What do you think?
Rate this book
Twisted Pages #5
Of Songs and Silence
Enslaved by circumstance. Doomed by fate.
Three girls were raised by the same monster. One of them will take her down.
Zaina was stolen.
Aika was chosen.
But Melodi was born to this fate.
With both of her sisters gone, the only thing to break Mel’s endless silence is the song of the sea that is slowly driving her insane. The song, and the gorgeous Mayiman man who haunts her dreams.
Ariihau has a mission, and no part of it involves a connection with the alluring girl he was sent to capture. Now, he’s bound to protect her at any cost...even if it means betraying the people he has worked his entire life to free.
Life in the undersea Kingdom of Mayim is even more brutal than the one Mel has lived on land. Worse yet, her sisters are still at the mercy of Madame while she is trapped a world away. Helpless.
Ari may be her only hope, if she can get past the lies he tells and the secrets he keeps.
Meanwhile, Aika and Zaina are headed to take down the monster who raised them, but there are no good choices where Madame is concerned. They might be able to plan the perfect attack, but not without a price.
After all, can you really slay a beast without becoming one yourself?
Loyalties will be tested and lines will be crossed in this stunning conclusion to the Twisted Pages Series.
*Please note, this is the last book in a series, and you do need to read the other four to understand this one. You can start with Of Thorns and Beauty and binge-read the series on Amazon or read it for free with Kindle Unlimited!
Three girls were raised by the same monster. One of them will take her down.
Zaina was stolen.
Aika was chosen.
But Melodi was born to this fate.
With both of her sisters gone, the only thing to break Mel’s endless silence is the song of the sea that is slowly driving her insane. The song, and the gorgeous Mayiman man who haunts her dreams.
Ariihau has a mission, and no part of it involves a connection with the alluring girl he was sent to capture. Now, he’s bound to protect her at any cost...even if it means betraying the people he has worked his entire life to free.
Life in the undersea Kingdom of Mayim is even more brutal than the one Mel has lived on land. Worse yet, her sisters are still at the mercy of Madame while she is trapped a world away. Helpless.
Ari may be her only hope, if she can get past the lies he tells and the secrets he keeps.
Meanwhile, Aika and Zaina are headed to take down the monster who raised them, but there are no good choices where Madame is concerned. They might be able to plan the perfect attack, but not without a price.
After all, can you really slay a beast without becoming one yourself?
Loyalties will be tested and lines will be crossed in this stunning conclusion to the Twisted Pages Series.
*Please note, this is the last book in a series, and you do need to read the other four to understand this one. You can start with Of Thorns and Beauty and binge-read the series on Amazon or read it for free with Kindle Unlimited!
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2023
158 people are currently reading
1325 people want to read
About the author
Elle Madison
33 books671 followersElle Madison is a faerie disguising herself as an author in the human world.
When she isn't wrestling her children, she's busy baking cookies for her husband and becoming a regular at every taco shop she comes across.
After hours, when she puts the kiddos to bed, you can usually find Elle working on creating new fantastical worlds, reading about them or playing Stardew Valley like the child she is.
Elle enjoys watching the sunset, trying new wines, the occasional raccoon or two, and being with people who make her laugh.
When she isn't wrestling her children, she's busy baking cookies for her husband and becoming a regular at every taco shop she comes across.
After hours, when she puts the kiddos to bed, you can usually find Elle working on creating new fantastical worlds, reading about them or playing Stardew Valley like the child she is.
Elle enjoys watching the sunset, trying new wines, the occasional raccoon or two, and being with people who make her laugh.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
April 8, 2024
I am beyond disappointed in this book to the point where I'm not sure where I even want to start.
But I guess I want to say that I read the first four books in this series at the beginning of the year and they were AMAZING. Easily some of my favorite reads not only of this year but just in general. I'm a total fairy tale retelling addict and, despite having read a probably absurd number of books in that genre, this series shone out as something spectacular and new.
I've actually been saving this book. I savored the potential of it since it is the final book. While being eager to see how it all played out I wasn't quite ready to leave this story behind.
So when I say I picked this up finally thinking, "It's time." and believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only would this be a great story, but that I was going to love it, I truly mean it.
Which makes the letdown all the worse. I expected greatness because that's what I've seen from Elle and Robin so far in this series. What I got was so depressingly bad that I'm still struggling with it.
I've been ranting about this for the last few days as I've forced myself to continue(because I wanted to know how it ended!). I have a lot of pent up words to throw here. I apologize to anyone that suffers through this very wordy tirade.
Reasons why this didn't work for me.
#1 the "romance". Instalove? No this is 100% instalust. Our FMC, Melodi, is the third sister of our tale and our story begins with her following a mysterious song into the ocean by her home. She is immediately kidnapped by two mermen(basically humans that live underwater, no tail). Honestly, that doesn't seem to bother her too much and she takes the fact she can "talk" for the first time in her life remarkably well.
Within this first meeting between her and the MMC, Ari, things are Disney level eye-roll worthy.
"Oh, look at the human dancing on the ship. I've decided I love him without a conversation!" Melodi is over there saying, "Hold my drink." Because at a whole 15% of the way in the book we get this between Melodi and her kidnapper.
"Ari freezes. Though he hasn't moved closer, the heat suddenly emanating from his skin warms me from the inside out. Does he feel it, too? This thrumming between us, this magnetic pull that has me wanting to lean into his touch."
And that's just warming up. The first night Melodi is under the sea is spent sharing a bed with Ari. He assures her it's not sexual to share a bed in their culture, but... "But my traitorous body doesn't seem to care that we don't know a single thing about this gorgeous, guarded man. In fact my skin is practically vibrating with excitement at the idea of being closer to him. Of lying next to him on the bed, and closer than that."
You get the idea, right? The entirety of the book is basically Melodi lusting after this guy and he's more guardedly doing the same. Then around 65-70%!!! we FINALLY get "a reason". Only... it almost makes it worse. Or at least it doesn't make it better. Think of one of the biggest cliches in romance, an excuse for instalove that's supposed to make it okay... and we find "soulmates" behind door number 1!
