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Aecoria #1
Sea and Sky
She was mer, one of the ghastly creatures that lurked beneath the waves. He was human, brilliant as the sun. Forced into an unwanted marriage, they never expected to find passion in each other's arms.
Isolde knows she must murder her new husband to fulfill her father's hunger for revenge. She has every intention of doing so, even if her husband is painfully beautiful. Even if he's the only one who ever made her feel something approaching happiness.
Nishad knows never to trust a mer, but he is arrogant enough to believe his docile wife incapable of betrayal. He allows himself to succumb to forbidden desire with her, never suspecting that any moment could be his last.
With illusions shattered and long-held secrets laid bare, the unlikely lovers struggle with truth as tensions rise between their realms. Their fragile bond will never survive unless they come to see that love is more important than duty, and that magic can happen when sea meets sky.
Isolde knows she must murder her new husband to fulfill her father's hunger for revenge. She has every intention of doing so, even if her husband is painfully beautiful. Even if he's the only one who ever made her feel something approaching happiness.
Nishad knows never to trust a mer, but he is arrogant enough to believe his docile wife incapable of betrayal. He allows himself to succumb to forbidden desire with her, never suspecting that any moment could be his last.
With illusions shattered and long-held secrets laid bare, the unlikely lovers struggle with truth as tensions rise between their realms. Their fragile bond will never survive unless they come to see that love is more important than duty, and that magic can happen when sea meets sky.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 19, 2017
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Heather Crews
20 books566 followersArt, dreams, spray paint. Love, death, villains. Awkward but nice. Can't keep plants alive.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Crews/...
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 19, 2020
🧜♀️ 3.25 Stars! 🧜♀️
✰ Thoughts, Feelings, Musings, etc. ✰
I have a declaration that I want everyone to hear. I, Julia, lover of all things romance, love mermaids.
✨ Mermaids. M-E-R-M-A-I-D-S. Human on top, fish on bottom. Ariel. Sirens. MERPEOPLE ✨
I think it all started when I watched - on VHS of course ;) - The Little Mermaid . THE LITTLE MERMAID had it all, romance, action, adventure, a castle, pretty dresses, catchy as hell songs, and most of all. . .MERMAIDS. See not only did I love swimming, but I also had obnoxiously long hair (it may or may not have touched my waist), and because of that every time I swam in any body of water I'd attempt - poorly - to recreate the scene .
🧜♀️ Imaginary Me: 🧜♀️
✨ IRL Me: ✨
It has taken me a long time to really grasp how much THE LITTLE MERMAID really impacted me but I had this epiphany after I finished Sea and Sky . I realized that I fucking love mermaids and will now start to collect mermaid stuffed animals. gotta have life goals, amirite? Oh and also this book was. . .disjointed to say the least. First off it had the dreaded "insta-love" out the wazoo. Not only did the main couple fall victim to the Gods of "insta-love", but so did the random side-couple - whose names i don't currently remember. The plot resolved wayyyyy to quickly, and the trauma the heroine went through just kinda got magically fixed by. . .you guessed it, the power of love✨ seriously mermaid girl went through hella trauma and then by the end of the books she's just fine However, despite my issues with a lot of this book you know what kept me not only reading this book, but ENJOYING it?
Well the ✨ 🧜♀️ M - E - R - M - A - I - D - S ✨ 🧜♀️ of course!
I just freaking love mermaids. I'm not sure what changed - to much alone time + Disney+ - , but I am fully ready to embrace my love for merpeople. Anyway this whole long winded rant about mermaids is to say that this book could've been about mermaids slapping puppies with their tails for fun, and I still wouldn't have given it below 3 stars. While SEA AND SKY isn't a perfect book by any means it was -
fun ~
“I didn’t walk into your life. You dragged me into it by kidnapping me.”
“Semantics, sweet lady.”
i mean kidnappings are the height of entertainment IMO
had mermaids ~
She was oddly compelling, this princess from under the sea.
included not one romance but two romances ~
“If you had, you’d see I’m a bottomless well of feelings for you. They’re all tangled up with one another, and I fear I may never sort them out. I am, in fact”—his voice faltered slightly—“quite undone.”
had that a good old fashioned arranged marriage ~
“What was my life before you walked into it? I can’t imagine how I didn’t wither from boredom before knowing you.”
sexy times were afoot ~
there were attempted assassinations ~
don't hate i just love this movie ;)
pirates ~ well kinda. . .they were more like bandits but in my head they were land pirates. . .
vigorous fighting ~
a dash of court intrigue ~
and a happily ever after ~
✰ Concluding Thoughts ✰
SEA AND SKY was a good time. While it wasn't perfect it had the bones of a great book and because I wanted to read the sequel I decided to read this one first. I can say with 100% certainty if you even liked this book a little bit then you will be blown away by how great book 2 is. However, SEA AND SKY has a lot to like and if you have KindleUnlimited you might as well check it out! Because, as I've mentioned a billion and a half times, MERMAIDS.
✰ Thoughts, Feelings, Musings, etc. ✰
I have a declaration that I want everyone to hear. I, Julia, lover of all things romance, love mermaids.
✨ Mermaids. M-E-R-M-A-I-D-S. Human on top, fish on bottom. Ariel. Sirens. MERPEOPLE ✨
I think it all started when I watched - on VHS of course ;) - The Little Mermaid . THE LITTLE MERMAID had it all, romance, action, adventure, a castle, pretty dresses, catchy as hell songs, and most of all. . .MERMAIDS. See not only did I love swimming, but I also had obnoxiously long hair (it may or may not have touched my waist), and because of that every time I swam in any body of water I'd attempt - poorly - to recreate the scene .
