Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Beautiful To Me: A Little Mermaid Retelling (End of Ever After, Book #3)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Beautiful To Me: A Little Mermaid Retelling

(End of Ever After #3)

E.L. Tenenbaum (Goodreads Author)

4.08 · Rating details · 63 ratings · 17 reviews

Princess Sienna is the most beautiful, the most charming, the most beloved of King Trident's daughters in the enchanted underwater kingdom. Not much is denied her, and all of Merdom favors her.

Then a few days after her fifteenth birthday, Sienna does the unthinkable. She makes a bargain with the sea witch to trade her tongue and tail for a pair of legs and a chance to live ...more

Get A Copy

Kindle Edition, 284 pages

Published February 26th 2019 by Fire & Ice Young Adult Books

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Beautiful To Me, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Little Mermaid Retellings

136 books — 60 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.08 ·

Rating details

· 63 ratings · 17 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Beautiful To Me: A Little Mermaid Retelling (End of Ever After, Book #3)

Jul 28, 2019 Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, author-indie, fiction-young-adult, g-a-strong-family, g-r-royalty, g-t-another-world, genre-friendship, genre-high-fantasy, genre-romance-deliberately, genre-retelling

Check out more reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

The Buzz

I really love MERMAIDS... alas it isn't easy to find books about them that aren't... bad. Like poorly written, contrived and not based on actual human interaction. So if a premise with mermaids sounds good I'm all for giving it a chance!

And look at the gorgeous, indie author, Beautiful to Me cover!! For having no mermaid in sight and not being a simple typography design I'm really impressed. I like that the cover also matches the other ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2019 Bonnie (A Backwards Story) added it

Shelves: mermaids, retelling, 2019

"We were not allowed to interact with humans. We were different. We could only be the death of each other."
~BEAUTIFUL TO ME

I am always so excited to learn about a new mermaid book in the world, especially when it's a retelling of one of my favorite tales, The Little Mermaid. I love how right off the bat, we find out that no version of the story up until now has ever gotten it right: Not the Hans Christian Andersen tale, not the Disney movie, etc. Parts are true, but many are not. For example, th ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2019 Merissa (Archaeolibrarian) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fairy_tales, fantasy, young-adult

Beautiful to Me is the third book in the End of Ever After series, although they can be read in any order. For me, this was the saddest book so far, although once again, excellently written. You find out about the Little Mermaid, through the eyes of one of them. That's right, there were two, but you really need to read this for yourself to get any more information!

I loved how E.L. Tenenbaum was able to change this story into something more enriched with emotion, simpler and yet more complex. The ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2019 Blaire Hammond rated it really liked it

Beautiful Mermaid To Me by E.L. Tenenbaum Spoiler Free Review.

*I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for a free and honest review.*

I absolutely LOVED this authors previous novel, so much that the moment she wanted readers for this story I HAD to put my hand up! And I'm so glad I did. I absolutely loved it. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars .

The story was wonderful and an exciting, different take on retellings! I love retellings, but I Haven't read many Little Mermaid ones, so this one really fil ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2019 Debbie Eyre rated it it was amazing

love a good fairytale retelling and this little mermaid one is very good! Told with a twist of 2 mermaids instead of 1 this clean and fun read had a great storyline and fab characters. If you like retellings then this is definitely for you!

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2019 Brittany Smith rated it it was amazing

Beautiful to Me is the third book in the End of Ever After series. Though it is a series you can read it in any order as the books are about specific individuals. The book tells us a story of two mermaids-one who wants to fall in love with the prince and stay in the human world and another who just wants to retrieve her friend and return to her home in the sea.

I found this re-telling truly fantastic! E.L Tenenbaum changed the original story and has made it into a complex, emotionally evocative ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2019 Melissa rated it really liked it

I absolutely love a good fairy tale retelling. What if who we thought was the true Little Mermaid in the stories, was really not. This is a great retelling with a lot of heart and characters you will love. It is as magical as mermaids.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2020 Lauren rated it liked it

Why 3 stars? Setting and imagery were wonderful (+1) and the ocean was felt. Starting and ending of character development was perfect for the premise, twisting the Hans Christian Anderson version and Disney together well (+1). Much of the writing was beautiful and held important themes for all women and especially young girls to hear (+1) [yes, this is chaste enough for young girls].

Why not 4 or 5 stars? Although lovely, the repetition started to annoy me of certain almost identical statements t Why 3 stars? Setting and imagery were wonderful (+1) and the ocean was felt. Starting and ending of character development was perfect for the premise, twisting the Hans Christian Anderson version and Disney together well (+1). Much of the writing was beautiful and held important themes for all women and especially young girls to hear (+1) [yes, this is chaste enough for young girls].

