YA and therefore did not include spice. I really don’t think you’ll miss it though! I wouldn’t have minded a few more lingering looks or touches here and there, but I mostly thought the slow burn build up between them was very well paced.

Among the Sirens, strength is valued and empathy is seen as a weakness and Celeste has always felt her feelings very deeply making her feel like an outsider among her people. They are taught to believe that all humans are evil and should not be allowed to live, but after observing Prince Raiden and his crew, dancing, smiling and generally showing their humanity, she begins to doubt that the humans are as bad as she has been lead to believe. In a moment of doubt, she chooses to save the Prince and his friend, a choice that could lead to her banishment. She is given one chance to fix her mistake and kill the Prince, but the more time they spend together, the harder her task becomes.

Much like in the Disney movie, Celeste does not speak once she is on land. I was very impressed by how much I enjoyed the banter in this book, even though it was mostly one sided from the Prince. The author was able to convey a lot of emotion and meaning through Celeste’s character, even without the use of words.

I am extremely impressed by this debut novel! This was incredibly well written and I’m genuinely excited to read book two. The audiobook was also exceptional! I adore Natalie Naudus! She is easily one of my favorite narrators. This was just an all around great read in my opinion! Little Mermaid lovers, please don’t skip this book!

Thank you to the author, Blackstone Publishing, and Libro.fm for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

Pre-read: I can’t remember the last time I read a mermaid book…

Excited for this one! 🧜🏼‍♀️

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

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[❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."
3.5
What the fuck 😃 If I could describe the last 20% with 3 words it would be: drama, drama, and drama. I went into this book thinking it's a standalone. To everyone out there, IT'S NOT!!! So please prepare for a cliffhanger. And heartbreak.
The betrayal? My heart just got broken into pieces, and I don't think it will ever heal.

What you need to like to enjoy this book: the little mermaid, pirates and found family. Not gonna lie, at first it irritated me how similar it was to the little mermaid (what a shocker since it's a retelling), but after the 25% mark things changed drastically. In a good way. I would say it was action packed, and definitely easy to understand even if you don't normally read fantasies.
By the way...the MMC has a dog. He's cute too...pls read the book for him.
(I literally forgot the gender of the dog, so don't kill me if it turns out to be a girl)

Can't wait for book 2
🧜🏼‍♀️🌊🏴‍☠️🗡✘
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
the cover is drop dead gorgeous, and i'm just too intrigued to stay away

[Isadora (tbr is too big) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded up! RTC 🩵🩵

Buddy reading this with the most beautiful Ashlyn <3

Never read a pirates/ mermaid book before so excited to see what this has in store

[nika.ex.libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, thank you for the ARC!

But why did you give this to me to read?
Now I want the second part!!!

You can check out my aesthetic for this book on Instagram @nika.ex.libris🙌🏻

This book emotionally wrecked me.

A friend sent me the book and the art, after which I wanted to read it, but I didn’t expect to like it (high standards are a bad thing ☝🏻)

I wanted something ocean-themed, and I got it!

A siren who is too emotional, a prince who shows her what people are like, she saves him, and then there are consequences...

She needs to stay silent, or they’ll find out who she is
She needs to kill him
She needs to save everyone...

It reminded me so much of the book "To Kill a Kingdom," which I didn’t quite like.

But here, I was charmed, devoured the pages, melted, cried, and literally repeated every expression (it was almost instinctive)

The writing style is pleasant, easy, and colorful! 🙌🏻

The descriptions gave a sense of closeness to the plot; I felt like I was swimming in the water with them, felt the prince's whisper 🤭

There’s FOUND FAMILY!

That’s all that’s needed

"And if any of you touch her, I’ll kill you.”

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Breathe, girls, order it, and read!

I don’t know what else to say; I think it’s already time to grab it.

If you like "The Little Mermaid," then give this a try

• Siren and human
• Slow burn
• Found family
• Ocean legends
• Pirates
• Deals
• Treasure hunting
• Touch her and you’re die

⭐️4,5/5

[Nicole | nikiashreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Introduction
Let this novel be a cautionary tale on why you never publish the very first novel you write to completion.

Let this novel be a lesson on why a retelling cannot be a frame-by-frame, chapter-by-chapter rehashing of Disney’s animated classic “The Little Mermaid.” (We can’t forget about the splash of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise as well.)

A retelling should take the pillar ideas and moments from a fairytale and put them into a new context with new characters. The story doesn’t have to be a one-to-one, story-beat-for-story-beat exploration of an older work. When it comes to retellings, originality is what makes a story shine.

