The Siren's Fate: A Mermaid Romance

by S.G. Murry

“You have no idea how fear can transform ordinary people into monsters.” Ian Reynolds was born into a life of wealth and privilege, but he never wanted any part of it. Disgusted by his father’s lavish lifestyle, Ian instead invests himself in his writing and creates an empire of his own as a successful author. But the happy life he built for himself is shattered when his girlfriend is murdered by her secret lover. Thrown into the depths of depression, Ian seeks an escape to his beloved housekeeper’s hometown of Romiou. But it seems that powers beyond his imagination have orchestrated his arrival in Romiou. Something wicked lurks in the water, waiting to claim him…

Genres: Fantasy

53 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2019

Reviews

[Adelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever given a book 1 star until today. Terrible writing, run-on sentences, it was just all over the place. I’d love to give a synopsis, but it was really just that bad.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wtf did I even just read? Lol

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded to 3....
That was certainly interesting and would be better if it was a longer book.

[Moonstonefox · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn't. I tried, I really did. but the run on sentences gave me a headache and made it so hard to follow. It was just a no from me.

[Frank Carver · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rambling, unedited nonsense. Not even worth reading for free.

I consider myself pretty good at finding something worthwhile in most books. After all, someone has spent the time and effort to plan, research, write, edit, proofread and publish it. This book is the outlier. While the author has obviously taken at least some time to do the actual writing, the rest of those vital phases of the authorship process are conspicuously absent. I would be surprised and disappointed if this has been edited at all.

At this point in my reviews I usually introduce some of the key aspects of the setting, characters and story, to give a potential reader some idea what they are getting. I’ll try, but I apologise if it does not make much sense!

The book begins with an introduction which would be minimal even for a back-cover blurb. Apparently there are (or were) some witches who were banished from a place named Romiou, but for an unexplained reason they want a teenaged writer named Ian to despair. Ian Reynolds is that writer. The heir of a fabulously wealthy family, he abandoned it all to be a writer and sold his first book, which of course won the Booker prize and became a runaway success, at 16 and now is wealthy in his own right. Ian has just knocked off another book and is looking for a topic for the next one when he finds out that his glamorous girlfriend Sasha is seeing someone else. Suddenly, and for no explained reason, Sasha is dead. Then a bit later Ian’s mother is dead too. Ian wants to get away from home for a while, and his agent has pointed out a folk tale about missing witches, so Ian decides to fly to Cyprus to investigate. While he is not looking, his housekeeper turns into a fish, Ian’s best friend’s girlfriend has her face bitten off, and someone shoots his agent in the eye with an arrow. From there it just gets weirder.

This book reads as if the author woke up in the middle of the night and tried to write down a dream as it faded from memory, then just published the raw notes. The characters are sketchy and unbelievable. The situations and incidents don’t connect with each other. There is no consistency or internal logic to the story, and it ends without resolving anything. The writing style is choppy and inconsistent, and riddled with grammar and spelling problems. It has a pretty cover, but even that is misleading, as it claims the book is “a mermaid romance”, when there is nothing even slightly romantic about the story, and the nearest thing to “mermaids” are witches who can transform into big fish.

This is book one of a four-book series, all of which use the same cover. Based on this one I would have to say: don’t bother.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have absolutely no clue what I just read. Possibly something about mermaids, but even then I don't know what happened. I was just so confused what was happening, and it was only a few pages long so I feel like that shouldn't even have happened. One of the issues was the grammar. There were so many typos and run on sentences that if it were a real book I probably would have thrown it across the room. But it was an ebook on my kindle, so I didn't.

Also, for such a short book with apparently a storyline, there was sooooo much language! I don't even get it. Was it all supposed to be a filler? Then a bunch of people were randomly killed in sorta gruesome ways, and I'm just very confused overall. This is book one of a series, but there's no way I'm reading any more.