🧜♀️ Imaginary Me: 🧜♀️
✨ IRL Me: ✨
It has taken me a long time to really grasp how much THE LITTLE MERMAID really impacted me but I had this epiphany after I finished Sea and Sky . I realized that I fucking love mermaids and will now start to collect mermaid stuffed animals. gotta have life goals, amirite? Oh and also this book was. . .disjointed to say the least. First off it had the dreaded "insta-love" out the wazoo. Not only did the main couple fall victim to the Gods of "insta-love", but so did the random side-couple - whose names i don't currently remember. The plot resolved wayyyyy to quickly, and the trauma the heroine went through just kinda got magically fixed by. . .you guessed it, the power of love✨ seriously mermaid girl went through hella trauma and then by the end of the books she's just fine However, despite my issues with a lot of this book you know what kept me not only reading this book, but ENJOYING it?
Well the ✨ 🧜♀️ M - E - R - M - A - I - D - S ✨ 🧜♀️ of course!
I just freaking love mermaids. I'm not sure what changed - to much alone time + Disney+ - , but I am fully ready to embrace my love for merpeople. Anyway this whole long winded rant about mermaids is to say that this book could've been about mermaids slapping puppies with their tails for fun, and I still wouldn't have given it below 3 stars. While SEA AND SKY isn't a perfect book by any means it was -
fun ~
“I didn’t walk into your life. You dragged me into it by kidnapping me.”
“Semantics, sweet lady.”
i mean kidnappings are the height of entertainment IMO
had mermaids ~
She was oddly compelling, this princess from under the sea.
included not one romance but two romances ~
“If you had, you’d see I’m a bottomless well of feelings for you. They’re all tangled up with one another, and I fear I may never sort them out. I am, in fact”—his voice faltered slightly—“quite undone.”
had that a good old fashioned arranged marriage ~
“What was my life before you walked into it? I can’t imagine how I didn’t wither from boredom before knowing you.”
sexy times were afoot ~
there were attempted assassinations ~
don't hate i just love this movie ;)pirates ~ well kinda. . .they were more like bandits but in my head they were land pirates. . .
vigorous fighting ~
a dash of court intrigue ~
and a happily ever after ~
✰ Concluding Thoughts ✰
SEA AND SKY was a good time. While it wasn't perfect it had the bones of a great book and because I wanted to read the sequel I decided to read this one first. I can say with 100% certainty if you even liked this book a little bit then you will be blown away by how great book 2 is. However, SEA AND SKY has a lot to like and if you have KindleUnlimited you might as well check it out! Because, as I've mentioned a billion and a half times, MERMAIDS.
i-wrote
October 3, 2017Free today through Thursday! (Oct. 3-5)
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Sky-Heathe...
SEA AND SKY is live! It's only $1.99, and free on KU.
Tortured mermaid heroine: check.
Reserved beta hero: check.
Smexy times: double check.
Thank you to my beautiful beta readers: Nenia, Monique, and Jess! This book is better because of you, and I couldn't have done it without your help!
Previously:
THERE'S A COVER. FINALLY.
Also, here's my blog post about it, which includes the super awesome soundtrack:
http://keepingghostsalive.blogspot.co...
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Sky-Heathe...
SEA AND SKY is live! It's only $1.99, and free on KU.
Tortured mermaid heroine: check.
Reserved beta hero: check.
Smexy times: double check.
Thank you to my beautiful beta readers: Nenia, Monique, and Jess! This book is better because of you, and I couldn't have done it without your help!
Previously:
THERE'S A COVER. FINALLY.
Also, here's my blog post about it, which includes the super awesome soundtrack:
http://keepingghostsalive.blogspot.co...
June 7, 2021
Heather Crews is my friend. And not just a GR friend, she's my actual friend. This fact has no influence whatsoever on this review. I wish I didn't have to supply such disclaimers, but you know how things people are.
I beta-read this for Heather back in 2017 before it was published. And I thought it was ok, but I had a lot of notes and I found that there were a lot of inconsistencies with characters and storyline. This is the first time I have read the book since her final edits and I am very happy to report that this version is much improved from the version I first read. With that being said, it still just wasn't my favorite.
Most of the fault is probably mine, as romance just isn't my genre. I tire of the tropes and the drama and if I'm being honest, sex scenes become repetitive and boring after about two. With that being said, Heather actually writes those scenes quite well (although as I don't read much in this genre, I don't have a ton to compare it to). I've read some sexy scenes that were just cringe worthy, and these are not. I think I just didn't believe in these characters the way I wanted to. They went from being strangers to being almost repelled to being completely infatuated in less than a week. And I know that part of being a romance reader is that suspension of disbelief, but I just can't do it.
What I did like was the world of Aecoria. I feel like the worldbuilding was really well done and the political subplot was done well. Secondary characters were well fleshed out and interesting and I cared about a lot of them. There is a secondary romance here that to me is much stronger and more interesting than the primary. I liked the descriptions of the villagers, the nobility, the Jynasi raiders. I felt like the story and the world were consistent, which is usually a criticism of mine when I read these types of stories.
I don't think that Prince Nishad or Princess Isolde were all that dynamic and I really had a hard time seeing their infatuation as more than just lust. Princess Isolde especially was so one-sided and I wanted more from her, especially being a product of such abuse and neglect. Prince Nishad was equally as flat. I would have liked to see him have interests or passions and that was something that was never really fully explored and so I was left wanting more.