Originality is what this novel lacked.

Celeste and Characterization
When it comes to Celeste, her characterization carries a strong “I’m not like other girls (sirens?)” energy with a strong side of empathy. In many ways, her characterization reminds me of Hiccup from the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise. Only in that movie, Hiccup uses his empathy as a strength and generates positive change for his community and dragons alike. Here? Celeste spends a lot of time crying over things, claims she has knowledge she wouldn’t have (based on how oppressive her community is), and consistently makes foolish decisions. I can’t name a single moment where I was rooting for Celeste, which was a huge narrative problem.

As I reached the story’s end, I realized what bothered me so much about Celeste. Celeste had no agency. When your main character consistently and actively chooses not to make decisions, to not chase after their goals (in this case, the goal to kill the prince), you have written yourself a passive narrator. And passivity does not propel the plot or characterization. (Don’t get me started on the narrative choice to have Celeste not speak because it would expose her “siren accent.” Last I checked, sirens didn’t go around talking to people, but preferred singing to them . . .)

I argue Celeste did not have much of a character arc, either. By the end, sure, we learned that humans weren’t as bad as Celeste was led to believe. She learned to defend herself with weapons beyond a spear, too. But that was about it? She was still prone to cry, prone to long, introspective paragraphs where nothing was shared with the reader.

(Sidebar: Why was the opening epitaph the Hans Christian Anderson quote “mermaids don’t cry,” when we proceed to spend chapters of the book with Celeste while she cries?)

World Building—Or Lack of It
The world-building was poorly executed from the jump. I often found the details weren’t explained at all, or they were explained conveniently. Celeste, despite living amongst sirens all her life and being taught how horrible humans were, knew information about humans that she should have never known. For example, the sirens lived in the “middle of the ocean,” which was akin to living in the middle of nowhere. Yet, Celeste has absolutely no problem navigating herself to human ports to save Raiden and Bastien within the opening chapters. She also had knowledge on what human objects were properly named, what their body parts were—for a society that shunned anything human, she was aware of far too much.

Outside of the human details, a strange thing I struggled with was the detailing of time. The sirens followed cycles (it wasn’t until page 232 that I saw confirmation that a cycle was the equivalent of a year), but also moon phases? Neither was explained, which led to general world-building confusion as I read.

Story Execution and Writing Style
Beyond the potential plagiarism, the poor characterization, and the confusing world-building, this novel had a greater problem yet: Impicciche not trusting her audience enough while trusting her audience too much.

What do I mean by that? Well, as outlined by the world-building paragraph above, the audience was not presented with enough details to make heads or tails of the world, the magic system, and how any institutional systems worked. The audience was dumped into the world and left to flounder. Yet, when it came to descriptions of anything human-adjacent, we would fall into painful detail about these things. While also talking around what things were. I recall chapter five or six hosting descriptions, which were written around what a violin was, what the music sounded like, all without clearly describing what Celeste was experiencing.

Which brings me to my next point: the concept of show, don’t tell. Telling is when summary or exposition is used to tell the reader what is happening in a story. Showing uses descriptions and actions to paint the story onto the page. Telling provides clunky, often shorter sentences and a fast pace. Showing draws out more emotionality, paints stronger imagery for the reader.

It goes without saying that this story relied heavily on telling over showing. The novel carried a strong feeling of “this, and then this happened, and then this,” which makes for clunky pacing and poor execution. There were a few decent lines, but, for the most part, the descriptions skirted across showing the reader anything. Honestly? I would have welcomed more purple prose in the novel. Maybe then the prose would have made me feel or see something.

I want to touch on another writing concept: introspection vs planning vs action. These are the three main modes that story beats often fall into. Introspection is a moment in which the narrator and/or main character are thinking things through, reflecting on events, or are working through an emotional moment. Planning moments are where readers see characters interacting with each other, having conversations, and actively working toward the next step in their goal(s). Action moments are plot pieces that drive the story forward, that push characters forward or farther away from their goals. This novel leaned heavily on introspection, which was a symptom of Celeste’s decision not to speak for most of the story. The issue with introspection is that it slows down the overall pace of a story and grows tedious to read after a while. Especially when paired with Celeste’s passivity and reluctance to kill the prince.

