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Wavebreak: A Mermaid Romance Adventure
Aeralyn never felt like she belonged on land, but even she wasn’t prepared for what awaited her in the sea.
Having lost her father to the ocean before she was born, Aeralyn is left to deal with the consequences of his disappearance, and the shame that it has brought to her and her mother. Outcasts of the prosperous city of Lunar Cove, Aeralyn has no choice but to take to the sea herself. Accompanied by her tiny dragon companion Ikibee, she ventures out into deep waters, hoping to catch a few fish so they might survive another day.
What she catches instead changes her whole life.
Plunged into a world of living myth and wonder, Aeralyn meets Maze, a stubborn rebel merman who has taken a fascination to her. He wants her to run – er – swim away with him, and leave the darkness of Lunar Cove behind her forever.
But not all is bright beyond the water’s edge, and the most insidious of Lunar Cove have their eyes set on her as well. Aeralyn must find a way to protect those she loves, or she may find them at the end of something deadly, like a jagged blade...
…or razor sharp teeth.
Having lost her father to the ocean before she was born, Aeralyn is left to deal with the consequences of his disappearance, and the shame that it has brought to her and her mother. Outcasts of the prosperous city of Lunar Cove, Aeralyn has no choice but to take to the sea herself. Accompanied by her tiny dragon companion Ikibee, she ventures out into deep waters, hoping to catch a few fish so they might survive another day.
What she catches instead changes her whole life.
Plunged into a world of living myth and wonder, Aeralyn meets Maze, a stubborn rebel merman who has taken a fascination to her. He wants her to run – er – swim away with him, and leave the darkness of Lunar Cove behind her forever.
But not all is bright beyond the water’s edge, and the most insidious of Lunar Cove have their eyes set on her as well. Aeralyn must find a way to protect those she loves, or she may find them at the end of something deadly, like a jagged blade...
…or razor sharp teeth.
472 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 30, 2022
184 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Vinn Winters
8 books10 followersFrom scaling ancient temples, to swimming through Ocean reefs, Vinn Winters loves to chase adventure. When he’s not traveling across the world, he has two cats that bully him constantly, reminding him that he probably wouldn’t last five minutes in one of his stories. He enjoys relaxing over a hot cup of coffee, playing cards, video games, or reading a good story.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 30, 2022
ACOTAR but mermaids instead of Fae. I like mermaids so I very much enjoyed this.
July 25, 2022
The world building of this book is excellent, and the pacing is smooth and easy to follow. The primary characters were lively and fun. It felt like I was watching the story as a movie with clear detail. I look forward to reading the sequel.
September 14, 2024
Bit of a mess, but still quite adventurous
First off, I give mad props for originality, from the fantasy world to the characters that inhabit it. There were plenty of things that gave this story its own unique flavor. It didn't read like something I've read dozens of times before, and that's saying something. I didn't quite know what to expect, other than mermaids and the romance angle. Turns out I got a bit more than I bargained for. Once I was accustomed to the full-on fantasy element of mermaids, dragons, elves, and orcs, I had a pretty good time reading it. Plot was fairly easy to follow, and the world-building was decent.
Character interactions were by far my favorite feature, and I was surprised at how delightfully funny some of them were. Everyone was well-written as far as their personalities were concerned. Can't be having folks reading the same way. People felt adequately different. I found myself chuckling more often than not at some of the antics going on; everyone had their proper moment to shine in that department. While the dialogue was at times kinda corny, exaggerated, or overly exuberant, a great deal more of it was entertaining as heck. Did I have a favorite character? Not really. I was pretty fond of Ikibee and Maze, though it's probably because those are the two main fantasy creatures I haven't experienced before, which made them more appealing.
But alas, I did say this story was a bit of a mess, didn't I?
The romance angle was actually kinda flimsy, not only because of the rather silly attempt at a love triangle, but also because it isn't clear what anyone sees in the heroine (Aeralyn), especially Maze. Not that Aeralyn was a detestable character, but...she displayed such impressive resistance to being charmed, so it was kinda baffling that anyone would keep trying to charm her or why she'd even accept. Hotness I guess? I enjoyed Aeralyn's and Maze's initial interactions, but just couldn't quite buy love coming from either of them. A slower burn would have worked better, in my opinion, so I can get to know each of them better. Seemed it was just a lust thing from the get-go. Yet even then, why? Maze saves the woman, sure, but why is that enough to be all fixated on her to the point of "Yep. Let's bang"? Just wasn't fleshed out enough to convince me.