Using the soulmates trope is just a cheap way to try and excuse instalove. It doesn't work for me.
Melodi gets briefly mad at one point because she wasn't told that was why she felt this way, not that she should've needed that info to think it was really creepy of her to be all lusty about someone she didn't know. As she reflects on the whole business she decides she would love him anyway because of "list of traits". Only, as I thought about it... I realized they had hardly had a decent conversation all book for her to really "know" any of those things.
Most of their conversations were, "put you your shields and we can't do this."
After the authors wrote romances for the other two sisters and spent time BUILDING them so exquisitely I don't understand how this travesty happened. They clearly have great skills with writing powerful romances, so what happened here?
#2 Alternate scenes.
Every few chapters we'd get a pov shift to our four characters from the previous books. The four are traveling on a ship for the first 80% of the book. And so we'd get scenes that were just them .... on a ship... moving towards the island. Where nothing is really happening except them agonizing over what to do when they got there.
We get one scene where Ari's cousin shows up and says hey! Melodi is safe! And then one from Melodi's aunt and we don't even get to see that!! It's a skipped scene. They look up and are like ahhhh it's Madame! Then next time we see them that whole thing is done and they're like oh yeah it wasn't her, it was her twin blah blah, and she filled us in on some things and we have a plan now.
The last bit of the book where everyone comes together to defeat Madame is the only time where the Zaina and crew pov makes sense.
Now I get wanting to make sure readers can still bond with those characters and wanting them to not be sprung as a surprise for the climax. But it was really boring to read this smattering of chapters that did nothing but tell you... they're still on the ship.
#3 Logic issues
I do not do well with things that make zero sense. Not stuff like how do fairies wings hold them up fantasy sense. I can accept the fantastical. I'm talking stuff like.
- Melodi getting called Kala for about half the book before she finds out what it means and never once saying, um, excuse me, that's not my name. Because if someone kidnapped me and started calling me Susan I'd be like, yeahhh you have the wrong person. Even if they were like nope it's for sure you we want, I wouldn't want to be called Susan the whole time. Now we find out it's a title not a name but how was Melodi(or readers) supposed to know that? I mean sure you piece it together because well it is the LM and she's being brought to the king. But since Kala sounds like a name more than a title, it would've been logical for Melodi to assume that was just a name.
- The water scenes(which is most of the book) being written so confusingly that you have to ask yourself, "Wait... did they go up on land and I missed it?"
Enter the fact that they have BATHROOMS. With toilets... because yes if you are sitting on a toilet in the pool I'm sure your pee is going to just "know" it's supposed to go down into the bowl to get flushed through the tubes. Same with any other bodily functions.
"...a short bench in the corner that is somehow attached to pipes that lead to a sinkhole will dispose of the necessary bodily functions."
But in the attached bedroom we have sponge mattress with seaweed curtains, an octopus hanging out, and fish swimming around the room. So no, I had to reassure myself they didn't actually have a dry hotel set up in this underwater shipwreck hotel.
They use sand to scrub themselves clean. Has anyone ever played with sand while swimming? It immediately starts silting away when you scoop it up. It'd be gone so fast if you started rubbing it up and down your body. Then the water gets all cloudy and that'd just be great considering she just used mermaid shampoo on her hair to get it all nice. Eventually it'd all drift down and now your bathroom floor is covered in sand.
There's flowers... yes flowers, growing on the wall and they use the oil to wash their hair because that's totally not going to wash right out after a short while of swimming through the ocean.
Then they order food and get fruits and grains. Again I was reading back going, did I miss a part where they swam up to an island or something? No... if that's what happened it sure wasn't written in there.
So here's the thing. We have this Mayima lot who have zero contact with humans and aren't allowed on land and apparently even going up to the surface is frowned upon. So if they're not trading with humans for this food... and they don't have secret island farms... and you can't grow fruits and grains underwater.... WHERE is this coming from?! Not to mention has no one ever had a wet bread moment? Soggy cereal? Like you can't just stick GRAIN in the water and be like welp that worked out well.
All these things the Mayima could be eating that would make sense and fruits and grains got included. Also, Melodi bites into a live fish and then swallows quick before the scent can waft up on sea air??? The next scene they go outside and there are fish waiting, so they're still underwater.
#4 Murder, but also logic
Okay so this pretty close to #3, but basically the king of the mayima likes killing... a lot. All the time, everyone. Now if he's been king for oh a good long while considering Melodi is his granddaughter and he was in power when her mother left 18? years ago, how are people still alive? How was he?
One of the worst offenders of the logic/murder thing, in my opinion, is the king killing off all his kids, etc. In a kingdom where apparently promotion is just a murder away(that's the other thing. How do you have a decent military if the way to move up is kill the person in front of you? The person in front of you that you beat is probably better than most of the people behind you and now we just totally took that expertise out of the picture.) anyway, if you murder your way up the ladder here, how is the crown not the same? Whoever murders the king gets to be king? That makes sense with this society. But I guess this is the one thing that's bloodline.
Okay so bloodline then it has to be, so you KILL off all your kids and grandkids?! The 2 kids he's left alive he did so because A. He can't find Melodi's mom to kill her. B. Melodi's aunt can't have kids so she's not a threat?
And Melodi is only alive to be considered as heir because he didn't know about her or where she was until recently.
Who wants their bloodline to inherit but kills them all off? First off he's like oh yeah threats. But then your mom was so weak. Do you want a weak or strong heir? Because it seems like you got rid of both types. Also what do you do at this point? He hasn't had another kid since his batch of adult children. So I'm assuming he can't? have more. What exactly was his plan if Melodi hadn't been discovered? And since he probably had one, why bother kidnapping her and making her your new plan?
Anyway, considering the fact that this king and his warriors just keep killing their people off enmasse, I honestly can't figure out how their population isn't severely depleted. Not to mention since he hasn't made friends with anyone it's crazy he hadn't been usurped before now.
