Bookish thoughts!!!

english review

audible audiobook

Summary: Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

My review: I just don't know.

I wanted to love this so much. Cause if you need to know anything about me, it's the fact that I truly obsessed with The Little Mermaid. So to say I was excited to dive into a dark retelling of just this story, is a huge understatement.  And I truly loved the story behind it, I loved the whole set up and everything the story was about. I truly did. I just had some problems with the execution.

I loved the beginning. Lira being a ruthless killer, collecting hearts of princes. GOTTA COLLECT THEM ALL, right??? I loved Elian being a siren hunter, chosing this life over just being a prince. I LOVE THIS WHOLE SET UP, especially when these two meet.

I just was so damn bored of nearly everything that happened in the middle. I loved Elian's ship crew, I loved all of these moments and their quest to find maaaagic key. I was super interested in all of this. But I was also just sooooo bored. It's the weirdest feeling I have ever had reading a book and I got really close to dnf'ing it.

Towards the end it got so much better once again. Things for a 100 times more interesting, I feel like everything was executed so much better. It was really worth sticking around.

Since I read it as an audiobook, it could be that the voices just didn't work for me. At normal speed these two put me to sleep, drawing every word out and making things so much less entertaining. I had to listen to it at double speed, cause I couldn't deal. Maybe this was why I then got through the boring parts much faster. I don't know.

That's the theme of this book review, I just don't know what to feel or what to think about this book.