The Book Deal
I want to take a moment to touch on Impicciche’s book deal and why she was published. It’s easy to understand why her story was picked up and got the deal. It’s written all over her bios, her synopsis, and marketing packages. Kelsey Impicciche has 1.5 million followers, subscribers, etc., across the internet, which means she has a pre-built audience for this novel to reach. Impicciche herself has stated on social media and on YouTube that the only reason why she got this book deal was because she has a giant following online.

Having that knowledge tucked in the back of my mind made reading this novel incredibly frustrating. As outlined above, the story execution was incredibly poor. I could rattle off half a dozen comp titles that this novel took details or concepts from (“The Little Mermaid,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” literally any other romantasy out on the market . . . ). I struggled with this book because it’s incredibly obvious this was not picked up because of its story quality—it was picked up because of Kelsey’s following. It was picked up because of its potential to sell well, to be a bestseller because of Kelsey’s following.

This is something I struggle with a lot when it comes to celebrity, YouTuber, BookToker, etc., book deals. There is this romantic notion that publishing, while an industry that needs to make money, also wants to uplift and support talented writers. There’s a notion that publishing is seeking out new, groundbreaking stories. I can’t label this book as being any of those things. This book needed heavy developmental and grammatical editing (don’t get me started on how many sentences started with conjunctions), and, frankly, a plagiarism check.

Yet, when it’s obvious a story was given a publishing deal because of its potential for making money, not because of its story potential . . .

Well, I can’t help but disagree with that on principle.

Conclusion
I was not a huge fan of this novel. It took me over a month to read it from start to finish (and I did read it cover to cover, acknowledgments and all), and I required many reading breaks to help me get through it. While I do hope Impicciche learned from this initial novel and seeks improvement in future works, whatever those may be, I do not see myself continuing with her stories in the future. There were too many errors and not enough compelling content in this debut.

A Post-Script Note on the Novel’s Packaging
I am a fan of Frostbite Studio’s art style, but this cover did not fit the story. It made the book look like a graphic novel when it is a prose novel. However, I did enjoy the design of the book’s interior. It was nice to see a sans serif font being used; the decals for the scene breaks were pretty, as was the art at the start of the chapters. It’s a shame the story itself lacked quality.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Initial Thoughts:
Curiosity does, in fact, kill the cat.

*~*~*~*~*
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[Ray M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Original Rating: 3/5
New Rating: 1/5

Listen.... I'm a crybaby but not even I cry that much...

Also, Raiden is a bitch boy and Celeste is utterly useless.

This book was so bad I mistakenly thought it was good.
---------------------------------------------
Now while I did rate it a one star I will say that the beginning this book was pretty charming. I felt like it was a good little mermaid retelling and I liked how Celeste cried pretty often as I do myself.....

However... as others say... sometimes less is more... This author wrote in a way she just felt like her audience was stupid... she was so overly descriptive it was kind of ridiculous but I let it slide because while it was overly descriptive and kinda degrading by how she felt like I couldn't add 2 + 2 it was still engaging.... I found myself enjoying Celeste's curious and cautious nature...

Celeste was a shit assassin tho... she never tried to kill Raiden to my understanding Until she found out her "best friend" was gagged and confined to the basement.... like brutha what??? Why does it take that action happening for you to do your job??? Celeste was also very naive... like stupidly so and that kinda made me dislike her character as time went on.. I get that she's a different, being a Siren and a princess but like.... damn girl did you not learn anything from your "so-called best friend" about how people can be deceitful? Idk I just felt like she was stupid.... why was she so trusting after the first human she came across after getting legs assaulted her? Like huh? Why wouldn't she be more cautious after that???

Moving onto Raiden.... Prince Eric who? This bitch isn't Prince Eric at all... He was so fucking moody it made my head spin and he was so fucking predictable... bitch as raging daddy issues and is a Grade-A BITCH BOY... I hate that Mfker. Especially when it came out that he killed one crew member, was using Celeste (which was pretty predictable), and sent ANOTHER CREW on this suicide mission all for a daddy that can't give him the time of day.... oh brother this man is such a bitch boy it's ridiculous.... he kidnaps her friend, lies to her, BASICALLY MAKES HER FALL FOR HIM AND THEN HAS THE GALL TO STAND THERE WHEN HIS FRIEND IS ABOUT TO KILL THE WOMAN HE "LOVES" I hate him.... get his fake ass love away from me ew... Prince Eric I know and love would be DISGUSTED.