Furthermore, details of certain scenes were often on the chaotic side, some of which I had trouble visualizing because of it. This was especially true during the third and final act of the book (I still don't get how it all went down), as well as for any water fights going on. Someone from the land would be underwater but they'd still be talking/taunting as if they weren't, you know, UNDERWATER. Are they, or aren't they? Made no sense. Which brings me to another annoying point: Underwater dialogue for merfolk being represented with italics. Fine and dandy in principle until you see that italics ALSO represent Aeralyn's inner thoughts. Oyy. Why the author opted not to use quotation marks along WITH the italics during underwater dialogue, (which would have been the easiest solution), is beyond me. It certainly would have saved me the trouble of keeping it all straight.
All in all, I still did enjoy myself reading this thing. The sense of adventure was great. It may have had its numerous imperfections, but it still managed to keep my attention, and I'm mildly intrigued by where the story will go, especially given how it ended. I wouldn't mind learning more about this world.
Edit to say: I must say, I give even more props to the author for the follow-up response to this review. Never experienced that before, so that was an unexpected treat! After reading the author's response, I feel compelled to clarify my earlier complaint about the italicized underwater dialog. I wasn't bothered by the italics themselves. I thought it was pretty obvious that they were communicating telepathically, hence the usage of italics. That's fine and sensible. However, I thought it would have worked even better to still include quotation marks WITH the italics. To me, this would have better indicated that the telepathic dialogue was being "heard" by other merfolk, and not just housed in someone's head that others CAN'T hear. Hope that helps!
First off, I give mad props for originality, from the fantasy world to the characters that inhabit it. There were plenty of things that gave this story its own unique flavor. It didn't read like something I've read dozens of times before, and that's saying something. I didn't quite know what to expect, other than mermaids and the romance angle. Turns out I got a bit more than I bargained for. Once I was accustomed to the full-on fantasy element of mermaids, dragons, elves, and orcs, I had a pretty good time reading it. Plot was fairly easy to follow, and the world-building was decent.
Character interactions were by far my favorite feature, and I was surprised at how delightfully funny some of them were. Everyone was well-written as far as their personalities were concerned. Can't be having folks reading the same way. People felt adequately different. I found myself chuckling more often than not at some of the antics going on; everyone had their proper moment to shine in that department. While the dialogue was at times kinda corny, exaggerated, or overly exuberant, a great deal more of it was entertaining as heck. Did I have a favorite character? Not really. I was pretty fond of Ikibee and Maze, though it's probably because those are the two main fantasy creatures I haven't experienced before, which made them more appealing.
But alas, I did say this story was a bit of a mess, didn't I?
The romance angle was actually kinda flimsy, not only because of the rather silly attempt at a love triangle, but also because it isn't clear what anyone sees in the heroine (Aeralyn), especially Maze. Not that Aeralyn was a detestable character, but...she displayed such impressive resistance to being charmed, so it was kinda baffling that anyone would keep trying to charm her or why she'd even accept. Hotness I guess? I enjoyed Aeralyn's and Maze's initial interactions, but just couldn't quite buy love coming from either of them. A slower burn would have worked better, in my opinion, so I can get to know each of them better. Seemed it was just a lust thing from the get-go. Yet even then, why? Maze saves the woman, sure, but why is that enough to be all fixated on her to the point of "Yep. Let's bang"? Just wasn't fleshed out enough to convince me.
Furthermore, details of certain scenes were often on the chaotic side, some of which I had trouble visualizing because of it. This was especially true during the third and final act of the book (I still don't get how it all went down), as well as for any water fights going on. Someone from the land would be underwater but they'd still be talking/taunting as if they weren't, you know, UNDERWATER. Are they, or aren't they? Made no sense. Which brings me to another annoying point: Underwater dialogue for merfolk being represented with italics. Fine and dandy in principle until you see that italics ALSO represent Aeralyn's inner thoughts. Oyy. Why the author opted not to use quotation marks along WITH the italics during underwater dialogue, (which would have been the easiest solution), is beyond me. It certainly would have saved me the trouble of keeping it all straight.
All in all, I still did enjoy myself reading this thing. The sense of adventure was great. It may have had its numerous imperfections, but it still managed to keep my attention, and I'm mildly intrigued by where the story will go, especially given how it ended. I wouldn't mind learning more about this world.
