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The Mermaid's Apprentice: The Pirate and the Mermaid's Tailor Trilogy
Mabel Sinclair never planned to become a pirate.All she wanted was to escape her dull life as a debutante and conquer the world of fashion. One fateful night at a ballroom ends when Mabel’s foolish brother is kidnapped and transformed into a toad. To save him, Mabel makes a bargain with a mermaid and travels with her to an unexpected realm of magic. Once there, Mabel must choose between being imprisoned by cruel merfolk or joining pirates.Antonio Cortez never planned to fall in love with a pirate.A sailor who dreams of returning to his quiet life as a tailor, Antonio’s plans are knocked off course by a chance meeting with the dashing pirate Mabel Sinclair. Antonio bonds with Mabel over their love of fashion, only to become a target for Mabel’s growing list of enemies.
Fighting for their lives and their future, Mabel and Antonio find they have only one ally to turn the treacherous mermaid who Mabel bargained with in the first place.
The Mermaid’s Apprentice is part of The Pippington Tales series and the first book of The Pirate and the Mermaid’s Tailor trilogy, an epic tale of pirates, mermaids, and adventures in high fashion.
Fighting for their lives and their future, Mabel and Antonio find they have only one ally to turn the treacherous mermaid who Mabel bargained with in the first place.
The Mermaid’s Apprentice is part of The Pippington Tales series and the first book of The Pirate and the Mermaid’s Tailor trilogy, an epic tale of pirates, mermaids, and adventures in high fashion.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2022
5 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
L. Palmer
9 books57 followersL. Palmer has spent many years traveling fictional worlds and building tales of grand, epic adventures. When she was in the midst of a grand battle between two ogres and a stegosaurus, she stumbled upon the world of Pippington. Dreams of wizard duels and clashing armies gave way to motorcars bumping down old city lanes and fairy godmothers disguised as high-society gossips. Here, she found a new literary home.
In between exploring the hidden lives and magic of Pippington, she lives among the mountains of Utah and attends graduate school at Brigham Young University. She developed her imagination and adventure skills through growing up in Girl Scouts, working for ten years at resident summer camps, teaching high school English, attending and working at the University of California Santa Barbara, and reading great books of fantasy and magic. The True Bride and the Shoemaker is just the beginning of many tales to come.
In between exploring the hidden lives and magic of Pippington, she lives among the mountains of Utah and attends graduate school at Brigham Young University. She developed her imagination and adventure skills through growing up in Girl Scouts, working for ten years at resident summer camps, teaching high school English, attending and working at the University of California Santa Barbara, and reading great books of fantasy and magic. The True Bride and the Shoemaker is just the beginning of many tales to come.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 4, 2024
The Mermaid's Apprentice is a young adult Romatisy novel that follows Mabel Sinclair as she tries to rescue her brother and as follows Antonio Cortez as he tries to finish his required time in the navy before opening his tailor shop. It is a fun story about mermaids and pirates that is part of Palmer's world of Pippington.
Mabel is the youngest child from a wealthy family and watches as her selfish older brother gets turned into a toad and kidnapped by a mermaid. Mabel follows and is soon immersed in a world she never imagined. After a year of being a pirate, she returns home, breaks the spell on her brother, and is immediate swept up in her old life that she hated. She forms a lie in which she claims to have had eloped with a random sailor, Antonio Cortez, she had met at sea. Her brother remembers nothing from when he was a toad, and Mabel has a photo of herself with the sailor, so her family believes her. Unfortunately, the lie takes a life of its own and Antonio get word that he has a wife. With a secret society blackmailing her, mermaids helping her, a fashion world to conquer, Mabel must try to survive while fixing the mess she has created.
This is a fun, light story with a sweet romance. I especially enjoyed the world-building, the pirates she befriends, and the integration of sewing and fashion throughout. I did feel like this novel's plot was resolved multiple chapters before the end of the book, but the ending is sweet and without the rough cliff-hangers that often plague indie books.
The Mermaid's Apprentice is the first book of a series and Palmer has not completed the next one just yet. I have spoken to Palmer and was shown that much of the series is completed and in the editing stage. It looks like it will be an enjoyable series to follow. It is a cozy fantasy novel that is full of the young adult tropes and themes that we come to enjoy in such a novel. It's kind of like a romantic comedy at sea.
The novel is clean with no sex, violence, swearing, or dark elements. It would be fine for readers in middle school and up who like clean romance. The ideal market, though, is high school and older. I might give some of Palmer other books a try in the future. We'll see.
Mabel is the youngest child from a wealthy family and watches as her selfish older brother gets turned into a toad and kidnapped by a mermaid. Mabel follows and is soon immersed in a world she never imagined. After a year of being a pirate, she returns home, breaks the spell on her brother, and is immediate swept up in her old life that she hated. She forms a lie in which she claims to have had eloped with a random sailor, Antonio Cortez, she had met at sea. Her brother remembers nothing from when he was a toad, and Mabel has a photo of herself with the sailor, so her family believes her. Unfortunately, the lie takes a life of its own and Antonio get word that he has a wife. With a secret society blackmailing her, mermaids helping her, a fashion world to conquer, Mabel must try to survive while fixing the mess she has created.
This is a fun, light story with a sweet romance. I especially enjoyed the world-building, the pirates she befriends, and the integration of sewing and fashion throughout. I did feel like this novel's plot was resolved multiple chapters before the end of the book, but the ending is sweet and without the rough cliff-hangers that often plague indie books.
The Mermaid's Apprentice is the first book of a series and Palmer has not completed the next one just yet. I have spoken to Palmer and was shown that much of the series is completed and in the editing stage. It looks like it will be an enjoyable series to follow. It is a cozy fantasy novel that is full of the young adult tropes and themes that we come to enjoy in such a novel. It's kind of like a romantic comedy at sea.
The novel is clean with no sex, violence, swearing, or dark elements. It would be fine for readers in middle school and up who like clean romance. The ideal market, though, is high school and older. I might give some of Palmer other books a try in the future. We'll see.
September 29, 2022
An exceptional tale of adventure
I love this book! The characters are well written and interesting, the romance is delightful, the storyline is unique, and the twists are definitely surprising. All in all, a very good read, and I look forward to the next in the series!
I love this book! The characters are well written and interesting, the romance is delightful, the storyline is unique, and the twists are definitely surprising. All in all, a very good read, and I look forward to the next in the series!
February 11, 2023
4.5 stars
This was such a fun read! Pirates, mermaids, and fashion. The characters were fun to get to know (well, most of them), and it was nice to see how everything turned out. I wish we got to see more of the family (Antonio's). I'm excited to read the other books in this world.
This was such a fun read! Pirates, mermaids, and fashion. The characters were fun to get to know (well, most of them), and it was nice to see how everything turned out. I wish we got to see more of the family (Antonio's). I'm excited to read the other books in this world.
July 5, 2025
3,5☆
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews