Undersea

The Merman #4

by X. Aratare

Gabriel Braven now believes his destiny is with his beloved Mer Prince Casillus Nerion, but he cannot quite imagine a life under the waves and leaving his best friend Corey and Grandma G behind on land.

Through their psychic bond, Casillus lets Gabriel experience the wonders of the Mer capital city of Emralis from the home of his ancestor Aemrys Liseas to the Mer palace. But even in the midst of all this love and beauty, Gabriel’s nature as a Caller draws darkness to them.

Cthulhu, the alien entity whose presence means destruction and madness for the human race, warns Gabriel that Johnson Tims will stop at nothing to expose the Mers’ existence and something must be done about him.

Genres: M M Romance, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, LGBT, Mermaids, Audiobook

81 pages, ebook

First published December 14, 2014

About the author

X. Aratare is the pseudonym for Raythe Reign's Gay(M/M) books.

Reviews

[Trio]

Continuing to love this audiobook series. Chris Patton's sweet and sensual voice is perfect for these characters.

The descriptions of Casillus' world are amazing and definitely welcome after the darkness of Caller. X. Aratare has an incredible imagination :)

[Tucker Almengor]

4 stars. review to come

------------------

and now book four!

| Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

[Gerbera_Reads]

This was rather sweet part of Casillus and Gabriel's love story. There were a lot of feelings, underwater exploring and a bit of mystical element that turned a simple story into an exciting one. I liked it.

[~David~]

This series continues to get better as it goes along. The descriptions and visuals of the underwater city were so beautiful and creative. There's a good mix of plot related tension and romance.

Casillus and Gabriel's relationship moved fast, but I've easily been able to buy it with their telepathy. They're so sweet together. And the underwater spice is wild!

[Audi♡]

"You will call Cthulhu to land. Johnson will have his showdown. And millions of people will die. "

Goosebumps! I'm hoping Cthulhu is our friend...🤞
Johnson gives me the heebie jeebies.I'm pretty sure he's using Granny to get to Gabriel..
I love Corey.
Omg and them getting freaky, 69in' underwater!!! sheewww weeeee 🥵
I'm stoked for the last one.

[♥️Victoria ♥️ ♥️love books♥️]

OH bloody hell what have I gotten myself into!!!!!!!

Just breathe.................................................

[Paul]

Story still going strong, I suppose because they're novella's it's flying by. It's a mermen YA/UF and it's OK

[Jazer (catching up on TBRs)]

That ending went down fast. Love the water gymnastics though. 😁

[Katherine]

Fantastic! Such a good read! Every word I'm more involved in each character and I don't even much mind Gabriel and Cassilus falling in love so quickly. The Mers world has been fleshed out nicely and I love the description of the city, getting right down into the bridges on the buildings. I find that I just can't wait to read what comes next! Just one niggling constant annoyance though. This is a continuous series- five books, one story. If you are reading book three, you've probably read books one and two. If you haven't a recap won't help that much. So why all the recaps! Every story begins by painfully rehashing what we've just gone through in the last book! If every book out there did this- gah it would make me start skipping the first 2 pages! Great story, love the way it has been so much more developed since the online version, but ditch the recaps for my sanity!

[Riva]

OK, I'm over $30 in to this audio book and it STILL is not finished. My review is -- don't start this book. It is not a series but one long dragged out story in at least five novellas; hard to tell as only four are listed on Goodreads at this time. I thought this was the last one; the end of the story, but it is NOT!!! This is not a good value and I am done spending money on it.

[MagnusLR]

Are they lowering the quality?

While I loved the first and second book I'm finding the third and fourth quite slow, and not in a good way, the errors are noticeable and they disrupt the flow and feeling. Also, detailing the whole 3 prior books is unnecessary & lame

[Andrew Mattson]

Wow, this book was finished in one sitting. Continuing on in Gabriel’s journey to transitioning into a merman, he brings his two worked together as he introduces his best friend Corey to his price of Mers lover Casillus, this bringing his land and sea lives together.

However, Gabriel discovers as a rare “Caller” merman, he has amazing psychic gifts that enable him to speak mind to mind with both his best friend Corey and his Grandmother on land, which helps since he will have to leave to live in sea with Casillus in another few days of he will die.

However, despite this power giving him the ability to connect more with his loved ones and other mers, it also brings him closer to Cthulhu, an almost alien like being whose presence means certain destruction for the land and Gabriel’s power as a caller gives him a connection to summon the monster.

There was a lot of great scenery depicted in this story as Gabriel finally conquers his fears of the ocean and explores the beauty of the Mer city of Emrails with his boyfriend Casillus and the glimpse their future life together. There’s also a very beautiful love making scene between the two mermen under the water just as Gabriel use to dream about so that was very sweet that his dream actually was fulfilled.

I won’t give anymore away but the ending had me shocked a little bit, despite the short story, it still pa is a lot into its pages with both romance and mystery, all with a fantasy story background. I’m excited to read the next book and see how this series ends!

[Mac-Daddy]

I gave up. I read the first three, started this one, and finally threw in the towel, knowing I’d probably do it halfway through book two.

My compliment: cool plot. If this had been written by a more matured and nuanced author, it would have been fantastic.

My main criticisms:

1.) Dialogue: absolutely unrealistic. The grandmother is a librarian, and many of her lines actually begin with, “As a librarian…” One MC and his best friend are 21 year old college students. They’re written like a 70 year old who’s only ever watched poorly written Disney sitcoms came up with their interactions. Also, the other MC (the thousands year old merman), NEVER uses contractions. I suppose it’s to show how not-human he is, but it’s stilted and weird.