With all that being said, I found the whole thing to be enjoyable and reasonably paced. Heather does tend to have a heavy hand with description, but that seemed to back off the further I got into the story. I do enjoy this world and definitely looking forward to more stories set here. The love story between two different species is an interesting angle and there were themes here that I think are important and relevant, despite this being a romance novel. And even though this genre isn't my favorite, I definitely have read much much worse.
3 stars.
I beta-read this for Heather back in 2017 before it was published. And I thought it was ok, but I had a lot of notes and I found that there were a lot of inconsistencies with characters and storyline. This is the first time I have read the book since her final edits and I am very happy to report that this version is much improved from the version I first read. With that being said, it still just wasn't my favorite.
Most of the fault is probably mine, as romance just isn't my genre. I tire of the tropes and the drama and if I'm being honest, sex scenes become repetitive and boring after about two. With that being said, Heather actually writes those scenes quite well (although as I don't read much in this genre, I don't have a ton to compare it to). I've read some sexy scenes that were just cringe worthy, and these are not. I think I just didn't believe in these characters the way I wanted to. They went from being strangers to being almost repelled to being completely infatuated in less than a week. And I know that part of being a romance reader is that suspension of disbelief, but I just can't do it.
What I did like was the world of Aecoria. I feel like the worldbuilding was really well done and the political subplot was done well. Secondary characters were well fleshed out and interesting and I cared about a lot of them. There is a secondary romance here that to me is much stronger and more interesting than the primary. I liked the descriptions of the villagers, the nobility, the Jynasi raiders. I felt like the story and the world were consistent, which is usually a criticism of mine when I read these types of stories.
I don't think that Prince Nishad or Princess Isolde were all that dynamic and I really had a hard time seeing their infatuation as more than just lust. Princess Isolde especially was so one-sided and I wanted more from her, especially being a product of such abuse and neglect. Prince Nishad was equally as flat. I would have liked to see him have interests or passions and that was something that was never really fully explored and so I was left wanting more.
With all that being said, I found the whole thing to be enjoyable and reasonably paced. Heather does tend to have a heavy hand with description, but that seemed to back off the further I got into the story. I do enjoy this world and definitely looking forward to more stories set here. The love story between two different species is an interesting angle and there were themes here that I think are important and relevant, despite this being a romance novel. And even though this genre isn't my favorite, I definitely have read much much worse.
3 stars.
October 4, 2017
Ladies and gentlemen, at 3.5 stars we have another winnah!
I got into Sea and Sky not really knowing what to expect; I've largely given up reading fantasy and have never understood the appeal behind mer-people romances, but since Crews was so successful at sucking me in with Girls Like You I figured her body of work was the place to start. And it was.
I cut my fantasy-teeth on Mercedes Lackey, and while reading Sea and Sky I kept drawing parallels between it and Lackey's "Valdemar" works. S & S felt like an edgier, 21st century version of Valdemar - although with less magic and more complex characters.
For whatever reason I find myself listening to my Zombies playlist just now (it fits, can't say why), so let me crank up the volume and get into the details...
Basic Synopsis
What's your name?
Who's your daddy?
Is he rich like me?
Has he taken any time
To show you what you need to live?
Tell it to me slowly,I really want to know
It's the time of the season for loving...
The main plot centers around an arranged marriage between a human kingdom and the mer-people, who are simply called "mer". Now, I normally despise arranged-marriage plots because they're so overdone (particularly in romance) but Crews throws enough curve balls into the picture that I found myself liking it.
For starters, neither leader really wants the arrangement to succeed and both are seeking to end-run the other through the arrangement. Second, neither Prince Nishad nor the mermaid Isolde are happy about marrying each other. Third, and perhaps most important...Isolde has been "trained" from birth to assassinate her hubby for Dad's political gain. There's also a bunch of fantastic racism and bad blood on both sides of the treaty, sprinkled with a generous dose of child abuse and psychological skull-fuckery. Thus does this mixture boil along at a nice clip.
S & S gets a slightly lower rating than before for one reason; I just didn't really "buy into" the relationship until almost the very end and even then, my opinion of the HEA could be summed up as "well okay, if you insist...". I can't really blame the book, but rather a bad case of "it's not you, it's me". Romance stories involve intimate relationships, a subject on which a person's opinions are never all that rational. People have feelings. In my mind this is why one reader can praise a book to the stars while another can tear it to shreds.
Both Nishad and Isolde had abusive childhoods (Isolde waaaaaay more than Nishad) and it affected how they treated each other even after they found affection for each other. Now, the psychology of both characters was handled with a surprising level of realism and complexity...which is why I didn't buy into their love ending up stable. Again, just a personal opinion based on experiences and observation. Your mileage may definitely vary.
What I Liked
Well no one told me about her - what could I do?
Well no one told me about her - though they all knew
But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don't bother tryin' to find her
She's not there...
I found quite a bit to enjoy in S & S, and I enjoyed it for a lot of the same reasons I enjoyed Girls Like You. Crews definitely has a series of favorite basic tropes, but that's no slam - so do I, and I like the way she rolls. Anyhow, on with the positives...
Pacing & Balance. A big gripe I have with most fantasy is the all-but-inevitable chunk of world information I find myself slogging through at the beginning, which amounts to the author eagerly saying "look at this nifty world I created, isn't it soooo nifty??"
In S & S, this "slog" clocked in at five freaking pages. After those pages I knew all I needed to about how mer worked and the political situation. Then, BOOM...it was plot time. Crews continues with her much appreciated knack for knowing when its time to sum up and when its time to explain. Likewise with never going too far with any one aspect of the story. In particular with the world-building; the fantasy world...well, I wouldn't call it "generic", but I would call it "functional". There's just enough information to keep interest without bogging down a reader with details that don't matter.