Then we have the basically last 20% of the book... so much was happening, YET NOTHING WAS HAPPENING AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME. So much drama came to life, the climax was there, the action was coming and I was ready for it.... all I got was disappointment, crying, and Celeste standing there, looking stupid af... PEOPLE WERE LITERALLY DYING WHILE THIS BITCH HAD THE POWER TO CALL AN ANCIENT OCEANIC BEING AND A TRIDENT AND YET HER ASS DID NOTHING BUT CRY AND WATCH HER PEOPLE GET SLAUGHTERED....

Ugh that last 20% pissed me off so much for me to rate it one star I don't even care to know what happens in the future... get this raggedy book and FMC out of my damn face.

[Ashley Batchelder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating this 1 star because I genuinely could not finish it. I had such high hopes for this book, but it did not feel original at all. It immediately started off on the wrong foot when it was like she copied and pasted the opening scene of Disney's "The Little Mermaid," from the way the dog reacts to Celeste to her watching the men on the ship, and even down to her noticing human trinkets.

In addition to the blatant plagiarism, it's just poorly written. The author's target audience is her YouTube followers which is mostly people around her age, young adults, and some older teens, but this reads as though it was written for third graders. The pacing of the sentences is horrible, and clunky and the pacing of the plot awful. This is by far the biggest disappointment of any book I've read, period.

I do have to say that the cover is lovely, but unfortunately, that’s the best thing about this book. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Ashley (wickedreads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I CANT BELIEVE THERE WAS NO WARNING THAT THIS WAS NOT A STAND ALONE!!! It ended on a cliffhanger and I’m RAGING (it was very good)

Firstly, we have a start in a Little Mermaid reimagining where Celeste is a siren princess and saves a prince from a shipwreck (caused by her and her fellow sirens but don't worry about that!). Then, to redeem her family and honor, she must kill the prince she saved. This leads her to make a deal with the sea witch for legs to go to land and find the prince. Not only does she find him but she finds a new family.

When I tell you this book has TWISTS and TURNS. I still have not recovered. I need book two immediately!!!

[Maddy Freitas · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 36% – A Disappointing Miss with Major Writing Flaws

As someone who usually adores any Little Mermaid retelling, I was genuinely excited to dive into this one. Unfortunately, I had to DNF at 36% due to persistent and distracting writing issues that pulled me out of the story and made it difficult to stay engaged.

From the start, I noticed several inconsistencies and errors that raised serious concerns about the editing and proofreading process. For example, in Chapter 2 (just 4% in), the protagonist Celeste is described swimming underwater in mermaid form—yet a shark is said to "dive for her legs." Mermaids don’t have legs underwater, which immediately made me pause. While I tried to push past this, the errors continued to mount.

Another major inconsistency appeared in Chapter 11, when Celeste, having just gained legs and described as naked, is approached by a human who remarks on her lack of clothing. Yet only paragraphs later, that same character grabs “her armor” and tries to pull apart the laced bodice made of stingray leather. The transition from being explicitly described as naked to suddenly wearing detailed armor is jarring and unexplained, leaving a gap that undermines the reader’s trust in the narrative.

Unfortunately, these weren't isolated issues. The lack of continuity and basic narrative consistency made it difficult to stay immersed. I found myself constantly pulled out of the story by errors that should have been addressed during developmental edits or even early proofreading. As a frequent ARC reviewer and beta reader, I couldn’t help but wonder how this made it to NetGalley in its current state.

I sincerely hope this feedback reaches the publisher and editorial team, as I believe quality control at the ARC stage is essential—not just for a book’s early reputation, but also out of respect for readers investing their time. This one wasn't for me, and I regret not being able to finish it.

⭐️ 1 star

[Charity (Booktrovert Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t think I’d enjoy Voice of the Siren—a debut by a Sims 4 YouTuber who wrote a YA fantasy romance. I was skeptical. But color me surprised—I actually liked it.


Read My Honest Book Review on My Blog:
Voice of the Ocean

This is a Little Mermaid retelling that leans a little too hard on the original in the beginning, but eventually finds its own voice. The story follows Celeste, a siren sent to kill the human prince she once saved—a punishment for her failure to follow orders. She’s caught between duty and her conscience, and while her internal conflict gets repetitive, there’s enough magic, intrigue, and heart to keep things moving.

It reads a bit young for YA, and some of the storytelling veers into “telling not showing,” especially when it comes to her decision to make a deal with the Sea Witch. But by the end, I was fully invested. The final twist? Did not see it coming—and now I need the sequel.

