enemies to lovers — Blog — Daydreaming Through Books

I have some thoughts to work through so here we go.

First, let’s talk about the characters. There’s two main characters-Lira and Elian. Lira is a siren. She’s very harsh and cold. Her mother is also the Sea Queen who also turns her into a human. Because of her cruelty, it can be hard to connect with her, at least for me. Elian is a prince and a siren killer. He has a lot of wanderlust and doesn’t want to be a king. He came across slightly less developed than Lira. There were some interesting side characters, but they were pretty surface level.

There is a romance between Lira and Elian. I can’t decide if it’s a huge part of the story or not. They interact a lot, but it's a very antagonistic relationship. I’m unsure of the actual chemistry between them.. I don’t hate the romance, but I’m a little ambivalent. It is a pretty true enemies-to-lovers romance if you want that.

The whole book has a specific tone that I struggle to define. It’s definitely darker, but didn’t go as far as it could/should. I’m sure part of that is that it’s being a YA book. Maybe I would describe the tone as murky. Part of that is lack of development. I felt there was magic and politics that weren’t fully developed. They don’t have to be, but the murkiness did make me a little confused.

The ending was a bit rushed. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but I wanted more. Part of that is because the tone of the ending was very different.

If I still did half stars, this would probably be a 3.5, but now I just round up. I don’t think this will be for everyone, but I think it will be a new favorite for some. I definitely don’t think it’s a Little Mermaid retelling though.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

I finished this in one sitting and stayed up until 2 AM. I haven’t done that in years so I felt I had to write a review. This was also my first Sophie Lark book.

This is a true enemies-to-lovers story. Like Callum and Aida legitimately hate each other because they’re from rival mafia families. Apparently I’m reading mafia romance a lot now. They basically try to kill each other even after they get married. They’re forced to marry by their fathers to bring peace to the families.

Initially, I thought this was slow. But it actually makes sense. There’s true animosity between Callum and Aida. It would be unrealistic for them to fall in love or move on from those feelings. That time really helped me buy into the romance. It also doesn’t stop them from having some spicy hate sex.

Callum and Aida grew to have a very strong romance. They understood and pushed each other in ways the other people in their lives didn’t. I especially loved when Callum would show respect to Aida. They had these little sweet moments.

I was intrigued by both of their siblings. That’s probably a good thing because the other books in the series are about them. I’m into the family dynamics here.

I would’ve liked an epilogue or something, but I always do. I do get why she didn’t do that. I’m hopeful I’ll get to see these two in future books. I’ll definitely keep reading the series, but I want to finish the other mafia romance series I’m reading right now.

Thanks for reading!
Holly