The Psychodrama. Oh jeebus, are these two lovers messed-up people. Particularly Isolde; I spent most of the story feeling really sorry for her. Her backstory is a toxic brew of emotional neglect, sexual abuse, ugly mind games and general fuckery, and Crews doesn't shrink from showing us the consequences of such a life. Isolde considers herself completely worthless, and every kind act she receives simply must have an ulterior motive behind it - after all, why else would anyone be nice to her? It was sad as hell. I could even side with her when she .
Nishad's situation was far more subtle, to the point where I really didn't like him for much of the story. His attempts to be kind to Isolde rang false and fell flat, and it baffled me why he was behaving so...but then I looked at his life and got the picture. His childhood had "emotional neglect" written all over it. Small wonder the poor bastard didn't really understand how to care for someone. He figures it out at the end...sort of. More on that later.
The Sex. Man is there a lot of it, and most of it is pretty good. There were a couple of scenes I actually thought were kinda hot - which is a huge achievement, as I almost never find word-smut sexy.
Characters. Crews again gives us a nice collection of background characters, all with solid motivations and three-dimensional personalities, both good and evil. I specifically despised Luskin, the mer in charge of Isolde's "training" considering how he . I wanted to stab his scaly ass with a harpoon and mount him on my wall. There is one character, though, that I fell in love with from moment one...
Sanjay. This guy...damn, I almost wish the story had been about him. Sanjay is a bandit king the way bandit kings ought to be written; every time he was in the picture all he did was smirk and chew the scenery while tossing out the book's best lines and funniest moments. He was Captain Jack Sparrow in bedouin robes, and God bless him for it. Without him around S & S would've been way too dreary. He also manages to romance a woman he's kidnapped without being a creeper about it. Didn't think that was possible, but I'll take it.
Quibbles
Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there...
Cohesion. The plot does occasionally wander about and stumble, especially near the end; I sometimes had a bit of difficulty remembering where I was and who was in the room. It wasn't a huge issue, but it did crop up sometimes.
The Ending. When compared to all the buildup, I felt like the ending was somewhat of a letdown. I wanted a confrontation between Luskin and Isolde, but we didn't really get one. I wanted to know more about , but I didn't get that either. the evil queen also went down a little too easily, considering how crafty she's shown being early on.
The Relationship. Like I said above, I just didn't buy in here. Sure, Nishad sort-of got a clue about how he wasn't treating Isolde all that well despite trying to, but in my view it was "too little, too late". I wasn't left picturing "happily ever after"...I pictured "happy for a while, and then Isolde leaves him when she realizes she can do better". There are probably plenty of readers who would argue with me here, but that's okay. You do you.
Anachronistic words. Scientific terminology for the ocean cropped up sometimes, but the most grievous offended was "electric" cropping up in the narrative. I wanted to poke my head into the book and shout "THOMAS EDISON HASN'T BEEN BORN YET!". There were others, like some modern slang (use of the word "fuck") and a few turns of phrase that didn't quite fit in a fantasy world. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was there.
...And that's pretty much it. In the end I give Sea and Sky 3.5 stars, which translates to "great if you like this kind of story, and if you've never read one you might like it." Now if you'll excuse me, I'm eyeballing Crews' vampire books and wondering if she can get me to like fang-daddies again.
Toodles!
I got into Sea and Sky not really knowing what to expect; I've largely given up reading fantasy and have never understood the appeal behind mer-people romances, but since Crews was so successful at sucking me in with Girls Like You I figured her body of work was the place to start. And it was.
I cut my fantasy-teeth on Mercedes Lackey, and while reading Sea and Sky I kept drawing parallels between it and Lackey's "Valdemar" works. S & S felt like an edgier, 21st century version of Valdemar - although with less magic and more complex characters.
For whatever reason I find myself listening to my Zombies playlist just now (it fits, can't say why), so let me crank up the volume and get into the details...
Basic Synopsis
What's your name?
Who's your daddy?
Is he rich like me?
Has he taken any time
To show you what you need to live?
Tell it to me slowly,I really want to know
It's the time of the season for loving...
The main plot centers around an arranged marriage between a human kingdom and the mer-people, who are simply called "mer". Now, I normally despise arranged-marriage plots because they're so overdone (particularly in romance) but Crews throws enough curve balls into the picture that I found myself liking it.
For starters, neither leader really wants the arrangement to succeed and both are seeking to end-run the other through the arrangement. Second, neither Prince Nishad nor the mermaid Isolde are happy about marrying each other. Third, and perhaps most important...Isolde has been "trained" from birth to assassinate her hubby for Dad's political gain. There's also a bunch of fantastic racism and bad blood on both sides of the treaty, sprinkled with a generous dose of child abuse and psychological skull-fuckery. Thus does this mixture boil along at a nice clip.
S & S gets a slightly lower rating than before for one reason; I just didn't really "buy into" the relationship until almost the very end and even then, my opinion of the HEA could be summed up as "well okay, if you insist...". I can't really blame the book, but rather a bad case of "it's not you, it's me". Romance stories involve intimate relationships, a subject on which a person's opinions are never all that rational. People have feelings. In my mind this is why one reader can praise a book to the stars while another can tear it to shreds.
Both Nishad and Isolde had abusive childhoods (Isolde waaaaaay more than Nishad) and it affected how they treated each other even after they found affection for each other. Now, the psychology of both characters was handled with a surprising level of realism and complexity...which is why I didn't buy into their love ending up stable. Again, just a personal opinion based on experiences and observation. Your mileage may definitely vary.
What I Liked
Well no one told me about her - what could I do?
Well no one told me about her - though they all knew
But it's too late to say you're sorry
How would I know, why should I care?