✨🧜‍♀️ Want my full, unfiltered thoughts? Read the complete honest review on my blog: Voice of the Ocean

Connect With Me:

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[Mikayla Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was like a little mermaid retelling….. so good! It was such a fun vibe. I thought it was just a standalone but I was wrong hahaha

[Ace · Rating 1 out of 5]

So we're just re-writing The Little Mermaid scene for scene? Retelling is one thing, a complete play by play of the Disney film is another. Pretty art can't help with the ugly insides of this book. It also feels written partially with AI, or maybe I'm just too stuck on the idea of it being a play by play of Ariel and Eric.

Literally dnf'd by chapter 10. I don't think finishing would have brought any satisfaction.

[Lili°❀⋆⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ (book slump) · Rating 4 out of 5]

if prince Eric had personality

[maryam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75! rtc <3

[Emilia Dodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the advanced copy of book in exchange for an honest review of the book.

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. The pacing was a bit strange, it felt like that the first part of the novel really dragged only for the climax of the novel be rushed in the last few chapters. At points it felt that there were too much description of insignificant information but major plot points were glossed over. The fact that the title of the novel was a major aspect of the plot that wasn't introduced until the last 30% of the novel was very confusing to me.

The setting and world building were done well for a debut fantasy novel. The main character, Celeste, was a good narrator and I loved a lot of the side characters. I think this was a solid debut novel and I'm really looking forward to the sequel. I do think there is a lot of potential of this to be a strong series and it was a strong debut.

[DianaRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

3.5 stars

voice of the ocean was an interesting original retelling of the little mermaid, full of betrayals and dark secrets above and below the sea.

our fmc celeste continuously makes the wrong choices as the youngest siren princess — from breaking treaties with other siren kingdoms by exposing the secret of sirens to humans, saving a prince who is actually a pirate and attacks innocent ships, and indirectly hurting her friends, celeste is extremely careless. despite celeste’s actions, i still enjoyed the overall plot and pacing of the story!

i also listened to the audio, and of course love anything narrated by natalie naudus!

[Tegan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Something that’s pitched as a Pirates of the Caribbean and The Little Mermaid mashup is, in theory, made for me. I was lured in by a pretty cover and the promise of ancient magic and treacherous waters, but should’ve admitted defeat and DNF’d around the 30% mark when I was confident that this book wasn’t for me. And yet I persevered, just in case it delivered on its promises.

I wasn’t fond of the pacing of this book. The first third dragged, then it seemed to rush through significant scenes (for me, it was this book's equivalent of Ariel meeting the sea witch, and I also felt a bit unclear on what their deal was), then the climax of the book felt like it was squeezed into a handful of chapters. There was more description of minor details than some of the plot points. The ancient magic (and also the title of the book) doesn’t become prominent until the final ~30%. There is one (to my memory) treacherous moment in the waters. The romance could’ve been dangerous if I understood either of their intentions.

I did enjoy some of the moments where Celeste is discovering the human world. She has a harder time learning to walk than Ariel, and there’s light humour as she’s copying crab movements until she figures her body out, and once she learns to walk she realises running is a whole other obstacle. I enjoyed her relationship with some of the characters and her sisterhood with Kiyami, although Celeste doesn’t speak but seemingly managed to convey entire understandable sentences with just a tilt of her head.

[Ashlynn Higginson · Rating 1 out of 5]

"But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more." -Hans Christian Andersen

I was so excited for this book to come out, and I really wanted to love it, but I'm at chapter 10, and I don't think I can force myself to read any more. As a lover of mermaids/sirens and Pirates of the Caribbean, this looked so good, and I absolutely fell in love with the fanart. However, there are a few things I just can't get around.

As someone who is usually a YA lover, the writing felt very young... It's maybe closer to a middle-grade reading level. The first chapter feels almost exactly the same as something I wrote in middle school for my own Little Mermaid retelling (honestly was a little creepy--felt like I was reading my old middle school journal for a second)! And so many chapters are just scenes right out of the Little Mermaid movie. Like, blatant rip-offs.

Also, the Hans Christian Andersen quote about mermaids having no tears at the very beginning got me super excited... Only for Celeste to be crying constantly. Only nine chapters in, and she's already had multiple breakdowns. Like girl, chilllll! Also, why did the book start with mermaids not being able to cry then?! It would be sooo much more impactful, dark, and tragic if Celeste still felt emotional and soft-hearted compared to everyone else, but couldn't cry. That's literally supposed to be the point of the quote.