#5 Conclusion, I guess
If this had been a standalone or a new series, or a continuation of a series I was just kind of meh about... I would've stopped at 15%. But because of my love for the other four books I wanted to see how it played out. Which means I was pushing through page after page of this stuff. I got more and more frustrated and upset because not only was I wasting time reading something I wasn't enjoying, but I had really WANTED to enjoy it.
This series was great. It had more than promise. It had delivered. But how do you recommend a series that has a final book that is awful? I don't know if this one was rushed or what but I never would've suspected the same people wrote this as the other ones.
And because I kept going when I already knew it wasn't going well, and because this series DESERVED a better ending... I'm more upset than if I'd just picked up a one off book and had this nonsense and just didn't finish it.
By the time we get to the end and we see the villain from the entire series defeated... it didn't matter anymore. It lacked an emotional punch. It was over quickly and since a new villain had been introduced for this book that took most of the focus, we kind of lose that whole tension of what's going to happen with Madame. It felt more like an epilogue. Like we defeated the king and oh btw, some odd days later we took care of that other problem.
I can honestly say that I've never before wished that an author would unpublish a book and redo it over again. But this is a first. Like throw it away and try again. Are there a lot of crappy books out there? Yes. Do I wish for them to be redone? No. This one though.. yes, because the series as a whole was spectacular enough where I wish wish wish it had an ending deserving of it.
But I guess I want to say that I read the first four books in this series at the beginning of the year and they were AMAZING. Easily some of my favorite reads not only of this year but just in general. I'm a total fairy tale retelling addict and, despite having read a probably absurd number of books in that genre, this series shone out as something spectacular and new.
I've actually been saving this book. I savored the potential of it since it is the final book. While being eager to see how it all played out I wasn't quite ready to leave this story behind.
So when I say I picked this up finally thinking, "It's time." and believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only would this be a great story, but that I was going to love it, I truly mean it.
Which makes the letdown all the worse. I expected greatness because that's what I've seen from Elle and Robin so far in this series. What I got was so depressingly bad that I'm still struggling with it.
I've been ranting about this for the last few days as I've forced myself to continue(because I wanted to know how it ended!). I have a lot of pent up words to throw here. I apologize to anyone that suffers through this very wordy tirade.
Reasons why this didn't work for me.
#1 the "romance". Instalove? No this is 100% instalust. Our FMC, Melodi, is the third sister of our tale and our story begins with her following a mysterious song into the ocean by her home. She is immediately kidnapped by two mermen(basically humans that live underwater, no tail). Honestly, that doesn't seem to bother her too much and she takes the fact she can "talk" for the first time in her life remarkably well.
Within this first meeting between her and the MMC, Ari, things are Disney level eye-roll worthy.
"Oh, look at the human dancing on the ship. I've decided I love him without a conversation!" Melodi is over there saying, "Hold my drink." Because at a whole 15% of the way in the book we get this between Melodi and her kidnapper.
"Ari freezes. Though he hasn't moved closer, the heat suddenly emanating from his skin warms me from the inside out. Does he feel it, too? This thrumming between us, this magnetic pull that has me wanting to lean into his touch."
And that's just warming up. The first night Melodi is under the sea is spent sharing a bed with Ari. He assures her it's not sexual to share a bed in their culture, but... "But my traitorous body doesn't seem to care that we don't know a single thing about this gorgeous, guarded man. In fact my skin is practically vibrating with excitement at the idea of being closer to him. Of lying next to him on the bed, and closer than that."
You get the idea, right? The entirety of the book is basically Melodi lusting after this guy and he's more guardedly doing the same. Then around 65-70%!!! we FINALLY get "a reason". Only... it almost makes it worse. Or at least it doesn't make it better. Think of one of the biggest cliches in romance, an excuse for instalove that's supposed to make it okay... and we find "soulmates" behind door number 1!
Using the soulmates trope is just a cheap way to try and excuse instalove. It doesn't work for me.
Melodi gets briefly mad at one point because she wasn't told that was why she felt this way, not that she should've needed that info to think it was really creepy of her to be all lusty about someone she didn't know. As she reflects on the whole business she decides she would love him anyway because of "list of traits". Only, as I thought about it... I realized they had hardly had a decent conversation all book for her to really "know" any of those things.
Most of their conversations were, "put you your shields and we can't do this."
After the authors wrote romances for the other two sisters and spent time BUILDING them so exquisitely I don't understand how this travesty happened. They clearly have great skills with writing powerful romances, so what happened here?
#2 Alternate scenes.
Every few chapters we'd get a pov shift to our four characters from the previous books. The four are traveling on a ship for the first 80% of the book. And so we'd get scenes that were just them .... on a ship... moving towards the island. Where nothing is really happening except them agonizing over what to do when they got there.
We get one scene where Ari's cousin shows up and says hey! Melodi is safe! And then one from Melodi's aunt and we don't even get to see that!! It's a skipped scene. They look up and are like ahhhh it's Madame! Then next time we see them that whole thing is done and they're like oh yeah it wasn't her, it was her twin blah blah, and she filled us in on some things and we have a plan now.
The last bit of the book where everyone comes together to defeat Madame is the only time where the Zaina and crew pov makes sense.
Now I get wanting to make sure readers can still bond with those characters and wanting them to not be sprung as a surprise for the climax. But it was really boring to read this smattering of chapters that did nothing but tell you... they're still on the ship.
#3 Logic issues
I do not do well with things that make zero sense. Not stuff like how do fairies wings hold them up fantasy sense. I can accept the fantastical. I'm talking stuff like.
- Melodi getting called Kala for about half the book before she finds out what it means and never once saying, um, excuse me, that's not my name. Because if someone kidnapped me and started calling me Susan I'd be like, yeahhh you have the wrong person. Even if they were like nope it's for sure you we want, I wouldn't want to be called Susan the whole time. Now we find out it's a title not a name but how was Melodi(or readers) supposed to know that? I mean sure you piece it together because well it is the LM and she's being brought to the king. But since Kala sounds like a name more than a title, it would've been logical for Melodi to assume that was just a name.