Please don't bother tryin' to find her
She's not there...
I found quite a bit to enjoy in S & S, and I enjoyed it for a lot of the same reasons I enjoyed Girls Like You. Crews definitely has a series of favorite basic tropes, but that's no slam - so do I, and I like the way she rolls. Anyhow, on with the positives...
Pacing & Balance. A big gripe I have with most fantasy is the all-but-inevitable chunk of world information I find myself slogging through at the beginning, which amounts to the author eagerly saying "look at this nifty world I created, isn't it soooo nifty??"
In S & S, this "slog" clocked in at five freaking pages. After those pages I knew all I needed to about how mer worked and the political situation. Then, BOOM...it was plot time. Crews continues with her much appreciated knack for knowing when its time to sum up and when its time to explain. Likewise with never going too far with any one aspect of the story. In particular with the world-building; the fantasy world...well, I wouldn't call it "generic", but I would call it "functional". There's just enough information to keep interest without bogging down a reader with details that don't matter.
The Psychodrama. Oh jeebus, are these two lovers messed-up people. Particularly Isolde; I spent most of the story feeling really sorry for her. Her backstory is a toxic brew of emotional neglect, sexual abuse, ugly mind games and general fuckery, and Crews doesn't shrink from showing us the consequences of such a life. Isolde considers herself completely worthless, and every kind act she receives simply must have an ulterior motive behind it - after all, why else would anyone be nice to her? It was sad as hell. I could even side with her when she .
Nishad's situation was far more subtle, to the point where I really didn't like him for much of the story. His attempts to be kind to Isolde rang false and fell flat, and it baffled me why he was behaving so...but then I looked at his life and got the picture. His childhood had "emotional neglect" written all over it. Small wonder the poor bastard didn't really understand how to care for someone. He figures it out at the end...sort of. More on that later.
The Sex. Man is there a lot of it, and most of it is pretty good. There were a couple of scenes I actually thought were kinda hot - which is a huge achievement, as I almost never find word-smut sexy.
Characters. Crews again gives us a nice collection of background characters, all with solid motivations and three-dimensional personalities, both good and evil. I specifically despised Luskin, the mer in charge of Isolde's "training" considering how he . I wanted to stab his scaly ass with a harpoon and mount him on my wall. There is one character, though, that I fell in love with from moment one...
Sanjay. This guy...damn, I almost wish the story had been about him. Sanjay is a bandit king the way bandit kings ought to be written; every time he was in the picture all he did was smirk and chew the scenery while tossing out the book's best lines and funniest moments. He was Captain Jack Sparrow in bedouin robes, and God bless him for it. Without him around S & S would've been way too dreary. He also manages to romance a woman he's kidnapped without being a creeper about it. Didn't think that was possible, but I'll take it.
Quibbles
Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the color of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there...
Cohesion. The plot does occasionally wander about and stumble, especially near the end; I sometimes had a bit of difficulty remembering where I was and who was in the room. It wasn't a huge issue, but it did crop up sometimes.
The Ending. When compared to all the buildup, I felt like the ending was somewhat of a letdown. I wanted a confrontation between Luskin and Isolde, but we didn't really get one. I wanted to know more about , but I didn't get that either. the evil queen also went down a little too easily, considering how crafty she's shown being early on.
The Relationship. Like I said above, I just didn't buy in here. Sure, Nishad sort-of got a clue about how he wasn't treating Isolde all that well despite trying to, but in my view it was "too little, too late". I wasn't left picturing "happily ever after"...I pictured "happy for a while, and then Isolde leaves him when she realizes she can do better". There are probably plenty of readers who would argue with me here, but that's okay. You do you.
Anachronistic words. Scientific terminology for the ocean cropped up sometimes, but the most grievous offended was "electric" cropping up in the narrative. I wanted to poke my head into the book and shout "THOMAS EDISON HASN'T BEEN BORN YET!". There were others, like some modern slang (use of the word "fuck") and a few turns of phrase that didn't quite fit in a fantasy world. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was there.
...And that's pretty much it. In the end I give Sea and Sky 3.5 stars, which translates to "great if you like this kind of story, and if you've never read one you might like it." Now if you'll excuse me, I'm eyeballing Crews' vampire books and wondering if she can get me to like fang-daddies again.
Toodles!
October 16, 2017
There is so much potential and a lot of good ideas in this book, but they were never fleshed out. At times, I thought I was reading two different books: an epic love story and a light-hearted historical-like Scottish romance. I wish it had been the former - all the way.
The plot:
Humans have hunted red whales to extinction and the mer king is plotting his revenge. He has raised his daughter Isolde as a weapon for his revenge. She is to marry the human prince Nishad and kill him. So Isolde grew up isolated from the group and trained in fighting. She is ostracized by everyone and finds it hard to resist her husband, who is the first one to show her interest and small kindness.
Nishad is obeying his controlling and scheming mother by marrying Isolde, even though he believes mer people are monsters. He finds himself curious about Isolde and attracted to her despite himself.
The good:
The relationship between Nishad and Isolde drew me in. The book sets them up so that
- it is not insta-love/insta-lust
- Isolde is isolated and did not know what trust and kindness was
- the care for each other is developed out of mutual curiosity and the time they spend together (ok, most of it is sex).
It worked for me. The sex scenes were good, and the characters' emotions were all tangled up, leaving them wondering whether what they were experiencing was pure lust or the start of deeper feelings.
The bad:
Just when Nishad and Isolde's story took flight, it got completely shot down into something else. Action. . And a subplot I had very little interest in reading. Yes, Sanjay and Ayanna were engaging but I wanted more of the Nishad-Isolde dark relationship.