Edit to say: I must say, I give even more props to the author for the follow-up response to this review. Never experienced that before, so that was an unexpected treat! After reading the author's response, I feel compelled to clarify my earlier complaint about the italicized underwater dialog. I wasn't bothered by the italics themselves. I thought it was pretty obvious that they were communicating telepathically, hence the usage of italics. That's fine and sensible. However, I thought it would have worked even better to still include quotation marks WITH the italics. To me, this would have better indicated that the telepathic dialogue was being "heard" by other merfolk, and not just housed in someone's head that others CAN'T hear. Hope that helps!
October 8, 2022
DNF at 88%
You may be asking yourself why I DNF-ed this book so close to the end. The answer is because I literally could not make myself read this book. I think the quality went down significantly after the romance was introduced into the plot, which I realize sounds counterintuitive for a romance book. But I found that once the romance started between characters, the focus on the story shifted to the romance between the three characters (in a possible love triangle) in a way that was detrimental to the plot. Also the romance irked me, I didn't like the idea that Maze was like following the human girl (whatever her name was) and that's why he saved her. I also thought the sex scene (btw, the book is not clean) was unnecessary/bad because the characters have literally no chemistry.
I could care less how this book ends.
You may be asking yourself why I DNF-ed this book so close to the end. The answer is because I literally could not make myself read this book. I think the quality went down significantly after the romance was introduced into the plot, which I realize sounds counterintuitive for a romance book. But I found that once the romance started between characters, the focus on the story shifted to the romance between the three characters (in a possible love triangle) in a way that was detrimental to the plot. Also the romance irked me, I didn't like the idea that Maze was like following the human girl (whatever her name was) and that's why he saved her. I also thought the sex scene (btw, the book is not clean) was unnecessary/bad because the characters have literally no chemistry.
I could care less how this book ends.
May 4, 2022
This book is absolutely fantastic! I love a good mermaid book and this is one of the best I've read in a long time [along with other neat mythical creatures like dragons/drakes]. Highly recommend!
May 24, 2022
This was, overall, a wonderful read.
It was a lengthier book (400+ pages) so I didn't expect it to be so fast-paced. It felt like at almost every page in this book, something was happening. There's a lot of world building, a good romantic buildup with ensuing passion and drama, and tons of action. It was all really interesting. There's not many cliffhangers, which is good, but I still found it very hard to put the book down.
I was a bit confused at first how this book was also #1 in a classic science category, as it's clearly a fantasy romance novel. But having read it now, I can see some strong Lovecraft inspiration in the background of this book, which makes sense why it would fit that category. No lasers or spaceships though, thank goodness.
I will say, if you're looking for a book with a heavy amount of spice or a plot that is solely romance, this book may fall short of your expectations. But the romance was there, and it also cast a wide net (pun intended) hitting on a lot of other categories in an entertaining way. I would definitely read the sequel.
It was a lengthier book (400+ pages) so I didn't expect it to be so fast-paced. It felt like at almost every page in this book, something was happening. There's a lot of world building, a good romantic buildup with ensuing passion and drama, and tons of action. It was all really interesting. There's not many cliffhangers, which is good, but I still found it very hard to put the book down.
I was a bit confused at first how this book was also #1 in a classic science category, as it's clearly a fantasy romance novel. But having read it now, I can see some strong Lovecraft inspiration in the background of this book, which makes sense why it would fit that category. No lasers or spaceships though, thank goodness.
I will say, if you're looking for a book with a heavy amount of spice or a plot that is solely romance, this book may fall short of your expectations. But the romance was there, and it also cast a wide net (pun intended) hitting on a lot of other categories in an entertaining way. I would definitely read the sequel.
December 25, 2022
Vinn Winters has a way of capturing an audience with a charming assembly of characters in this medieval fantasy world he's created. There is an array of magical creatures, yet it feels like the days of King Arthur reborn. The banter between characters was delightful and made me giggle. He uses fresh ideas that I've never seen written before in fantasy novels alongside pre-existing. I read up to 200 novels a year, so this alone was a highly welcome and ineffable surprise. This magical, heroic adventure is a fantastic read. The imagery made it easy to envision it as an adult animated feature. I loved this story.