- The water scenes(which is most of the book) being written so confusingly that you have to ask yourself, "Wait... did they go up on land and I missed it?"
Enter the fact that they have BATHROOMS. With toilets... because yes if you are sitting on a toilet in the pool I'm sure your pee is going to just "know" it's supposed to go down into the bowl to get flushed through the tubes. Same with any other bodily functions.
"...a short bench in the corner that is somehow attached to pipes that lead to a sinkhole will dispose of the necessary bodily functions."
But in the attached bedroom we have sponge mattress with seaweed curtains, an octopus hanging out, and fish swimming around the room. So no, I had to reassure myself they didn't actually have a dry hotel set up in this underwater shipwreck hotel.
They use sand to scrub themselves clean. Has anyone ever played with sand while swimming? It immediately starts silting away when you scoop it up. It'd be gone so fast if you started rubbing it up and down your body. Then the water gets all cloudy and that'd just be great considering she just used mermaid shampoo on her hair to get it all nice. Eventually it'd all drift down and now your bathroom floor is covered in sand.
There's flowers... yes flowers, growing on the wall and they use the oil to wash their hair because that's totally not going to wash right out after a short while of swimming through the ocean.
Then they order food and get fruits and grains. Again I was reading back going, did I miss a part where they swam up to an island or something? No... if that's what happened it sure wasn't written in there.
So here's the thing. We have this Mayima lot who have zero contact with humans and aren't allowed on land and apparently even going up to the surface is frowned upon. So if they're not trading with humans for this food... and they don't have secret island farms... and you can't grow fruits and grains underwater.... WHERE is this coming from?! Not to mention has no one ever had a wet bread moment? Soggy cereal? Like you can't just stick GRAIN in the water and be like welp that worked out well.
All these things the Mayima could be eating that would make sense and fruits and grains got included. Also, Melodi bites into a live fish and then swallows quick before the scent can waft up on sea air??? The next scene they go outside and there are fish waiting, so they're still underwater.
#4 Murder, but also logic
Okay so this pretty close to #3, but basically the king of the mayima likes killing... a lot. All the time, everyone. Now if he's been king for oh a good long while considering Melodi is his granddaughter and he was in power when her mother left 18? years ago, how are people still alive? How was he?
One of the worst offenders of the logic/murder thing, in my opinion, is the king killing off all his kids, etc. In a kingdom where apparently promotion is just a murder away(that's the other thing. How do you have a decent military if the way to move up is kill the person in front of you? The person in front of you that you beat is probably better than most of the people behind you and now we just totally took that expertise out of the picture.) anyway, if you murder your way up the ladder here, how is the crown not the same? Whoever murders the king gets to be king? That makes sense with this society. But I guess this is the one thing that's bloodline.
Okay so bloodline then it has to be, so you KILL off all your kids and grandkids?! The 2 kids he's left alive he did so because A. He can't find Melodi's mom to kill her. B. Melodi's aunt can't have kids so she's not a threat?
And Melodi is only alive to be considered as heir because he didn't know about her or where she was until recently.
Who wants their bloodline to inherit but kills them all off? First off he's like oh yeah threats. But then your mom was so weak. Do you want a weak or strong heir? Because it seems like you got rid of both types. Also what do you do at this point? He hasn't had another kid since his batch of adult children. So I'm assuming he can't? have more. What exactly was his plan if Melodi hadn't been discovered? And since he probably had one, why bother kidnapping her and making her your new plan?
Anyway, considering the fact that this king and his warriors just keep killing their people off enmasse, I honestly can't figure out how their population isn't severely depleted. Not to mention since he hasn't made friends with anyone it's crazy he hadn't been usurped before now.
#5 Conclusion, I guess
If this had been a standalone or a new series, or a continuation of a series I was just kind of meh about... I would've stopped at 15%. But because of my love for the other four books I wanted to see how it played out. Which means I was pushing through page after page of this stuff. I got more and more frustrated and upset because not only was I wasting time reading something I wasn't enjoying, but I had really WANTED to enjoy it.
This series was great. It had more than promise. It had delivered. But how do you recommend a series that has a final book that is awful? I don't know if this one was rushed or what but I never would've suspected the same people wrote this as the other ones.
And because I kept going when I already knew it wasn't going well, and because this series DESERVED a better ending... I'm more upset than if I'd just picked up a one off book and had this nonsense and just didn't finish it.
By the time we get to the end and we see the villain from the entire series defeated... it didn't matter anymore. It lacked an emotional punch. It was over quickly and since a new villain had been introduced for this book that took most of the focus, we kind of lose that whole tension of what's going to happen with Madame. It felt more like an epilogue. Like we defeated the king and oh btw, some odd days later we took care of that other problem.
I can honestly say that I've never before wished that an author would unpublish a book and redo it over again. But this is a first. Like throw it away and try again. Are there a lot of crappy books out there? Yes. Do I wish for them to be redone? No. This one though.. yes, because the series as a whole was spectacular enough where I wish wish wish it had an ending deserving of it.
March 8, 2025
3.5 stars
I really had higher expectations for this one, and I was a bit disappointed.
Nonetheless, the way we got to see glimpses of Madame's past and get to know her even more and see emotions come from her was great because it added to her character and for us readers to try and maybe understand where she is coming from even though I still don't understand why she treated them badly.
I love the fact that we got to see things from all the characters' perspectives; we got to read their thoughts, feelings, and more, which I think added depth to the story as a whole.
To sum up, all three sisters became queens. Like, literally. I'm not even exaggerating. They married rich and high-class royals, well, except for Melodi, she married a Commander who then became a King himself.
I really had higher expectations for this one, and I was a bit disappointed.
Nonetheless, the way we got to see glimpses of Madame's past and get to know her even more and see emotions come from her was great because it added to her character and for us readers to try and maybe understand where she is coming from even though I still don't understand why she treated them badly.