2.) Cory. He’s Gabriel’s (MC 1) best friend, and guys…he’s FAT. How do I know this? The author reminded me 123,476 times. Any and all descriptions of Cory MUST include the word “chubby”, “pudgy”, “ample belly”, or some other lovely description. Also, he’s an idiot. It’s like the author really wanted to create the funny, fat, dumb sidekick stereotype, which has never been funny in movies, and it’s not here either.

3.) Why don’t these merpeople have tails? They’re just people with gills.

That’s all.

Corey reached forward with one of his pudgy hands to touch the moving gills

[Manon Lavoie]

OK! It's the fourth book and I'm kind of bored ! Very disappointing ! Things go so slowly !!!
IMO, this serie should have been edited in one book. I don't understand why it's 5 books that basically start exactly as the previous end. And you have to read a resume of the previous book each time you start a new book !!! So annoying !!!
You have to read the books in the right order, obviously. So why rehash the story in every book ? Like, we're too stupid to remember what happened before ? Come on !!!

Also, the descriptions of everything is endless !! So, I skipped a lot !!

One other thing that is really annoying, is the repetitive dialogs. Imagine a three characters's discussion. Gabriel and Casillus talk telepathically but not Corey. Gabriel and Casillus say something in their head but hey have to repeat it to Corey. See where I'm going with this ? Ridiculous !

[Myra]

The cover-art was absolutely gorgeous & Casillius was very charming 10/10.
But...
I feel like the Chuthlu element was a really extra-heavy topping to add to this 'not out of the oven cake'.
It was already bad enough that there's this evil professor/scientist element that for some reason is written in every mer story that I've been ignoring for the most part.

My personal note for my own recollection is just that,
I feel like the whole, meeting a new creature, transformation into said creature, leaving your family to live in a mysterious city at the bottom of the sea and becoming accustomed to an ancient tribe culture and social like is enough fuel to provide enough self deprecative feelings of conflict for one story.

[Dennis Crotts]

The story get stranger and stranger but at the same time?

But at the same time much more loving and excepting of what is happening and what life will be afterwards and most is not bad in a way he can communicate with the once he loves who live on the land and still be with his lover in the sea. But as in all love stories there is a bad apple or two who can cause harm and death and at the end you are left wondering who will win

[K.C. Riley-Gyer]

One more book and I’ll have finished the series. I want to know the ending but I don’t want it to finish. Such a typical reaction when I’m enjoying a story. There is an error but I’m not going to mention it as I don’t want to ruin the story but, for me, it’s an obvious error. Other than that, I am so loving this series.

[Brandy]

Not as good as the other books. Most of this is Casillus kinda making the Mer city come to life so he could show Gabriel it as well as Gabriel's family home. And some of the palace. Its not what I was hoping for but at least we get to meet Gabriel's Great Great Great how ever many Great Grandfather.

I'm hoping the next book will conclude everything nicely.

[Amber]

I really loved this section of the story where Gabe starts to explore being a merman. I also like that he got to met Aemrys his ancestor that started it all. There is some in depth background on the mer city which as a nice break in the story. Cthullu's plot also becomes more clear.

[Angi]

4.5 stars
This gets better and better and I can’t wait for the last book in this series. The story is great and I love the mcs together. Those two are so freakin cute.
I am also super curious about wether the evil being really is evil.

[Amanda Yvonne]

Would recommend

Another exciting book in the series. I was really surprised the direction the plot has went but I enjoyed it. Will be buying the next in the series.

[Kevin]

Gabriel and Casillus continue their ocean adventures, telepathically explore the kingdom, visit remotely with relatives, and Gabriel fears he will inadvertently call the monster Cthulu.

[Alexis]

This book wasn’t my favorite in this series but it was still interesting. I really like “it who must not be named” but I’m really for Johnson to die.

[lorikayhorsfall]

Wow a true cliff hanger .

Just as I'm drawn into the depths of this book it ends on a formidable note . The end is near and I can't wait.

[Calleyanne]

Great

I can honestly say that this is the best book so far! No slow parts at all. In fact, I can't believe I already finished it.

[Grace]

Least favorite so far. The whole ~magical shared memory~ thing took way too much page time and was a bit ridiculous.

[Anna]

I’m sticking to my belief that this would have been a whole lot better had it been one nice sized book!

[Xavier Reads]

Filler episode

[Janaysha Swain]

This book didn’t really grasp my attention like the other books, but I’m still going to continue the series!

[T.M. Smith]

Gabriel Braven has finally come to terms with the fact that he is Mer, though he is still having trouble with the fact he will have to leave his best friend and his Grandmother behind on dry land to complete the transition. Having finally accepted his destiny he is also letting down his guard with Casillus and the bond between them is only growing stronger. Casillus takes Gabriel deeper into the water than they’ve ventured thus far and surprises him with a glimpse of their home and they finally, fully consummate their relationship. But there is a dark entity that attached itself to Gabriel long ago, an entity that can only be awoken by a Caller.

Each installment of this series just gets juicier with content and storyline. I especially enjoyed the conversation Gabriel had with Cthulhu, the dark alien like entity that is supposed to be a guardian of sorts for the Mer. And that ending, whoa! I’m very excited to see how everything comes together in the end. Gabriel has shown himself to be a different kind of Mer, of course he’s a Caller and he’s mated to the Mer Prince, Casillus, but it’s more than that. I think the link he has with Cthulhu when the creature saved him as a child is going to be what saves them in the end.

If you are looking for something short, sexy and steamy that is well written and narrated to get you through your day, you should consider the Merman saga. Start with book 1 though or you’ll have no idea what is going on.