Sorry to be so ranty--I'm just upset about the quality and slow pacing of a book that seemed like it would be so good!

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re looking for an ocean themed tale of mermaids and sirens, with shades of The Little Mermaid; then The Voice of the Ocean is the one for you. The cover art alone is so stunning, and the story is well-written. I’m not usually a huge fan of retellings, but this is really easy to get lost in.
It is left on a a cliffhanger, honestly I hope there will be a second book as this very much just felt like an introduction.

Celeste is a rebellious, siren, princess who feels as though she doesn’t belong amongst her people. She betrays her underwater kind by saving a human Prince, Raiden Sharp’s, life. Instead of sentencing her to death, they give her a mission; to assassinate the very same human that she saved. To do this, she must be transformed into a human. But is the foreign world, on land, everything she expects it to be? Is her true home above, or below, the sea?

*Gets ‘Part Of Your World’ stuck in my head* 😆 although this is obviously based more upon the original fairytale.

Thank you to Netgalley/the publisher for an ARC, in exchange for an honest review. ✨🫶🧜‍♀️💖

3 Stars

[cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Chelsea]

Dnf at 40%

This story is VERY reminiscent of The Little Mermaid which is what first peaked my interest. The story was fine but I had a difficult time staying engaged. After stopping and starting over for the third time I’ve decided to DNF.

[akacya ❦ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

2025 reads: 94/300

i received a finished copy from the publisher for a book tour. this did not affect my rating.

as the youngest daughter of the siren queen, celeste has had her entire life laid out for her from the time she was born. she joins the chorus, an elite group of siren warriors, in attempt to prove her worth. things go south, though, when she saves the prince that her chorus wanted dead. even worse, he’s the son of her grandmother’s murderer. celeste now has two options: be forever exiled, or try to win her kingdom back by killing the prince. she makes a deal with the siren queen to be able to live among the humans and fulfill her duty. her mission goes sideways, though, when she realizes she’s starting to care for the prince and his pirate crew.

i love mermaids, so this book immediately intrigued me because our mc is one (well, a siren). i thought it was interesting how the siren society worked in this book, as it was a matriarch and the sirens have such different customs than the humans. the romance aspect also initially intrigued me, though it lost its appeal to me not too far in. overall, this was a decent YA fantasy!

also, i went into this thinking it was a standalone, but this is definitely set up for a sequel!! i would be interested in reading a sequel should one release.

[ashlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can we take a moment for this cover? She’s gorg


I absolutely adore Celeste. she’s so strong-willed and protective, but also deeply in tune with her emotions in a world that keeps telling her she feels too much. I loved that about her, she leads with her heart in a way that feels brave.

and Raiden… listen. i could not stop imagining him as Jack Sparrow the entire time. like fully. eyeliner, swagger, pirate energy,it was honestly hilarious and weirdly worked for me.

the story itself was addictive, magical and way more emotional than i expected. but that ending? no. no. no. no. absolutely not. nothing could’ve prepared me for that chaos. I was sitting there stunned like “oh… we’re really doing this?”

overall, such a fun and dramatic siren adventure that gave me more feelings than i was ready for.


buddy read with Isadora , it’s always fun reading with you!💗

[Dayna | daynas.bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

is it me? am i the problem??

this book wasn’t for me. love a retelling, but i’m learning that i prefer more “loose retellings” or stories more “inspired by” because this was too close to the original little mermaid story to keep my attention.

also psa: this is NOT a standalone

[yoanna ᝰ.ᐟ (semi ia uni.)]

siren princess x prince yup this book is definitely hitting my tbr 🙂‍↕️

[Jackie ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything would have been easier if Raiden had just died like he was supposed to.

Pre-read *⁀➷
If there are SIRENS or MERMAIDS that means its an INSTANT read for me.
I do get nervous the author is an online personality soooooo we'll see. I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Victoria Werngreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you to LBBG for the e-ARC - here’s my honest review:

I mostly liked the beginning and the ending, but the middle was soooo long! it felt like I was reading forever, but I got nowhere.. the descriptions were beautiful, but too much😞

the middle part of this book felt really dragged out and was just too slow for me to enjoy😞 I think I would have enjoyed it much more, if we got some more romance or moments between the fmc and the mmc though🙌🏼 considering the importance of the romance/love story between the siren and the prince in the blurb, it was pretty underwhelming. the romance we got was cute, but there was barely any..

if it wasn’t because I got this as an e-ARC, I think I would have dnf’ed around 45%. the ending felt rushed, but after clawing my way through the middle it was a welcome change since I just wanted to finish the book. the ending itself (besides being rushed) was the best part of the book. lots of twists and revelations. I do think the ending is giving the second book potential to be great, but I’don't think this series is for me... while I love me a good YA book, this was just missing something.

this might be a light spoiler, but imo she did not attempt to kill him enough times HAHAHA 😂 I was looking forward to reading about her attemps where she’d be about to get discovered and would have to cover up her attemps with kissing him or flirting or SOMETHING.. but that just didn’t happen😭

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because I’m a fan of Kelsey, but I just couldn’t get through it and had to dnf at 65%. It was incredibly boring and the first 20% was essentially scene for scene The Little Mermaid. I really tried to push through, but the book was just not holding my attention and I didn’t want to force myself to finish.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.5

I had the privilege of reading this book early from Netgalley <3

To start, I was soo excited to read this because I've been watching Kelsey on Youtube since her debut in 2018 and she introduced the Sims to me. She's probably my longest watched YouTuber, I mean I've consumed her content for nearly 8 years now. So when I heard she was releasing a book, I was elated because I know how well she storytells.

I did enjoy this book for the most part. For a debut novel, Kelsey did an amazing job.
I enjoyed the new world of sirens, the little quirks and tells of them eg saying her stomach was filled with bubbles instead of butterflies- such a small detail but so so cute! It really made me feel like I was in a new world and having not read much about sea creatures, I enjoyed it. I loved Celestes character and her being written as the youngest made so much sense with all her actions. I loved her thoughts, her curiosity, her huge well of emotions and her intelligence. Her character is a breath of fresh air from the usual cold hearted assassins, but she wasn't afraid to show her emotions and accepted it in the end.
I also loved how being human was portrayed. Celeste's journey and realisation of what being a human is, was beautiful. I enjoyed the focus on emotions, specifically crying, the dancing, the imperfections in everything they do, the hand holding and laying your heart on your sleeve. It made me realize how lucky we are to be human and the beauty in it.
I also loved the little bits of magic we got and the lore. It was so fascinating, the song, the voice of the ocean, the chorus and how dangerous sirens can be. It's such a cool world to delve into. The descriptions were beautifulll and it was such a cute concept.

Unfortunately, there was so much potential for this book but it fell flat. It pains me to say this because I know Kelsey worked on this for years and I dont fault her for this- but her editor.
There was something about the writing that was off for me. It wasn't bad but it was inconsistent, which is a recurring theme in this book. The first 40%... it felt awkward? The scene jumps had no indication and came out of nowhere. Chapters ended oddly and started somewhere else completely. I had no idea where Celeste was half the time. The scenes jumped at weird times as well- sometimes she'd be in danger and the next scene she's awake and better, what happened in between? I felt like some important parts were missing. I can't pinpoint exactly why the writing was off but it just was.

She used a lot of short sentences and it felt overused at points. Here's an example:
"Her heart hammered. But she didn't move to cover herself. Instead, she let him look.
Watched him as his darkening eyes ran up her legs to his shirt. It hung off her shoulder, baring the column of her neck. When his eyes at last met hers, she suddenly felt wide-awake."
6 shorter sentences back to back.

Here's how I'd add some variation:
"Her heart hammered, and for a moment, she considered covering herself. But she didn’t. She let him look, let the silence stretch between them as his gaze traveled slowly up her legs to the hem of his shirt that clung to her frame and slid from one shoulder, bearing the soft column of her neck. When his eyes met hers at last, she felt wide-awake."

You see how small the edit was? Using a variation of short and long sentences makes the paragraph more interesting. Now it doesn't need to be like this in every paragraph ofc but certain scenes I was able to pick up on the constant short sentence use.


Around the 40% mark, the story went smoothly. The descriptions of her activities and the festival was perfect. It was written beautifully and I actually felt like I was there with them in the moment. Even the connection Raiden and Celeste had felt real (more on this later). I enjoyed myself and breezed right through it.
The last 25% of the book was awkward again. Whether it's because Kelsey writes better in heavy action scenes or lack of editing or the pacing of the story was different and the writing hadn't adapted, im not sure. Perhaps it was the choice to use third person in the past tense- something felt so off. A lot of the time it felt like things were summarized rather than told in the moment which made it seem less like a novel and more like a tale? It's sad to see because it isn't a huge fix at all and would've improved the story so much. I felt so disconnected from the story and because of this, I found myself not wanting to read the book at times.