The beginning had a few plot points that had me scratching my head, but the ending is full of them. Here are a few:
The blending of the genres did not work for me. I really, really liked the psychodrama (word used by Eric Plume) of Nashid/Isolde and wanted to delved into it. I wished they had more time to know each other and lived in their own bubble for a while longer.
The plot:
Humans have hunted red whales to extinction and the mer king is plotting his revenge. He has raised his daughter Isolde as a weapon for his revenge. She is to marry the human prince Nishad and kill him. So Isolde grew up isolated from the group and trained in fighting. She is ostracized by everyone and finds it hard to resist her husband, who is the first one to show her interest and small kindness.
Nishad is obeying his controlling and scheming mother by marrying Isolde, even though he believes mer people are monsters. He finds himself curious about Isolde and attracted to her despite himself.
The good:
The relationship between Nishad and Isolde drew me in. The book sets them up so that
- it is not insta-love/insta-lust
- Isolde is isolated and did not know what trust and kindness was
- the care for each other is developed out of mutual curiosity and the time they spend together (ok, most of it is sex).
It worked for me. The sex scenes were good, and the characters' emotions were all tangled up, leaving them wondering whether what they were experiencing was pure lust or the start of deeper feelings.
The bad:
Just when Nishad and Isolde's story took flight, it got completely shot down into something else. Action. . And a subplot I had very little interest in reading. Yes, Sanjay and Ayanna were engaging but I wanted more of the Nishad-Isolde dark relationship.
The beginning had a few plot points that had me scratching my head, but the ending is full of them. Here are a few:
The blending of the genres did not work for me. I really, really liked the psychodrama (word used by Eric Plume) of Nashid/Isolde and wanted to delved into it. I wished they had more time to know each other and lived in their own bubble for a while longer.
October 29, 2017
This was a beautiful, well-written tale.
The strange/strained dynamic between the H/h - Nishad and Isolde - was interesting, given that he was so aloof that he seemed to be carved from a cool slab of marble (much like his appearance), while Isolde was basically a non-entity; a tool. Seeing them grow as individuals as well as learning to trust in one another was the main component of their story. The intimate scenes between them also showed their growth, as they went from cold and just plain pitiful to smoldering.
The other main characters - the greedy ruthless Queen Sidrah, the cruel asshole Luskin, Isolde's Bad Parent of the Year father Olevandros, Sanjay and Ayanna - plus several minor characters - made for a well-rounded cast of characters.
I really enjoyed reading Sea and Sky (I read it twice)!
4.5 stars.
The strange/strained dynamic between the H/h - Nishad and Isolde - was interesting, given that he was so aloof that he seemed to be carved from a cool slab of marble (much like his appearance), while Isolde was basically a non-entity; a tool. Seeing them grow as individuals as well as learning to trust in one another was the main component of their story. The intimate scenes between them also showed their growth, as they went from cold and just plain pitiful to smoldering.
The other main characters - the greedy ruthless Queen Sidrah, the cruel asshole Luskin, Isolde's Bad Parent of the Year father Olevandros, Sanjay and Ayanna - plus several minor characters - made for a well-rounded cast of characters.
I really enjoyed reading Sea and Sky (I read it twice)!
4.5 stars.
September 7, 2022
The cover is really misleading! This isn't some fluffy YA romance chick-lit type book.
Some of the themes are very dark: there are mentions of rape, cannibalism, and there is some gore. The tone is quite somber most of the time.
I like somber! The writing is neat in most places.
Unfortunately, in terms of "genre", this first installment of the Aecoria series (which can absolutely be read as a stand-alone) is all over the place.
There is a big romance plot, a political intrigue side-plot and a revenge side-plot. Together, they form a poorly balanced soup.
The romance plot is okay, though unconvincing. Isolde, the female lead, gets less time to fully develop than her male counterpart, Nishad.
Nishad is thought to be "cold" by his own people, but I don't see it. He's a mushy pile of feelings. Which would be alright, except his narration continues to insist that what is shown (his mushy feels) is the opposite of whatis happening (a cold, unflinching facade).
Obviously the hard-shell soft-heart character is nothing new. But it has to be done better. We, as readers, have to feel the cold aloofness of a character, yet still see a glimpse of softness or empathy just lurking behind all the ice.
In Nishad's case, there was just mushy softness and a narrator that kept insisting: "he's cold, I promise he is!"
Isolde had better, more consistent characterization. Her journey from the passive, lonely princess to a woman with agency was much more believable, despite the fact that huge opportunities for development for her were missed.
Isolde has been callously abused and trained to be a murder weapon since her birth. She never knew her mother (who is probably dead), her father is cold to her, her human tutors tend to die and she has no friends or allies.
As a result, she is numb, passive and has no goals or sense of self-worth.
Nishad changes that for her, by being kind, and that's a whole bottle of problems.
Isolde does not change on her own: instead of being abused and guided that way, Nishad now prods her with being nice and supportive, and she gradually changes to her "real" personality.
The book lacks many decisive moments for Isolde herself, on her own. She never has the opportunity to really stand up against her former abusers. There is no big confrontation with her father or with Luskin. She does not put the other horrible mer in her place who balatantly disrespect her to her face. Instead she is saved by Nishad, or sometimes by the palace women. That's just sad.
I mean, yes, Isolde does get a badass fighting scene at the end, but since it has been established from the very first glimpse of her that she is a well-trained, competent fighter, that wasn't a huge a-ha moment at all. We all knew Isolde was strong and capable! What we never really saw is her believing in herself.
Finally, the ending was way too neat and everything was tied together with a pretty little bow.
