The Mermaid’s Journey (The Siren #2)
by Kellie McAllen
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Reverse Harem
Blurb:
A runaway mermaid, four sexy, potential mates vying to claim her, and a destiny divided between two worlds.After escaping the curse that bound all mermaids to the sea and meeting four, sexy potential human mates, Coral longs to explore their world and live as a human.
But even though the guys have agreed to share her affections, it’s not easy to keep four very different men happy, and Coral is frightened and overwhelmed by the complexities of life on land and struggling to find her way in a whole new world.
When Coral’s secret is discovered, she’s torn from the men she loves and thrown into captivity. But when an unexpected rescuer reveals an intriguing world she never knew existed, she’ll once again have to choose between the land and the sea.
If you like the myth, adventure, and romance of fantasy stories by authors like Jaymin Eve, Bella Forrest, and Amy Bartol, you’ll love The Mermaid’s Journey.
This is a reverse harem paranormal romance series appropriate for ages 18+.
My Review
I received a free copy form the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series and excitedly started reading book 2. Book 2 is very different than book 1 in a lot of ways, but it’s just as good. I really enjoyed this mermaid tale and had so much fun reading this book. And after the twist at the end I can’t wait to get my hands on book 3 as I want to know more!
The Mermaid’s Journey tells the next part in the Coral’s journey. Where book 1 mostly took place on an uninhabited island, now they are back to the mainland and the city where the men live. I liked the different setting in this book, how this changed their relationship and the story took a different direction, it really worked for this book. It also nicely shows how different things are now. Where their relationship was easy on the island with no one else around, but them, there are challenges now that they are in a city with lots of people around and the men have their own lives to get back to
I am really impressed with how the author wrote everything from Coral’s point of view, she really managed to make it realistic how Coral reacted to everything. Basically everything is new to her and she doesn’t know a lot of things and I thought how she acted was very believable. I liked seeing everything from her point of view and reading about how she experiences this new world.
Some scenes are funny and happy when you see Coral experience new thing. But there are also some sad scenes or when things go wrong because she doesn’t know how things work. I felt sad for Coral at times as she really is out of depth, she wants to be independent and help the men as well, but the truth is that she needs the men their help to make it in this world. And at times it also was clear she longed for the comfort of the sea where she felt more herself and where she knew how things worked. There is so much she doesn’t know about the human world and I really liked seeing her perspective on things. There are also some insecurities that pop in Coral in this book, she wants to fit in, but struggles. And there’s also a scene where she hears the nasty thoughts of other women about her appearance and doubts herself even more.
Now that they’re back among civilization I felt that the men their different personalities became a lot more obvious. While on the island they all where focused on survival, here their different interests, hobbies and priorities shine through more. I liked how we now learned more about them and their lives.
And while I liked getting to know the men more in this book, they all had aspects I didn’t care for as much as well. Liam and Jude both did something on different points in the book I wasn’t happy with as they didn’t seem to consider Coral as much in what they did, but only thought about their own feelings. Gio was focused on his sister for a while and Coral felt a bit like a second thought at times. Avery turned into my favorite of the four in this book, although I didn’t care about the whole makeup thing as much. And while I might be annoyed at some of the things they did, I did feel like it was realistic. They now have the chance to follow their dreams and the whole situation with Coral is pretty different and unique. With the whole reverse harem part and how she knows so little about the human world it is a difficult situation.
I liked seeing how the reverse harem and romance aspect developed in this book and how they struggle with how to make it all work. They all want Coral as a girlfriend, but aren’t sure they want to share and how to make that work. I thought it made sense to see how their romance had some strains and tension now as it’s such a different situation than where they met in book 1.
I liked how there were scenes with them all as a group and also scenes where Coral is with each of them alone or going out to do something with one of the men. I liked how their relationship with each of the men progressed and changed in this book. And to be honest at times I really wondered how they are going to make this work, the men all have their own live and while they all care about her they struggle with how to make it work.
There isn’t as much actual mermaid stuff in this book, only a few scenes, but I didn’t mind too much. And in a sense the story is still about her being a mermaid and how the human world is so different to her, so I do think her being a mermaid still is a big part of the story. It’s more a fish out of the water type of the story, which was great. There are some scenes later in the book that focus a bit more on the underwater world. And with the news we get at the end of the book, I am really curious about book 3. I am also glad that it touches upon a topic regarding the mermaids that I was wondering about.
To summarize: this was a great sequel and I liked how it was different than book 1, but just as good. Book 1 took place on an uninhabited island and now they are rescued and return to the mainland where the men all have their own lives. I liked seeing how Coral adjusted to this whole new world, it was very well written. There are some happy and funny scenes, but also some sad scenes or where Coral gets hurt or says the wrong thing because of how little she understands of this world. Coral’s relationship with each of the men changes and develops. There also is some tension and struggle surrounding the romance and the reverse harem aspect and how there are going to make it work. There is a great reveal at the end that makes me really excited about book 3!
You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
Yes, I can see how it really changed things up to take the ‘fish out of water’ approach. I like that the author pulled off the descriptions of how she would reaction and go about things in the human world on land and that the author let her be a little vulnerable and have flaws. The guys sound like their struggles with returning to their lives, helping Coral and adjusting to sharing is told well, too.
Good summation, Lola!
It was great how the author changed things up with this book with the different setting and the whole fish out of water aspect was handled so well. It really felt like the mermaid dind’t know anything about human life and I liked her vulnerability and flaws, it made her feel realistic. It’s a great mermaid series.
I was just looking for more reverse harem books. Glad you enjoyed this as much as the first one. I am off to add the first one to my TBR. 🙂 Awesome Review, Lola!
Michelle@Because Reading recently posted…Monthly Book Report for May (and April) 2018
I hope you’ll give this series a try! It’s really good so far. I already got book 3 and hope to read that one soon :).