I love the fact that we got to see things from all the characters' perspectives; we got to read their thoughts, feelings, and more, which I think added depth to the story as a whole.
To sum up, all three sisters became queens. Like, literally. I'm not even exaggerating. They married rich and high-class royals, well, except for Melodi, she married a Commander who then became a King himself.
June 21, 2023
As always with these authors, I appreciate how we are shown how the characters struggle internally and are conflicted at times. There were some interesting character backstory revels that were fun in their unexpectedness.
Unfortunately, shortly into the book, I realized I only was continuing to read the book because I wanted to know how the series ended. I reaaaaally didn’t enjoy Melodi’s instalove and limited relationship development storyline—felt too infatuation driven and immature—which made it hard for me to respect characters and fight off rolling my eyes. This was especially in contrast to how dark and serious the rest of the book is—made it all the more glaring and silly feeling. Don’t get me wrong. I love me some good chemistry and can handle more of an “I’ve got a crush that has grown into something deeper as I’ve gotten to really know the other person” relationship storyline.
Personally, it seems like there’s increasing sexual content/nature in each new book, and it’s making me consider not reading more. I wish there was less of an erotic-ish content/relationship focus. The focus on this to me takes away dimension from the relationships, and instead make it seem like lust is what mainly brings these relationships about and holds the relationships together. The healthiest and most inspiring relationships have other joys and commonalities and connections that keep them strong
I love many of the authors’ other books. Please go check them out!
I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.
Unfortunately, shortly into the book, I realized I only was continuing to read the book because I wanted to know how the series ended. I reaaaaally didn’t enjoy Melodi’s instalove and limited relationship development storyline—felt too infatuation driven and immature—which made it hard for me to respect characters and fight off rolling my eyes. This was especially in contrast to how dark and serious the rest of the book is—made it all the more glaring and silly feeling. Don’t get me wrong. I love me some good chemistry and can handle more of an “I’ve got a crush that has grown into something deeper as I’ve gotten to really know the other person” relationship storyline.
Personally, it seems like there’s increasing sexual content/nature in each new book, and it’s making me consider not reading more. I wish there was less of an erotic-ish content/relationship focus. The focus on this to me takes away dimension from the relationships, and instead make it seem like lust is what mainly brings these relationships about and holds the relationships together. The healthiest and most inspiring relationships have other joys and commonalities and connections that keep them strong
I love many of the authors’ other books. Please go check them out!
I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.
June 1, 2023
Beautiful well-finished finale to a fine series.
OSAS is the fifth and final part of the Twisted Pages series and is a little mermaid retelling about Melodi, the sister of Zaina and Aika. Like the previous books, this one also has a beautiful cover.
I really enjoyed finally getting thoroughly acquainted with Melodi in this book. Zaina and Aika have captured my heart for some time already, but now Melodi has made her way there too. The different POVs complement each other well, it is definitely an added value that you not only crawl into the sisters' heads, but also into those of their romantic interests. Furthermore, you are well carried along in the story and it does not bore at any point. I perhaps just found the chapters a little too short, so some scenes lacked a little extra depth.
Time is taken to tell Mel her story, which is actually done well. Her patience and empathy are really admirable, a world of difference from her sisters. The other characters are also great to spend time with. It would have been even more enjoyable had we also been shown a bit more of the culture and customs of the Mayima. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed her story.
What I regretted most about this book was that the ending was somewhat rushed as far as both storylines were concerned. Especially regarding Aika and Zaina's story and plan, I would have liked to have seen this fleshed out a bit more. It's actually worked towards throughout the series like this, only to be wrapped up rather quickly. However, that doesn't change the fact that I was really intrigued for the whole book, I found it hard to put it aside. All the loose ends are also tied up nicely. The ending is therefore absolutely perfect, I think it is super fitting for this series.
So I would definitely recommend this series for anyone who likes fairytale retellings with a darker side, ones that deviate a bit more from the classic tale as everyone knows it. The books are filled with all these amazing and admirable and true-to-life characters, anyone will recognise themselves in one of them. In addition, you will be introduced to some amazing animal sidekicks you will never forget.
Thank you Elle and Robin for this eARC.
OSAS is the fifth and final part of the Twisted Pages series and is a little mermaid retelling about Melodi, the sister of Zaina and Aika. Like the previous books, this one also has a beautiful cover.
I really enjoyed finally getting thoroughly acquainted with Melodi in this book. Zaina and Aika have captured my heart for some time already, but now Melodi has made her way there too. The different POVs complement each other well, it is definitely an added value that you not only crawl into the sisters' heads, but also into those of their romantic interests. Furthermore, you are well carried along in the story and it does not bore at any point. I perhaps just found the chapters a little too short, so some scenes lacked a little extra depth.
Time is taken to tell Mel her story, which is actually done well. Her patience and empathy are really admirable, a world of difference from her sisters. The other characters are also great to spend time with. It would have been even more enjoyable had we also been shown a bit more of the culture and customs of the Mayima. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed her story.
What I regretted most about this book was that the ending was somewhat rushed as far as both storylines were concerned. Especially regarding Aika and Zaina's story and plan, I would have liked to have seen this fleshed out a bit more. It's actually worked towards throughout the series like this, only to be wrapped up rather quickly. However, that doesn't change the fact that I was really intrigued for the whole book, I found it hard to put it aside. All the loose ends are also tied up nicely. The ending is therefore absolutely perfect, I think it is super fitting for this series.
So I would definitely recommend this series for anyone who likes fairytale retellings with a darker side, ones that deviate a bit more from the classic tale as everyone knows it. The books are filled with all these amazing and admirable and true-to-life characters, anyone will recognise themselves in one of them. In addition, you will be introduced to some amazing animal sidekicks you will never forget.
Thank you Elle and Robin for this eARC.
June 10, 2023
4.5.
This was a great end to the series, albeit, a slightly rushed one. I sort of feel like Melodi needed her own book and then maybe a book taking down Madame, but either way it was a very good end to what has been a brilliant and enjoyable series.
