“My heart is not mine to give because it is already yours.” – 3.25/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: old friendships, witches, fishermen, mermaids, princes, 3 days, true love, a first kiss, drownings, and… revenge.

Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

Some people may want to read this book knowing this is a Little Mermaid retelling, and if that’s the case, I need to tell you this. While the story progressed I kept thinking “…how is this a Little Mermaid retelling?”. That kept going on for a while and eventually, my question was answered and I finally understood what the resemblance was. For this reason, I want to tell you to keep in mind that this is still very different from the story we all know. If you’re a fan of the Disney version and want to read this book for that reason, let me tell you straight up: you’ll be disappointed!

The writing was okay. There are two timelines here, but I personally was not confused by that format. The author uses two timelines to explain the main event and also the “present”, 4 years after. The pacing is on the slower side, especially during the first half of the book. Things took a while to start moving and I admit my attention was starting to get lost.

Still, there were a few elements in this book that kept me interested and wanting to keep reading – like the mystery surrounding Anna -, but other elements were a little too repetitive – for example, the fact they kept repeating the main event that started it all in different perspectives.

The characters in this book are a little bland, and even though there is some romance in here, the story feels a little flat. I liked the “main” romance, but the “secondary” romances felt a little too insta-lovey for my taste.

Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it – it was okay. I think there are better mermaid stories out there, so I wouldn’t exactly recommend this one. With that being said, it’s not a bad story and it was entertaining at the end of the day.