Why not 4 or 5 stars? Although lovely, the repetition started to annoy me of certain almost identical statements throughout the book. After saying a moral, lesson, or critical theme two or three times, it should be left to the reader to derive. We can figure it out ourselves at that point and I found myself thinking several times, /would you please get on with it? I read that, I understand, move along now/ Waiting for the story to be over is never a good sign, no matter how many windswept waves and magical songs there are (-1).

Also, the middle portion of character development during A’s time at the castle before Sienna—- would really have been more convincing in my opinion if A had nudged, dragged, or otherwise showcased Sienna more than the one dance number. If the goal was to get prince’s attention, she could have taught her —-friend to communicate in other ways and helped them forge a bond instead of wasting time trying to get her to —-. Self image issues aside, there has to be an unconscious (or is it subconscious?) desire to finally be the one noticed, despite explicit statements to the contrary. We former wallflowers all have our passive-aggressive ways, don’t kid yourself (-0.5).

Lastly, I disagreed that this should have been told from the future like a memory. Sometimes that works, but I didn’t need the /and ever since then/ portions liberally sprinkled throughout the already slowly meandering tale. Leave me in some suspense. It’s a retelling of a classic, and the most suspenseful element is your twist on what happened and what happens next from moment to moment. Going back and forth and giving me pieces of what should have been the epilogue just spoiled the fun a bit. As an example of how this backfired, on page 42-43 the author made a poor choice in not having one character actually be there for another character’s pivotal decision. We learn about a whole sequence of dialogue and actions as imaginative hearsay. I almost stopped reading; having the event told with “probably”, “surely” and “undoubtedly” was a big red flag that came perilously close to ruining the author-reader trust relationship (-0.5).

Recap:
+1 setting and imagery
+1 Beautiful writing and meaningful themes
+1 some strong character development and premise

Remaining 2 potential stars:
1 not given for redundancy
0.5 not given for middle character development
0.5 not given for inefficient choice or use of perspective, strong disagreement with author’s craft in one instance ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 14, 2019 Annie Grimm rated it liked it

Shelves: books-2019

This was a really cute read. Like, I've been searching for quite a while for a good little mermaid retelling and this book gave me just that. I loved the fact that the MC wasn't your typical super-skinny-extremely-beautiful-yet-she-doesn't-see-it kind of girl, but instead had a not-so-typical body for a mermaid; it's a really nice change and a different take on the usual mermaid story. I, for one, never really took into account how many mermaid stories I've read where the MC is always thin, alwa ...more

flag Like · see review

Jan 09, 2021 Laura S rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fairy-tale

First of all, can we all appreciate how beautiful the cover of this book is? It's absolutely stunning!

This story is, as the title says, a retelling of the little mermaid. It's not much more than that, the setting is pretty much the same as the original story. The main difference is: Sienna is the one with the beautiful red hair and blue eyes in this story, and the mermaid who lost her tongue and gained a pair of legs. However, this story follows Ariel, who was sent after Sienna to get her back t ...more

flag Like · see review

May 19, 2019 Allie rated it it was amazing

Wonderful

A and enticing take on the take of the little mermaid. It was enchanting; the characters well fleshed and the storyline not what I would have expected. Ariel has body issues which many can relate to as well as an accepting heart.

flag Like · see review

Jun 14, 2019 Mary the Winter rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2019, retellings, twenties

Thanks to the long stretched ending and especially for the spoilers for the other books I gave this book a mediocre 3 stars. It ruined it... really.

I wanted to read the other books before this one as well but now I already know too much..

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2019 E.L. Tenenbaum rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

So excited for the next installment in my faery tale retelling series, this one for fans of The Little Mermaid and Hans Christian Andersen! BEAUTIFUL TO ME also features a guest appearance by The Frog King!
Books in this series are companion novels so they can be read in any order!

flag Like · see review

Oct 02, 2019 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

I really liked how this book demonstrated the changes that a story can go through over time, details can be confused and even names can be swapped. I also really enjoyed finding out how this book got its name.

flag Like · see review

Apr 16, 2020 Tiffany Hansen rated it really liked it

Good book but was pretty slow moving in parts! I enjoyed the backstory of what we know as The Little Mermaid! I will read the others in this series

flag Like · see review

Jul 13, 2020 Simone McKenna rated it liked it

Being a fan of the original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen I knew this was the book for me, and I was right, having found it a really enjoyable, beautiful, magical read! I loved the real magical, fairy tale feel of it, being able to imagine it very beautifully and the intriguing story itself, that really did keep me hooked throughout.

I'll admit though, there were however just a few flaws/areas of possible improvement that weren't terrible but just a little bit annoying, like I think Being a fan of the original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen I knew this was the book for me, and I was right, having found it a really enjoyable, beautiful, magical read! I loved the real magical, fairy tale feel of it, being able to imagine it very beautifully and the intriguing story itself, that really did keep me hooked throughout.

I'll admit though, there were however just a few flaws/areas of possible improvement that weren't terrible but just a little bit annoying, like I think as other people have said here there probably was a bit too much repetition, and could've done with getting on with/wrapping up a bit more easily and conveying these phrases through expression rather than spelling it out a lot. I also couldn't help but find the Prince just a little bit, kind of annoying the way he seemed really needy and obsessive over Ariel, like a bit too obsessed, rather than just having them more mutually gravitate towards eachother, like so their relationship seemed like one that was really solidly, prominently developing rather than just the prince obsessing over Ariel really annoyingly, like appearing at her side in like every scene which also got a bit too repetitive too, like just going in circles. It maybe would've been better to show them naturally come together and bond rather than just forcing it in a rather heavy-handed, obvious manner with the Prince approaching Ariel and obsessing over her all the time. I know Ariel's goal wasn't to win the prince's heart in the first place but it still could've showed her like naturally, subconsciously strongly connecting with him, just seeing it as a friendship, having the encounters be mutual rather than him initiating them ALL the time. He just didn't seem that likeable, natural or realistic to me. He seemed really clingy too it was just annoying and too excessive, lacking a natural or likeable character. I didn't feel like it was genuine, natural love between them either (though I know this wasn't the soul purpose of the story) as they just had to emphasize them at one point with displaying obsessive and clingy PDA.

I think as well considering the point was that Ariel had always been in Sienna's shadow as a mermaid which was why it showed the complete reverse of these roles when they were on land in the palace together they should've at least showed more of Ariel being overshadowed to sort of make sense of more why the indignation was later switched round. Just demonstrating a few examples would've done.

There also should've been more focus on Sienna during their time on land, like actually more scenes with her and Ariel, or her and the prince, considering she was the reason Ariel was sent to land, but felt like she just appeared briefly every now and then pushed aside for a lot of the story with odd mentions to focus more on Ariel and the prince, or the prince's sister even. Like she should've actually had more of an active role in the story once they were on land, even if she couldn't talk they still could've easily done that to keep up the consistency of the actual plot. It was just Ariel trying to convince her the odd time, a lot of which was rehashed, then the Prince ignoring her, then, well you know, and that's it. Like someone also mentioned it could've had her and Ariel forming some kind of relationship, or the prince even having more of a relationship with her rather than just ignoring her completely, as that was what happened in the original where though the prince doesn't love her romantically, he does still have a kind of affection and fondess for her.

Still I found it overall a lovely book, as I do love my Little Mermaid retelling, The little mermaid being my favourite fairy tale, and I felt like this was a proper, fitting retelling that actually included elements from the original Hans Christian Andersen version unlike a lot of "little mermaid retellings" that purely call themselves "retellings" of the story because they are about a mermaid who ends up on land, but feels nothing like the original story really. I loved the idea of the plot of story retelling though, it felt nice and fresh, and had some very intriguing elements about it. ...more

flag Like · see review

May 10, 2019 India Staten rated it liked it

I liked that this was different in a retelling of the Little Mermaid. The fact that the the main character was heavy set and not the usual thin figure really captured my attention. The world building was well put together. Ariel wasn’t a mermaid princess, but was the daughter of a lord. Her being self conscious about herself and slowly realizing her own strength as the story went on made her more relatable than the original.

flag Like · see review

Rachel Arndt rated it it was amazing
Jun 06, 2020

Elizabeth rated it really liked it
Nov 15, 2019

Anita rated it liked it
Apr 29, 2019

Hannah Dodson rated it it was amazing
Oct 30, 2019

Julie Haley rated it it was amazing
May 18, 2019

Christa Allgood rated it it was amazing
May 29, 2019

Rebecca Byrd rated it really liked it
Jun 28, 2019

Mel's Reads rated it really liked it
May 16, 2019

Cathy rated it liked it
May 13, 2019

Becky rated it it was amazing
Jun 03, 2019

T Wakita rated it it was amazing
Jul 30, 2019

Lisette rated it really liked it
Aug 27, 2019

Rebecca Kauffman rated it liked it
May 10, 2019

« previous 1 2 3 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Videos About This Book

Add a comment

Genres

Fantasy

5 users

Young Adult

4 users

Retellings

3 users

Mythology > Mermaids

3 users

Fantasy > Fairy Tales

2 users

See top shelves…

About E.L. Tenenbaum

E.L. Tenenbaum

28 followers

E. L. Tenenbaum is fairly certain a bookstore is really the happiest place on earth!
In addition to being an author, she produces and co-hosts the Oh My Word! Podcast. When not reading, or writing, she enjoys speaking at middle/high schools as a visiting author.