This was a great end to the series, albeit, a slightly rushed one. I sort of feel like Melodi needed her own book and then maybe a book taking down Madame, but either way it was a very good end to what has been a brilliant and enjoyable series.
September 3, 2024
This series simultaneously felt as though it was rushed and drug on. I felt like Melodi's story wasn't given the spotlight it deserved, where I felt as though maybe Aika's story or even Zaina's could have been summarized a bit more. Because this book was split between Melodi's story and Madame's downfall, Madame's downfall felt anticlimactic, where the whole series led to this.
The book on its own was enjoyable enough, but as a series, it fell short for me.
The book on its own was enjoyable enough, but as a series, it fell short for me.
June 20, 2023
Since the moment Elle and Robin told me the last book in this series would be inspired by The Little Mermaid, I have been looking forward to it.
A little sappy background… I was born with spinal muscular atrophy. I’ve never been able to walk, so I connected to The Little Mermaid from a very early age. When she sang about wanting legs to fit in with the humans and experience the different things they do, I felt that deep in my soul. Even before I could really understand why.
It still means so much to me. I mean, I have Ariel decor in my bedroom, and I’m almost 32 years old. It’s still one of my top comfort movies, and it’s the soundtrack I play when having a panic or anxiety attack.
My point is, I’m kind of an expert when it comes to all things The Little Mermaid. I watched the VHS so much as a child that it stopped working. I ended up getting two copies for my next birthday so I could have one at each parent’s house. My birthday parties were almost always The Little Mermaid themed. I had all the toys, the clothes, the bed set, the wallpaper, the actual CD soundtrack, everything. It was my entire life for a very long time.
It was even the theme for my 30th surprise birthday party.
Therefore, I was super excited about this book, and I had high hopes because I adore everything these authors release.
And it did NOT disappoint.
As soon as I started reading, I was sucked in. I read it in less than a week, and the only reason it took me that long was because I was super busy editing my next book. I could’ve read the whole thing in a day or two. I wanted to.
The entire premise was so intriguing. And while it had the bits and pieces of inspiration from the story we all know, it was also extremely original. It was something totally new and uniquely Elle and Robin.
This series has taken a dark twist on each retelling, and this was no exception. It was grim and somewhat gruesome, definitely intense, and I loved every single second of it.
Literally my only complaint is that there isn’t more because I could read about these characters and this world forever.
That being said, I do see why the authors ended it here, rather than drag it out for a sixth book, as was originally planned. This ending was the finale the series and readers deserved. There were a couple minor things that I think could’ve been expanded or fleshed out a little bit more, but overall, it was just fantastic.
It was really interesting to finally get the whys behind the main villain’s actions. It was heartbreaking too. Seeing all the characters come together for one last hurrah was great. The book was well written and easy to get lost in. I very much enjoyed it.
I will absolutely be re-reading this series in the future.
A little sappy background… I was born with spinal muscular atrophy. I’ve never been able to walk, so I connected to The Little Mermaid from a very early age. When she sang about wanting legs to fit in with the humans and experience the different things they do, I felt that deep in my soul. Even before I could really understand why.
It still means so much to me. I mean, I have Ariel decor in my bedroom, and I’m almost 32 years old. It’s still one of my top comfort movies, and it’s the soundtrack I play when having a panic or anxiety attack.
My point is, I’m kind of an expert when it comes to all things The Little Mermaid. I watched the VHS so much as a child that it stopped working. I ended up getting two copies for my next birthday so I could have one at each parent’s house. My birthday parties were almost always The Little Mermaid themed. I had all the toys, the clothes, the bed set, the wallpaper, the actual CD soundtrack, everything. It was my entire life for a very long time.
It was even the theme for my 30th surprise birthday party.
Therefore, I was super excited about this book, and I had high hopes because I adore everything these authors release.
And it did NOT disappoint.
As soon as I started reading, I was sucked in. I read it in less than a week, and the only reason it took me that long was because I was super busy editing my next book. I could’ve read the whole thing in a day or two. I wanted to.
The entire premise was so intriguing. And while it had the bits and pieces of inspiration from the story we all know, it was also extremely original. It was something totally new and uniquely Elle and Robin.
This series has taken a dark twist on each retelling, and this was no exception. It was grim and somewhat gruesome, definitely intense, and I loved every single second of it.
Literally my only complaint is that there isn’t more because I could read about these characters and this world forever.
That being said, I do see why the authors ended it here, rather than drag it out for a sixth book, as was originally planned. This ending was the finale the series and readers deserved. There were a couple minor things that I think could’ve been expanded or fleshed out a little bit more, but overall, it was just fantastic.
It was really interesting to finally get the whys behind the main villain’s actions. It was heartbreaking too. Seeing all the characters come together for one last hurrah was great. The book was well written and easy to get lost in. I very much enjoyed it.
I will absolutely be re-reading this series in the future.
December 10, 2023
This was the cherry on top, for the series.
As the first two books focus on Zaina, then the third and fourth on Aika (in a continuous way, not separate stories), this last one is on Melodi. And this book is really different. The world, how people live in it, the rules, the past..
We now understand how Madame turned into a villain, there is no going back but she was also a victim before, this brought a new light to her ways.
Her sisters each found a king themselves, but Melodi’s love interest was unexpected. A soulmate who she can feel and interact through the bond? Yes please. And she was so innocent to recognize the bond they had.
The story was enriched with the Mayim world (we know them a bit as mer people) and there was a whole world below, I was quite shocked.
While Melodi tried to get used to this new world, her sisters tried to save her from their Mother. She had to intervene, and so did their aunt, the twin sister of Madame.
While I loved the building of the relationship between Melodi and Ari, their union and kind of marriage after the villain king’s death was a bit rushed. I was expecting at least 10-20 pages on their being used to their new lives and freedom. I still think and wonder what they could have done. Maybe there could have been more bonus chapters, like seasonal chapters where we can read a glimpse of the lives the heroes are leading after all they have been through.
Thanks for this last book of the series, it really ties all ends
Technically, no surprises and betrayals (in terms of romance), there is violence but did not trigger any anxiety, and the whole series can be classified as YA, just like all books by the duo.
As the first two books focus on Zaina, then the third and fourth on Aika (in a continuous way, not separate stories), this last one is on Melodi. And this book is really different. The world, how people live in it, the rules, the past..
We now understand how Madame turned into a villain, there is no going back but she was also a victim before, this brought a new light to her ways.
Her sisters each found a king themselves, but Melodi’s love interest was unexpected. A soulmate who she can feel and interact through the bond? Yes please. And she was so innocent to recognize the bond they had.
The story was enriched with the Mayim world (we know them a bit as mer people) and there was a whole world below, I was quite shocked.
While Melodi tried to get used to this new world, her sisters tried to save her from their Mother. She had to intervene, and so did their aunt, the twin sister of Madame.
While I loved the building of the relationship between Melodi and Ari, their union and kind of marriage after the villain king’s death was a bit rushed. I was expecting at least 10-20 pages on their being used to their new lives and freedom. I still think and wonder what they could have done. Maybe there could have been more bonus chapters, like seasonal chapters where we can read a glimpse of the lives the heroes are leading after all they have been through.
Thanks for this last book of the series, it really ties all ends
Technically, no surprises and betrayals (in terms of romance), there is violence but did not trigger any anxiety, and the whole series can be classified as YA, just like all books by the duo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2023
This is book 5 in a series, all books must be read in order.
Fated Mates 🙌 The mermaids all have a telepathic connection, though they can speak as well (minus Mel of course). One bed. Fun world building, like they ride sword fish as a war horse!
Kane and Aris' banter was fantastic. I think I have a thing for Kane 😏
I love Aika and Einar's relationship, they tease like siblings.
What a treat to have all our MCs in one book!! Such a great conclusion to story. Everyone gets what's coming to them 😈 HEAs for all the couples. Less dark and less violent than the previous books in the series. And It closes in a way that leaves more stories open for this world. 👏 Highly recommend this series!!
🎧 Audio is available for books 1-3, 4 and 5 are in the works!
💕 Romantic Content: 4 (fade to black)
⚠️Content Warnings: There are darker themes and violence throughout the series, but nothing explicit.
🗨 Some Quotes:
My head spins, resignation overtaking me before the gentle hum of the ocean breaches my mind once again.
The song. My song. It’s returned.
It’s louder than before, pulsating with an urgent rhythm. I can’t risk it abandoning me again. Maybe it will be my salvation. Or maybe it’s my damnation.
Either way, I find myself finally answering its call.
Perhaps I am more my mother’s daughter than I realize. Or perhaps fear turns us all into monsters.
Fated Mates 🙌 The mermaids all have a telepathic connection, though they can speak as well (minus Mel of course). One bed. Fun world building, like they ride sword fish as a war horse!
Kane and Aris' banter was fantastic. I think I have a thing for Kane 😏
I love Aika and Einar's relationship, they tease like siblings.
What a treat to have all our MCs in one book!! Such a great conclusion to story. Everyone gets what's coming to them 😈 HEAs for all the couples. Less dark and less violent than the previous books in the series. And It closes in a way that leaves more stories open for this world. 👏 Highly recommend this series!!
🎧 Audio is available for books 1-3, 4 and 5 are in the works!
💕 Romantic Content: 4 (fade to black)
⚠️Content Warnings: There are darker themes and violence throughout the series, but nothing explicit.
🗨 Some Quotes:
My head spins, resignation overtaking me before the gentle hum of the ocean breaches my mind once again.
The song. My song. It’s returned.
It’s louder than before, pulsating with an urgent rhythm. I can’t risk it abandoning me again. Maybe it will be my salvation. Or maybe it’s my damnation.
Either way, I find myself finally answering its call.
Perhaps I am more my mother’s daughter than I realize. Or perhaps fear turns us all into monsters.
June 11, 2023
Twisted and entertaining! This series is thrilling and frightening with characters that you'll deeply love. But, I have to say that this Little Mermaid retelling is by far my favorite of the series. There is just something about Melodi, the fantastic world building, and the way that this is written with the dark elements that make this truly captivating!
Ari is one hot dude, and the way he tries to keep his distance, his protective vibes are just absolutely delicious! His sidekicks are highly entertaining, too!
With supporting characters that help to paint this vivid portrait, you won't be able to set this down. The creativity of this underwater world is mind-blowing, from the politics to the imagery. This is stunning!
Ari is one hot dude, and the way he tries to keep his distance, his protective vibes are just absolutely delicious! His sidekicks are highly entertaining, too!
With supporting characters that help to paint this vivid portrait, you won't be able to set this down. The creativity of this underwater world is mind-blowing, from the politics to the imagery. This is stunning!
June 25, 2023
“Of Songs and Silence” is Melodi’s story, and the conclusion to Elle Madison and Robin D. Mahle’s Twisted Pages series. I’ve been highly anticipating this book, and I can definitely say I wasn’t disappointed with the way this series ended! I loved that the reader really got to know Melodi as a person in this book, especially about the way she thinks and her emotions. I also loved that her sisters, Zaina and Aika, never gave up on Melodi. Both women and their husbands were still important to the plot, which I thought was wonderful. This book had some shocking plot twists I wasn’t expecting, as well. Overall, I think this was a brilliant conclusion to an amazing series - I highly recommend!!!
June 4, 2023
I’ve read all the other books in this series but I will say, Melodi’s story was by far my favorite to read. Anytime it switched back to Aika or Zaina, I couldn’t wait until it went back to Melodi. The Mayima, their world, the story line - it all was so interesting to read and enraptured me from the start. It was great to know the reason behind Madame’s ruthlessness, hatred, evil - though it did not excuse all the hurt and death she caused. 10/10 recommend!!
