VS Note: This post first appeared in the Roswell Daily Record.
Our topic this month is mermaids. I’m inspired by the fact that on much of social media May is the month for the #mermay hashtag, under which people from all over the world post their drawings and art featuring mermaids, mermen and other sea creatures. It’s fun to see the wide variety of approaches to the topic (there are also suggested themes for each day). Of course the romance author community has written many a tale with mermaids so for the column I narrowed my list down to retellings of the most famous mermaid story of all – the Little Mermaid.
She was a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale long before she was a Disney princess with music. Mermaids have been a fixture of mythology since at least 1000 BCE, when a goddess named Atargatis is said to have loved a mortal man in Assyria.
Even within the limit of fairy tale retellings, there are so many romances to choose from. I’ve attempted to provide a fun sampler. One of the first authors to come to my mind when I think mermaids is Emma Hamm, who has written a number of books with an ocean setting. Her Bride of the Sea: A Little Mermaid Retelling (The Otherworld Book 5) involves some twists on the fairytale. The mermaid wants to escape her life and her arranged marriage but when she rescues a man she takes him to a desert island until he agrees to help her. The Main Male Character is pretty much out for himself in the beginning and thinking to make money somehow from his good luck of encountering a mermaid. Readers generally liked the plot and the sweet ending but there was some criticism of the character development. One reviewer enjoyed the hints of feminism woven into the story. AmazonKU
In the romance world one can always write a fascinating story by focusing on the villain and in The Sea Witch: A Little Mermaid Retelling (Beloved Villains Book 1) author Rebecca F. Kenney has done exactly that, beginning with making the witch a man. The story begins much like the classic tale, with the wistful mermaid rescuing a human prince, wanting him to fall for her and going to the sea witch for help. The latter is actually the MMC and at first he’s only too happy to use the daughter of his enemy to get revenge but as the story goes along he realizes he’s falling in love with her himself. The mermaid finds the prince isn’t all that he seemed to be at first either. Readers praised the twists and turns, the slow burn, the banter and the spicy scenes. AmazonKU AB
Karina Halle’s A Ship of Bones & Teeth: A Dark Little Mermaid retelling (Nightwind Book 1) is a really dark version of the fairy tale. The mermaid here got her wish and married the prince but turns out he’s an abuser. Now she wants to escape and get revenge on the witch for tricking her. Luckily for her she and the prince are kidnapped by a savage pirate who also wants to find the sea witch for his own reasons. Mermaid and Pirate fall in love of course. More than one reviewer mentioned in a positive way that this book had “Pirates of the Caribbean” vibes. The book overall gave readers all the feels and emotions. The mermaids are fierce and the Female Main Character is written to be as strong as the MMC. Of course there’s a Happy Ever After ending for the couple. AmazonKU AB
Prince of Endless Tides: Enemies-To-Lovers MM Little Mermaid Retelling (Darkmourn Universe Book 4) by Ben Alderson proposes that the Prince and the Sea Witch fall in love and that the oceans are ruled by savage Mer, who are monsters. Both men have magic of different sorts and there are subplots and complications, vengeful gods and high stakes for everyone. Reviewers also had high praise for the author’s writing style and world building. AmazonKU AB
Kiss of the Selkie: A Little Mermaid Retelling (Entangled with Fae) by Tessonja Odette brings in new fantasy elements to change up the well known tale.. The FMC here is a selkie princess who breaks Fae law by saving a human’s life. Her punishment is to go on land, find him and kiss him. The catch here is that her kiss is deadly. Meanwhile the MMC likes living on the Fae island so much he wants to become a citizen and so must marry. He’s holding a competition to find his bride and of course the FMC pretends to be a debutante and participates. But as the book progresses she falls in love with the MMC and doesn’t want to kill him. The setting has a Regency feel to it. Readers were divided about whether they liked the “Bachelor”-like contest to find the bride but overall gave the book positive marks. There is an HEA of course. AmazonKU
For a story where the sea dweller is male, there’s Hunting Sirens: A Gender-Flipped Little Mermaid (Legends of Neverland Book 2) by Mary Mecham. The FMC here is a deaf blacksmith living on an island surrounded by bloodthirsty sirens. Her people are dying and since she can’t hear the deadly singing, she becomes a siren killer, believing them to be more like fish than highly intelligent beings. On one of her excursions into the ocean disaster strikes and she ends up being rescued by a handsome siren man who has no voice. The enemies-to-lovers trope is a key element here. Reviewers praised the author’s research into and handling of deafness and the Deaf community. Of course the romance is a satisfying one and allows for much character development in both protagonists. AmazonKU AB
There are so many more Little Mermaid retellings out there but I tried to assemble a list of the more unusual ones for your delight today. Happy reading!
VS Note: I can only put so many books into the column, since it’s for an actual newspaper but here are some other Little Mermaid re-tellings I also ran across:
SACRIFICE THE SEA: AN MMM LITTLE MERMAID RETELLING (BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARES BOOK THREE) by Ana Fury and Amy Pennza
Deserted by a father I can no longer remember, I’m used to being alone, my only companions the cheerful sea nymphs who frequent my shipwreck. But lately, something powerful brews inside me—an aching restlessness to explore the dark depths beyond my cave. Then I meet Ari, a beguiling merman who tempts me past the edges of my territory. He introduces me to the glittering world of the Sea Syndicate and its ruler, King Triton. But the sea is a far more dangerous place than I realized, and together, the males rule it with a heavy hand. What’s more, they want to rule me, too. Each dominant in their own way, they teach me all about my body—and theirs—introducing me to unfathomable pleasure and sinful obedience. But there’s a dark side to their world. I can’t shake the feeling Triton and Ari aren’t the devoted males they seem. When a predatory darkness rises from the ocean’s depths, we have no choice but to confront sins of the past to keep the Sea Syndicate safe. But once the silt settles, will the weight of age-old secrets be too much to repair our broken bonds?
RESCUED BY THE MERMAN (ONCE UPON A FAIRYTALE ROMANCE BOOK THREE) by Jessica Grayson and Aria Winter
Inspired by The Little Mermaid, a romantic fairy tale retelling…The Princess of Solwyck slayed a dragon and saved her Kingdom, but at great cost to herself. When I find her floating adrift in the sea and near death, I risk the wrath of my King to save her. She may not remember me, but I cannot forget her. I will do anything to have a chance to see her again… even if it means forsaking my title as prince and heir to my kingdom. AmazonKU
THE GLASS MERMAID (MAGIC IN CHANCELLOR BOOK ONE) by Melanie Karsak
I’m the last mermaid. On the shore of Lake Erie, I spend my final days hunting beach glass, making jewelry, and waiting for my mermaid glamour to leave me. Then it will be over. I resigned myself to the fact that there’s nothing more for me, until I saw Cooper. He comes to the beach every day to paint the sunrise and sunset. Nothing in this vast world has sparked my attention as much as him. I have no business falling in love. Not now. And Cooper has secrets of his own. I should leave him alone, but the curious mermaid in me can’t let that shiny bauble go. More than anything, I want to be part of his world…before it’s too late. Journey to the magical small town of Chancellor where fairy tales live, dreams come true, and happily ever after always reigns supreme. AmazonKU AB
THE SECRET OF MERMAID COVER by Megan Derr
VS Note: FF Fantasy.
THE MERMAID’S DAUGHTER: A DARK WLW RETELLING OF THE LITTLE MERMAID – PNR WITH IRISH OPERA AND ANCIENT MAGIN by Ann ClaycombA modern-day expansion of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, this unforgettable debut novel weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and the power of love as a descendent of the original mermaid fights the terrible price of saving herself from a curse that has affected generations of women in her family. Kathleen has always been dramatic. She suffers from the bizarre malady of experiencing stabbing pain in her feet. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke screaming from the sensation that her tongue had been cut out. No doctor can find a medical explanation for her pain, and even the most powerful drugs have proven useless. Only the touch of seawater can ease her pain, and just temporarily at that. Now Kathleen is a twenty-five-year-old opera student in Boston and shows immense promise as a soprano. Her girlfriend Harry, a mezzo in the same program, worries endlessly about Kathleen’s phantom pain and obsession with the sea. Kathleen’s mother and grandmother both committed suicide as young women, and Harry worries they suffered from the same symptoms. When Kathleen suffers yet another dangerous breakdown, Harry convinces Kathleen to visit her hometown in Ireland to learn more about her family history. In Ireland, they discover that the mystery and the tragedy of Kathleen’s family history is far older and stranger than they could have imagined. Kathleen’s fate seems sealed, and the only way out is a terrible choice between a mermaid’s two sirens the sea, and her lover. But both choices mean death. Haunting and lyrical, The Mermaid’s Daughter askshow far we will go for those we love? And can the transformative power of music overcome a magic that has prevailed for generations? Amazon AB
STARDUST AND SILENCE: A SPACE FANTASY GENDER-FLIPPED LITTLE MERMAID RETELLING by Ashley Willingham
LYRA: I was born to rule the stars. As the daughter of the Pirate Queen, my destiny was to command my own fleet, chart my own course, and carve my name into the heavens. But when mutiny strikes, I’m pushed overboard, into the very heart of a nebula cloud. I should have died. Instead, I find him, a creature of legend and stardust. One of the fabled Celestari. VAELION: When I prayed to the Creator, begging for a Resonance—the one whose soul was meant for mine—I never imagined she would be human. Nor that she would hold the means to destroying my people forever. Lyra is my mate, but to be part of her world, I must make a deal with the Witchking and sacrifice all that I am. Without my Voice, I am powerless. But without her, I am nothing. Three days. That is all I have. And if I fail, I will lose more than just my freedom—I will lose her, along with the key to saving my world. With enemies closing in and time running out, can I possibly win Lyra’s heart? Or will I be lost to the Witchking’s void forever? AmazonKU
SILENT MERMAID: RETELLING OF THE LITTLE MERMAID (THE CLASSICAL KINGDOMS COLLECTION BOOK FIVE) by Brittany Fichter
How does a silent mermaid win a war of song? How does she break the siren song of the one holding her beloved captive? After being touched by the sun at birth, Princess Arianna has grown up imprisoned between two worlds, neither fully mermaid nor fully human. Her life is one of solitude and dreams. But when she loses her family and her kingdom in a war between man and merfolk, she is forced to flee into the arms of the enemy. Her only hope of protection lies in the penniless prince that she once saved and his two boisterous nieces. Prince Michael is at his wit’s end. After the great maritime war, he must clean up the pieces of neglect, folly, and evil that his grandfather has left behind. With his people starving and his treasury nearly empty, the familiar girl from the past that falls piteously at his feet cannot be afforded his attention. He has only the resources and time for the barest of good deeds to pay back that which she gave him. But the more Michael begins to hear the girl beneath her silence, the more he realizes she just might be the distraction he cannot survive without. All the while, darkness is beginning to poison the ocean, and an evil foreseen by neither Arianna nor Michael threatens the very existence of both peoples. If they wish to restore their kingdoms, Arianna and Michael will need to reassess their alliances, their beliefs, and an ancient prophecy that’s been all but forgotten. Most importantly, however, they must decide whether they can move past their personal pain and trust one another. Because if they can’t, everything and everyone they love will fall. Amazon
THE LITTLE SELKIE: A RETELLING OF THE LITTLE MERMAID (TIMELESS FAIRYTALES BOOK FIVE) by K M Shea
Dylan, a selkie, makes a terrible mistake when she brashly chases an evil sea witch onto land. Captured and stripped of her pelt—leaving her unable to return to the sea in her sea lion body—Dylan’s only chance of survival is to serve as the sea witch’s tool. Instead of allowing the sea witch to use her selkie ability to control water, Dylan asks a wandering enchantress to seal her voice, rendering her unable to use her selkie magic. Stranded without allies and no way to contact her family, Dylan fears she will never successfully steal her pelt back. Luckily, Dylan is not alone. She is befriended by Prince Callan, a kind, human prince whose country is being pulverized by the sea witch. Combining the strength of humans and the intelligence of the selkies, the pair unites to save their people. But when the storm is over will Dylan choose to stay with Callan, or return to the sea and leave him behind…forever? AmazonKU
THE SILENT PRINCE: A LITTLE MERMAID RETELLING by C J Brightley
A voiceless prince. A desperate princess. A sham romance that turns heart-breakingly real. When cocky Mer prince Kaerius impulsively saves the human princess from drowning, he doesn’t expect to fall in love with her. Yet her human fragility is so unexpectedly sweet that he is soon head over tails. So he bargains his voice to the Lord of the Deep for a chance to court her on land. He’s confident that he can win her affection–he’s irresistible, after all. But he is a fish out of water in the human world. He didn’t expect it to be so difficult to make Marin appreciate his charms. Her father is ailing, her kingdom is threatened from multiple directions, and she must choose from among several foreign suitors to keep her people free. Thinking Kaerius no more than a mute stranger, she asks him to pose as her suitor to give her leverage with the foreign lords vying for her hand. But not all of them are so easily deterred, and they won’t take no for an answer. Kaerius will have to show the princess that his love is not just an act, but how can he win her, much less save her, without a word? AmazonKU