May 4, 2022
Having read some of this author's previous work, I thought this author was niche, but since this book was a Amazon New Release Best Seller, so I guess I was wrong. Anyways, decided to check it out, even though I'm not a big fan of Mermaids.
Having read the book, I'm still not a big fan of Mermaids. I liked the author's other series better, but this was still pretty good. I will say book had a lot of gems to offer, even for non-mermaid readers. I was still able to enjoy it enough to say that I'd read the sequel.
Having read the book, I'm still not a big fan of Mermaids. I liked the author's other series better, but this was still pretty good. I will say book had a lot of gems to offer, even for non-mermaid readers. I was still able to enjoy it enough to say that I'd read the sequel.
May 20, 2022
I loved the world building and action of this book, but I couldn't get into any of the characters. The main character is an outcast but everyone she meets is obsessed with her, her best friend is a bit of a one note jerk, and the love triangle that could have been interesting didn't ever feel like it was really addressed or came to a true head. I will probably check out the sequel when it comes out, but I'm not counting down the days.
July 15, 2022
Couldn't finish. The writing was stunted and odd to follow. If this ever gets edited I would love to finish, as it is now I can't.
September 28, 2022
A great blend of mermaid romance and thrilling adventure. A unique and fantastic story!
Absolutely amazing!!
Absolutely amazing!!
March 17, 2023
This was pretty good. Read it twice in the same month. Will read the sequel when it's released.
May 13, 2023
Sucks you in
I randomly saw this as an add on Facebook and decided to give it a go since I love a good paranormal/romance novel. I am so glad I did! I immediately loved the plot because there is a constant push and pull attraction. There is also tons of action involved with a little but of mystery. I can't wait to see what happens next especially if this turns into a reverse harem with the other love interest.
I randomly saw this as an add on Facebook and decided to give it a go since I love a good paranormal/romance novel. I am so glad I did! I immediately loved the plot because there is a constant push and pull attraction. There is also tons of action involved with a little but of mystery. I can't wait to see what happens next especially if this turns into a reverse harem with the other love interest.
Read
August 30, 2025just nO
not worth my time. so goddamn boring im actually angry cuz the cover is so cool.
I am trying to learn to value my time ok?
I am better then this
dnf: 16%
not worth my time. so goddamn boring im actually angry cuz the cover is so cool.
I am trying to learn to value my time ok?
I am better then this
dnf: 16%
August 14, 2023
Closer feel to Game of Thrones than Cinderella
I was pleasantly surprised with this book overall. The imagery in this book is brilliant and the story is quite engaging. But to clarify: this is not the Little Mermaid retelling. Aeralyn starts off as a human who turns into a mermaid, not the other way around. The slow-burn romance and emerging love triangle are a strong element to this book, but there's also a great deal of adventure. There were a few editorial errors here and there, but not enough to spoil my fun of reading the story. In the end, this book really did feel like a hidden gem. Great for passionate mermaid fans and romance readers wanting something a little off the beaten path. I'd recommend it.
I was pleasantly surprised with this book overall. The imagery in this book is brilliant and the story is quite engaging. But to clarify: this is not the Little Mermaid retelling. Aeralyn starts off as a human who turns into a mermaid, not the other way around. The slow-burn romance and emerging love triangle are a strong element to this book, but there's also a great deal of adventure. There were a few editorial errors here and there, but not enough to spoil my fun of reading the story. In the end, this book really did feel like a hidden gem. Great for passionate mermaid fans and romance readers wanting something a little off the beaten path. I'd recommend it.
August 13, 2023
I'll start first off by saying that this is a fantastic and unique story.
There is more action/adventure in this book than I expected, with fun twists and turns that I didn't predict. The characters are lively and fun, and the villains are the stuff of nightmares. The romance was cute, fun, spicy, all the good stuff yet I still found myself hoping that it would develop a little more than it did. I think this is meant to be a series though so I can be patient until I get a chance to read the sequel. On a side note: the baby dragon Ikibee was absolutely adorable!
There is more action/adventure in this book than I expected, with fun twists and turns that I didn't predict. The characters are lively and fun, and the villains are the stuff of nightmares. The romance was cute, fun, spicy, all the good stuff yet I still found myself hoping that it would develop a little more than it did. I think this is meant to be a series though so I can be patient until I get a chance to read the sequel. On a side note: the baby dragon Ikibee was absolutely adorable!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews