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cozysabie's Reviews (183)
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Come rest your weary bones, love. Come join us in the sea."
GENRE: Romantasy Retelling
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Long Review:
Voice of the Ocean is the second book I read this year that is focusing on The Mermaid Retelling with its own twists. This was a lovely read that I quite enjoyed and was entrapped in the tale of it. I enjoyed the found family trope and the character development of Celeste. I also quite enjoyed learning about the different kingdoms and Goddess, the history of sirens and how they came to be from the different Goddess.
This is a tale of Celeste, who is an emotional siren, where emotions are not cherished, treasured or encouraged. And as she is a princess, she is shielded from many things in life and comes off as naive. I like to think that The Little Mermaid is a story of an FMC that is naive and develops across the story (not that being naive is a bad thing per say). In Voice of the Ocean, it is very much a story of someone who does not know where she stands in society and tries to find her own place in it. She feels like she fits in the places that she shouldn't
"Unfortunately, the surface was where the young princess felt most at peace."
She basically battles with the concept that Humans are ALL meant to be the enemy of her kind and no one explains to her why this is the case. She is curious and wonders why they must consider everyone who is human as an enemy. She battles with the idea of what is evil when she sees humans for the first time in a ship. I think alot of the issues that Celeste struggles with could have been helped if her parents, friends or anyone in her surrounding addresses her questions instead of ignoring them.
"Protecting the innocent and punishing the evil. But evil didn't look the way she had imagined."
And alas, never having any of her questions answered, never getting anything addressed and everyone trying to change Celeste obviously leads to two things: Celeste always struggling with internal conflicts AND Celeste struggling to accept the decisions she makes throughout the story
"She was tired of ruining things. She was tired of everyone treating her as if she were some problem to solve."
"Celeste found herself crying whenever she was overwhelmed, or angry, or sad. Her family had teased her for it growing up. Told her to calm down. Be less human. That no one would take her seriously if she cried."
Then, she does a bunch of things that get her banned from the chorus and sirens, even though she is a princess. She receives a bit of help from her mother, the queen, and escapes to become human through the Sea Witch. She is meant to have one mission: Kill the Prince and then, come back to re-join the siren and ask for forgiveness for all her actions.
Of course, she ends up going on an adventure, learns a lot of things about Humans, herself and the voyage she joins. She discovers that they are pirates, rather than the sailors she thought they were and the Prince? He is the Prince of the Pirates. She learns, grows and develops throughout the story and her journey is a lovely one. She learns more about life and slowly peals off the layers of the shielding she grew up around. She meets new people and finds a new family in her crewmates
"Most of the time, I find life doesn't go the way you want it to," Nasir said, his dark brown eyes creasing at the corners. "But most of the time, things turn out the way they should."
And you know what? Despite growing and developing, she maintains some of that naivety, which makes her kind and a good person. It is what makes her, her and while she maintains this hope I never could as a pessimistic, it might just be what helps her unite sirens and humans in the end of it all
"As she took in the city around her, she realised that humans made all this. If she could just show her mother these things, maybe she, too, would see that humans couldn't all be bad."
This is a story of Celeste learning to accept herself and when we reach the ending, we don't really see her ending her internal conflicts. However, isn't this true in life? We dont end our internal conflict as soon as we start to learn. Its a process and we grow through the journey
"She felt foolish now. It had all been a lie. She knew nothing about this war. About the humans. About herself. And it had cost everything."
I hope book two continues Celeste's journey and we get to see what happens next, how she changes and grows and what becomes of her, her Pirate Prince and her found family + her siren family.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my eArc copy in exchange for my honest review. The quotes are taken from the eArc copy of the book and might not reflect the final copy.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
"He's different when he is alone with me. He's not the gambler, the flirt, the wild dragon shifter. He's just Cyrus and he's perfect."
"She smells like springtime, gently floral and sweet like her spirit."
GENRE: Cozy Romantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.75/5 - rounded to 5 in platforms that dont have half star rating
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Would I recommend to others?: If you are looking for a sweet cozy romantasy that is a standalone in this series, then yes! It is the perfect, quick read for someone who wants to just read a feel good book with deep meanings (all cozy fantasy have deep meanings, in my opinion) AND Kaya and Cyrus are just so cute together! This is a monster cozy romantasy with spice and mature content so make sure to look at the trigger list if you need to beforehand.
Long Review:
This Cozy Romantasy has one of my favourite elements in cozy books: multiple type of mystical creatures in the book. One of my favourite Familiar in this book is a Maplecat, which in this book is unique from the Maplecat breed we have in that
"They look as though they are covered in autumn leaves, but when you get close, you see each leaf is made of fur and its incredibly soft."
And not only that, the Maple cat (Sio) has occasional moments where he can talk! A talking cat in a book is always so fun to read about and enjoy
This book is a shy FMC with a player/flirty MMC. We see that they have a great dynamic between them and they already have an established friendship that has been going on for years. However, in the usual way, the FMC has protective best friends (we love them) that warn her to stay away from the MMC and this causes a little bit of a tension throughout the book as they both want to give their relationship a try but they are scared of multiple things
"Kaya, you're a stable hard-working woman who doesn't like to drink and play cards. You're unique in his world. I adore Cyrus, but he is what he is. A player. He would never remain loyal. He would hurt you."
Now, let's discuss the MMC. So Cyrus is a dragon shifter and he was raised by his adopted, non-dragon shifter parents. He doesn't know anything about his birth parents and he thinks he was abandoned. The journey of him finding out more about his own kind if an important theme in the story. Another important element is that Cyrus believes himself to be not good enough for Kaya and Sio (talking cat) advises him that
"She (kaya) deserves to make that choice."
Meanwhile, Kaya thinks that Cyrus, who is wild, loves a party and is always playing a game of card could never settle down in the life she enjoys, which is a quiet one. The dynamic between them slowly develops as they both try (and fail) to hide their feelings from one another
"After all these years, I'm an expert at stealing your pastries, Kaya" I laugh.
"You're a menance."
"I'm your menance."
And one of my favourite elements of cozy fantasy is mentioned in here: Slow living! This is not a main part of the book but is mentioned in order to motivate Kaya to take a break and to unlearn the habits she picked up from living with her parents, who always forced her to work and be afraid of being lazy. Due to this, she has never taken a holiday (does this sound familiar to anyone else?). Cyrus is always encouraging her to take a holiday and that she does not need to earn her breaks
"Of course. You are an expert. An Artist. But perhaps you don't allow yourself to be selfish once in a while, to do something just for you."
"You don't have to earn time off, Kaya. You deserve pleasure and relaxation just because you exist."
I truly enjoyed this cozy romantasy book and I'd highly recommend it as a feel good book. Thank you to the Author for the eArc in exchange for my honest opinion.