What should have ben a messy fallout at court with lots of more death, gore, disagreements and screeching was handled in a few pages, like an afterthought. Too bad, because I love a good, hot mess.
3 stars because the writing was good and I enjoyed some of the elements. All put together it was a jumble of missed opportunities, with a horrifically misleading cover.
Some of the themes are very dark: there are mentions of rape, cannibalism, and there is some gore. The tone is quite somber most of the time.
I like somber! The writing is neat in most places.
Unfortunately, in terms of "genre", this first installment of the Aecoria series (which can absolutely be read as a stand-alone) is all over the place.
There is a big romance plot, a political intrigue side-plot and a revenge side-plot. Together, they form a poorly balanced soup.
The romance plot is okay, though unconvincing. Isolde, the female lead, gets less time to fully develop than her male counterpart, Nishad.
Nishad is thought to be "cold" by his own people, but I don't see it. He's a mushy pile of feelings. Which would be alright, except his narration continues to insist that what is shown (his mushy feels) is the opposite of whatis happening (a cold, unflinching facade).
Obviously the hard-shell soft-heart character is nothing new. But it has to be done better. We, as readers, have to feel the cold aloofness of a character, yet still see a glimpse of softness or empathy just lurking behind all the ice.
In Nishad's case, there was just mushy softness and a narrator that kept insisting: "he's cold, I promise he is!"
Isolde had better, more consistent characterization. Her journey from the passive, lonely princess to a woman with agency was much more believable, despite the fact that huge opportunities for development for her were missed.
Isolde has been callously abused and trained to be a murder weapon since her birth. She never knew her mother (who is probably dead), her father is cold to her, her human tutors tend to die and she has no friends or allies.
As a result, she is numb, passive and has no goals or sense of self-worth.
Nishad changes that for her, by being kind, and that's a whole bottle of problems.
Isolde does not change on her own: instead of being abused and guided that way, Nishad now prods her with being nice and supportive, and she gradually changes to her "real" personality.
The book lacks many decisive moments for Isolde herself, on her own. She never has the opportunity to really stand up against her former abusers. There is no big confrontation with her father or with Luskin. She does not put the other horrible mer in her place who balatantly disrespect her to her face. Instead she is saved by Nishad, or sometimes by the palace women. That's just sad.
I mean, yes, Isolde does get a badass fighting scene at the end, but since it has been established from the very first glimpse of her that she is a well-trained, competent fighter, that wasn't a huge a-ha moment at all. We all knew Isolde was strong and capable! What we never really saw is her believing in herself.
Finally, the ending was way too neat and everything was tied together with a pretty little bow.
What should have ben a messy fallout at court with lots of more death, gore, disagreements and screeching was handled in a few pages, like an afterthought. Too bad, because I love a good, hot mess.
3 stars because the writing was good and I enjoyed some of the elements. All put together it was a jumble of missed opportunities, with a horrifically misleading cover.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2017
Its going to be hard to review this book. I started reading with hopes for something intriguing and tense, but the story was rushed and seemed to lose its way.
There were huge wtf?? moments -
Isolde has been training for a year for her role - I presume by learning how to become the wife of Nishad. She must surely have realised what she would look like out of the water - and instead she has no idea that her hair is knotted and full of salt etc. It takes her pathetic and fairly useless servant to tell her.
And then there is the rather unpleasant - and frankly pointless - sexual training by Luskin. Really? I have no idea why this is in the story - it is never really developed other than to show that Luskin has strong sexual urges and uses Isolde as a whore, and even that scene, where he expects her to perform oral sex on him, has no repercussions for either of them.
We are told 'she never hesitated to spread her legs for him' and that 'she took him gladly into her mouth' So what does that make her? And what is the point? If she had fought, or even shown the slightest reluctance I would have been sympathetic, but I am not.
And then she has sex with Nishad on their wedding night - this is a 'woman' who has spent the last year being trained for this - hence the lessons in sex from Luskin - and... 'It hadn't hurt at all, contrary to what she'd expected.'
But she KNOWS what is involved. She's had sex with Luskin. (or am I missing something here)
Nishad is all over the place - lusting after his lover, unable to bear looking at Isolde's 'monstrous' face but still able to 'perform his duty' on his wedding night.
I don't think this has been thought through properly. There seem to be too many sub-plots and I have no idea which is the real focus of the story - Isolde trying to kill her husband, the Queen trying to have Isolde kidnapped, the machinations of Luskin etc etc. Random characters appear and seem to be important, but I am not sure how necessary they were to the plot/s.
In the end Isolde came across as someone brainwashed and with no real 'awareness' of what she was doing. Nishad was all over the place - revolted by his wife's appearance and then loving her without any reason.
I was particularly irked by the lack of a Table of Contents which would have made reading and reviewing much easier. I tend to have several books on the go at once, and I often like to flick back through chapters to refresh my memory. Its not THAT difficult to put a ToC in an ebook, and it gave the book a rather 'amateur' feel.
I also wanted more depth to the story - more intimacy (not as in sex - I wanted to SEE the relationship develop instead of being told that it had) and in the end I dnf'd at 76%.
All in all, this story seems to lack structure and coherence, and it has the feel of being a rough first draft instead of a polished final edit.
There were huge wtf?? moments -
Isolde has been training for a year for her role - I presume by learning how to become the wife of Nishad. She must surely have realised what she would look like out of the water - and instead she has no idea that her hair is knotted and full of salt etc. It takes her pathetic and fairly useless servant to tell her.
And then there is the rather unpleasant - and frankly pointless - sexual training by Luskin. Really? I have no idea why this is in the story - it is never really developed other than to show that Luskin has strong sexual urges and uses Isolde as a whore, and even that scene, where he expects her to perform oral sex on him, has no repercussions for either of them.