Content:
Language (unbelievable)--S word, some f bombs, daughter-of-a-who**, blo***, **ll, **s, fag***, bs, bast***, ***dam***, d***
Sexy Stuff/Romance--One mention of mistresses/prostitutes, They were pictures of Sasha and Michael sneaking a kiss on the parking lot, pictures of them in bed inside a cheap motel in Westminster, pictures of them visiting an OB GYN clinic in Camden.
Violence--Weird sudden deaths Then, to her horror, the creature opened its massive mouth and bit her in the face.......an arrow, coming from the river, had pierced his left eye........with one quick move, inserted her hand inside his eye socket to crush his brain.

Don't waste your time.

[Raquel Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting short story.

Days ago I was looking for a new book to read and since I have a thing for sirens' stories this one caught my attention.

First of all, is a short and nice book, ideal for when you want to read something but you don't have a lot of free time, you can read this book easily in one day. I really like the background story the author tells about the sirens and witches, I think it has a lot of potential and I'm happy to know there are more books.

And even though I enjoyed the book, I feel there were a few things missing to make this a 5 stars book. First it's promoted as "The Siren's Fate: A Mermaid Romance" I didn't see the Romance anywhere, at least not in the first book, I just hope there's a romance story in the next ones. Second, it felt a little bit rushed. Third, it's a fantasy story but the fantasy elements aren't really shown till the second half of the book, I just wished there were at least hints of this from the beginning because it felt too much like a contemporary book in the first half.

Overall, it's a short, easy-to-read book, perfect to read between long series, there are a few plot twists and if you are patient enough the end gets really interesting.

[Mags · Rating 1 out of 5]

this one just felt a little forced for me...

“i just don’t know what it could be” i think to myself as i tap my Apple Pen against my temple...
(see highlights)

i didn’t expect much from this, i mean it was 64 pages for crying out loud, but i mean...

these little prequels are supposed to be a hook right? draw you in? make you want some more?yeah this one just didn’t do it for me...

the writing wasn’t great by even MY standards,
the characters were robotic,
lots of plot holes/information gaps,
it just didn’t flow ya know?
it was just stiff
idk how else to put it...

oh well, it was free, it was something to read... there’s always the next one🤷🏼‍♀️

[Elizabeth Henriquez · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not one to usually give such low review but my goodness this book did not flow well at all. I felt like I was reading a story written by a kid for a school project or something. I finished it because I don’t like to not finish through a book but my gosh this is not a good read do not waste your time and read this. I’m sorry to the author but I just did not enjoy this book one but the writing just felt so clunky and weird

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaking their curse

Ian has no idea that he is the key or more like his spilt blood will break a curse that has been in place for 2000 years. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book which I would heartily recommend but must warn that it is just the first in a series and ends with a cliff hanger.

[Marc Rieck · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting premise

This short story is a setup for a book that promises to be interesting. The characters and the writing are very good.

[Laura Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will say that even though there are some issues with this book I am still intrigued as the premise of the story has a lot of promise. I will certainly read the next book.

[Kendra Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mermaids

I get it but I didn't care for it. Gossh I'm in a slump. Others will probably like it but I struggled.

[Carla · Rating 1 out of 5]

This read more of an outline or someone writing their random thoughts about a book idea. I can't remember the last time I gave a book this low of a rating but here we are. I dnfed at 66%.

[Danielle Tiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure short stories are for me. You’d think that it would move fast and felt like it just dragged on. I couldn’t get into it. Didn’t grab my attention unfortunately

[Ashleigh Spicy Geek · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were parts that were interesting, and when I say that, I mean maybe one or two sentences in each chapter. Overall, it was a bunch of rambling, run on sentences, and jumping around. There just didn't seem to be enough structure to this. With the synopsis, it had real potential, it just didn't make it happen. I know there's a sequel to it but I won't bother. I think if the author spent more time editing and did one normal length novel instead of going for multiple novellas, it may have had a better chance of being good.

[Susan Prejean romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book but..

The book is really good and keeps your intrest. I absolutely love the book and can't wait for the next one. However there are a few grammatical errors. Some words say "on" when it should be "in" and small stuff like that. Still a great book. Definitely recommend!

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.