Second, the characters. While I did love Celeste, I could not say the same for the other characters. It had a clear found family trope, stated to have enemies to lovers but I did not feel that way. Overall, there was a huge disconnect and distance from the other characters. I felt so inside Celeste's head at times, that it didn't give much room for any one else. Because of this, I didn't feel for many of the side characters stories and they didn't feel real at all. First with the other sirens, I didn't find myself caring much? Like Maeve and her whole story, as the apparent best friend of Celeste, she didn't feel that way at all. We didn't spend enough time with her to build a connection and the things we did know about her were summarized and told to the audience. There wasn't even a flashback. In fact, the small time shares we did spend time with her at the beginning, was sort of a negative interaction leaving Celeste feel hurt so why would the readers care what happened to her? This also left questions in her decisions to listen to Celeste at the end of the book. If all their interactions in the book were negative, where is this random decision to do something in favour for her best friend? This made the connection feel fake and cheap, when in fact it just wasn't written properly. Same for the rest of the sirens. Why should I care about their fates when we've interacted with them so little- and more importantly, the little time we do spend with them are negative in Celeste's eyes. I think if we got more of her in her home, with both positive and negative situations, this could be resolved.

Raiden. Oh Raiden. His character felt like 5 in one. Every time we interact with him, he's got a whole new personality and because of this he didn't feel like a person because it seemed like several mushed into one? Sometimes he's cocky, sometimes nice, sometimes mischievous but not in the 'these are his different personalities' kind of way but a 'I think he has Dissociative Identity Disorder' kind of way. I couldn't grasp his character, who he is, what he stands for at all. He pulls out the randomest lines to like WHERE DID THAT COME FROM ?! He and Celeste are meant to be enemies to lovers but it doesn't seem like that. He goes from being attracted to her (from her saving him) to hating her because she's a siren to liking her to hating her to secretly loving her to falling in love with her, all while they barely interacted and when they did- it didn't feel like a connection? The only time I felt like they did was on that island, eating fruit.
Also, going back to where he knew she was a siren FROM THE START- what is this about? and why did it never come back?? He hated her because he knew she was a siren YET did absolutely nothing with that information. He never exploited this knowledge, never teased her or hinted at it ever again, never threanted her besides the 'try something and ill kill you' which felt underwhelming because he's not properly presented as a threatening person, and it was just left there??? I suppose it came into play at the end because he needed a siren to find the 'Voice of the Ocean' but it felt so odd. This was an important piece of information and even Celeste should've worried about it more. Why does he know she's a siren and did nothing? Shouldn't she question where she even learned this information from?? and how he's not in the least surprised??? Idk.
I'm also a little disappointed to know she had her voice the entire time- so she could use her power of the song and never used it once in the presence of the crew (im not counting the scenes of her using it on animals or with a group). Besides when cradling Maeve but all that did was prove she was a siren. As a weapon, it should've been used and would've been so powerful - to prove her ethereal power and magic. This would've meant more to me than her learning how to fight on legs, because we should be emphasizing her siren abilities!
The Sea Witch. When we meet her and when she turns Celeste's tail into legs, was the most underdeveloped scene I've read. The Sea Witch was robotic in nature. Her dialogue, the way she acted felt so bland? It didn't feel like a character? where is the underlying craziness or hidden tone or anything to make her the villain she is?? Even if she had everyone fooled, she still had no personality or character whatsoever, until the end.
-Also, another inconsistency, didn't the Sea Witch say that once their deal was over, Celeste would have to make another deal with her again to get legs again. So if thats the case, why does she still have legs hello. This seawitch is too nice, I feel robbed.
-this is me being nitpicky and I dont want to say much incase there's another reveal in the next book but while I did love Celeste's wide range of emotions- like her crying, it felt too much? this goes in with the repetitive lines like "tears sprung to her eyes" because she cried at everything? She's more sensitive than me-and im a human-which felt off for a siren.

Third, the plot points and information given were very conveniantly given at times. Why did she suddenly remember her grandmothers song? or the story of the goddesses or the myth of the voice of the ocean? It felt like plot armour and therefore made it cheap that 'oh she knows about this' but since we're in her thoughts 24/7, shouldn't readers know about this too? Im not saying every piece of information needs to be given at the start but more spread out and less of 'oh I just remembered'

In all, this book and storyline has potential and I hope the second one is better and pulls it all through.