We are told 'she never hesitated to spread her legs for him' and that 'she took him gladly into her mouth' So what does that make her? And what is the point? If she had fought, or even shown the slightest reluctance I would have been sympathetic, but I am not.
And then she has sex with Nishad on their wedding night - this is a 'woman' who has spent the last year being trained for this - hence the lessons in sex from Luskin - and... 'It hadn't hurt at all, contrary to what she'd expected.'
But she KNOWS what is involved. She's had sex with Luskin. (or am I missing something here)
Nishad is all over the place - lusting after his lover, unable to bear looking at Isolde's 'monstrous' face but still able to 'perform his duty' on his wedding night.
I don't think this has been thought through properly. There seem to be too many sub-plots and I have no idea which is the real focus of the story - Isolde trying to kill her husband, the Queen trying to have Isolde kidnapped, the machinations of Luskin etc etc. Random characters appear and seem to be important, but I am not sure how necessary they were to the plot/s.
In the end Isolde came across as someone brainwashed and with no real 'awareness' of what she was doing. Nishad was all over the place - revolted by his wife's appearance and then loving her without any reason.
I was particularly irked by the lack of a Table of Contents which would have made reading and reviewing much easier. I tend to have several books on the go at once, and I often like to flick back through chapters to refresh my memory. Its not THAT difficult to put a ToC in an ebook, and it gave the book a rather 'amateur' feel.
I also wanted more depth to the story - more intimacy (not as in sex - I wanted to SEE the relationship develop instead of being told that it had) and in the end I dnf'd at 76%.
All in all, this story seems to lack structure and coherence, and it has the feel of being a rough first draft instead of a polished final edit.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2021
this series stole my name???
June 21, 2024
I'm stopping part way through to do a preliminary review. How did I end up reading this one? Well, I saw the second book of the series on someone else's favorites list. Since it was second in a series I looked to see what came before. As it's a Kindle Unlimited offering, I thought, okay, I'll give it a look.
I don't understand the low rating. This is a great little fantasy tale, well written and very engaging. So many KU books lately are self-published, unedited, amateur and just awful - and yet somehow score deceptively high ratings. This book, I would give a 4, but I'm compelled to make it a 5 for some balance.
Isolde, the mermaid princess, has had a cold upbringing, isolated from others, knowing nothing but cruelty and expectations of subservience. She's had to learn to hide her thoughts in a world where thoughts are shared. She survives by telling herself nothing matters, not what others think of her, or how they treat her; not even her father's casual backhand matters.
Nishad, the Prince of Aecoria, who is offered up by his greedy mother, the Queen, as husband to Isolde, isn't pleased with the plans for his future, though he does his duty. Even though he is initially repulsed at the thought of intimacy with Isolde, he is a man with a good heart.
I've just reached the point where Isolde has asked for something for herself, for the first time ever. She asked to be held by her new husband. When that brought a tear to my eyes, it hit me. Hey, this is a good book. If the story can pull me in, and the character can evoke that kind of sympathy - the author has definitely done something right.
On to finish the tale, after which I'll update this review. So far, highly recommended.
Update: finished and haven't changed my opinion or rating. Perfect HEA. 👍♥️
I don't understand the low rating. This is a great little fantasy tale, well written and very engaging. So many KU books lately are self-published, unedited, amateur and just awful - and yet somehow score deceptively high ratings. This book, I would give a 4, but I'm compelled to make it a 5 for some balance.
Isolde, the mermaid princess, has had a cold upbringing, isolated from others, knowing nothing but cruelty and expectations of subservience. She's had to learn to hide her thoughts in a world where thoughts are shared. She survives by telling herself nothing matters, not what others think of her, or how they treat her; not even her father's casual backhand matters.
Nishad, the Prince of Aecoria, who is offered up by his greedy mother, the Queen, as husband to Isolde, isn't pleased with the plans for his future, though he does his duty. Even though he is initially repulsed at the thought of intimacy with Isolde, he is a man with a good heart.
I've just reached the point where Isolde has asked for something for herself, for the first time ever. She asked to be held by her new husband. When that brought a tear to my eyes, it hit me. Hey, this is a good book. If the story can pull me in, and the character can evoke that kind of sympathy - the author has definitely done something right.
On to finish the tale, after which I'll update this review. So far, highly recommended.
Update: finished and haven't changed my opinion or rating. Perfect HEA. 👍♥️
February 24, 2022
You know what I love? Mermaids. Especially scary mermaids. And this book was everything I’ve ever wanted from a mermaid book.
My only complaints are that the author kind of takes the easy way out narratively (the entire last quarter of the book seems to come together with almost no opposition) and that she never really develops any of the secondary characters, even the ones like Ayanna and Luskin who are given pov chapters.
But those are small potatoes to the glory of scary mermaids.
My only complaints are that the author kind of takes the easy way out narratively (the entire last quarter of the book seems to come together with almost no opposition) and that she never really develops any of the secondary characters, even the ones like Ayanna and Luskin who are given pov chapters.
But those are small potatoes to the glory of scary mermaids.
April 2, 2019
That was far too romantic for my sappy little heart and I loved it. A tale between mermaids and princes never fails to make me fall in love.
November 3, 2025
3.5
I really enjoyed this authors writing style and the story had a lot more depth than I was expecting.
Could I have done with out the fishtail sex scene, yes, yes I could have.
I really enjoyed this authors writing style and the story had a lot more depth than I was expecting.
Could I have done with out the fishtail sex scene, yes, yes I could have.
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