July 23, 2023
Great ending to a perfect series
The twisted pages has been one of my favorite dark fairytale reimaginings. Melodi's journey mixed with the machinations of Aika, Remi, Zaina, and Einar is the perfect ending to the series. Melodi and Ari are simply fantastic together (though Einar remains my favorite.) This is a series I'm sad to see end.
The twisted pages has been one of my favorite dark fairytale reimaginings. Melodi's journey mixed with the machinations of Aika, Remi, Zaina, and Einar is the perfect ending to the series. Melodi and Ari are simply fantastic together (though Einar remains my favorite.) This is a series I'm sad to see end.
January 7, 2025
The Twisted Pages ends here with the third sister, Melodi who is supposed to be Ariel. Amongst the 3, she’s legitimately of royal blood. Unfortunately, her blood relations are the cruelest, monstrous type of creatures I’ve ever read in a fantasy novel. If there’s one thing I enjoyed most about this last book, it’s the . I do wish the Epilogue was longer, though.
July 23, 2024
Loved this series. Not as much as the Lochlann series by these authors but obsessed with all the pairings we got.
July 7, 2023
Of Songs and silence was the highly anticipated conclusion to the Twisted Pages series- a series that has become one of my favorites! I loved Zaina and Aika’s stories and was so excited to finally read more about Melodi.
One of my favorite parts of this book was learning about the Mayima. They are referenced and seen a few times throughout the other books and so I loved getting to see their underwater world.
Elle and Robin are also amazing at their character development and I loved the new characters introduced in this book. Ari was such a broody, protective love interest (which I am a huge sucker for)! Melodi is so fierce, but also kind and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her. As always, the side characters did not disappoint either! (Plus we got a new animal companion, which I am always here for.)
My only complaint was that it felt a little rushed, but that did not stop me from totally enjoying the story. Overall, it was a good conclusion to an amazing series that I will reread for years to come!
One of my favorite parts of this book was learning about the Mayima. They are referenced and seen a few times throughout the other books and so I loved getting to see their underwater world.
Elle and Robin are also amazing at their character development and I loved the new characters introduced in this book. Ari was such a broody, protective love interest (which I am a huge sucker for)! Melodi is so fierce, but also kind and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her. As always, the side characters did not disappoint either! (Plus we got a new animal companion, which I am always here for.)
My only complaint was that it felt a little rushed, but that did not stop me from totally enjoying the story. Overall, it was a good conclusion to an amazing series that I will reread for years to come!
May 18, 2024
𝐀 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭. 𝐀 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞
The final book in the Twisted Pages series is released today and
IT
IS
EPIC
How Elle and Robin knew that they needed a Little Mermaid retelling this week when they started this series I don't know! Magic? Witchcraft? Biscuits? Who cares! They smashed it!
Obviously the book links with the classic Little Mermaid tale, look at that cover, how could it not? But the links aren't cheesy and forced, they're (as you may expect) rather twisty.
Melodi with no voice and red hair finds a life in the sea rather than on land. Ursula grants favours but she's a tad less sea witch and a bit more of a torture the truth out of you kinda villain. However, if you can believe it, the Mer-King is even more malicious and deadly! There's no cuddly King Triton here.
Whilst Melodi is being kidnapped, navigating through an underwater kingdom, discovering her fate and sharing one bed with a hunky mer-soldier, her sisters are on a mission to rid the world of the evil Madame.
This makes for a super tense ending as the sisters are reunited at last. I really appreciated how the tension didn't overtake the personalities of the characters who we have grown to love. Even though you're on the edge of your seat, you still manage to have a smirk and a giggle.
There is also a really powerful weapon available to the sisters and this is hinted at a few times. It would have been so so easy for Mahle and Madison to magically use this plotline and *poof* Madame out of existence but they don't and why would they? These women have never had it easy so why would they now? Instead, the sisters set out to enact their revenge with their loved ones. They are enough and that is something they have never believed before.
This is a Little Mermaid retelling with shark teeth! Revenge, romance, rebellion and a sassy octopus with main character energy. What more could I ask for?
The final book in the Twisted Pages series is released today and
IT
IS
EPIC
How Elle and Robin knew that they needed a Little Mermaid retelling this week when they started this series I don't know! Magic? Witchcraft? Biscuits? Who cares! They smashed it!
Obviously the book links with the classic Little Mermaid tale, look at that cover, how could it not? But the links aren't cheesy and forced, they're (as you may expect) rather twisty.
Melodi with no voice and red hair finds a life in the sea rather than on land. Ursula grants favours but she's a tad less sea witch and a bit more of a torture the truth out of you kinda villain. However, if you can believe it, the Mer-King is even more malicious and deadly! There's no cuddly King Triton here.
Whilst Melodi is being kidnapped, navigating through an underwater kingdom, discovering her fate and sharing one bed with a hunky mer-soldier, her sisters are on a mission to rid the world of the evil Madame.
This makes for a super tense ending as the sisters are reunited at last. I really appreciated how the tension didn't overtake the personalities of the characters who we have grown to love. Even though you're on the edge of your seat, you still manage to have a smirk and a giggle.
There is also a really powerful weapon available to the sisters and this is hinted at a few times. It would have been so so easy for Mahle and Madison to magically use this plotline and *poof* Madame out of existence but they don't and why would they? These women have never had it easy so why would they now? Instead, the sisters set out to enact their revenge with their loved ones. They are enough and that is something they have never believed before.
This is a Little Mermaid retelling with shark teeth! Revenge, romance, rebellion and a sassy octopus with main character energy. What more could I ask for?
July 28, 2023
Spoilers for Lochlann Feuds included below.
It pains me to give this such a low rating. I've thoroughly enjoyed the other books in the series. However, this book felt very rushed. Madison and Mahle typically give time for relationships to develop and are very aware of issues of consent and when consent can be given (think Rowan and Evander). However, Melodi and Ari's relationship began so early that it was not believable. Also, he was, in a sense, her captor, and there was no discussion of the issues there.
Some examples of the story being rushed and not fully developed:
-There was no reaction from Melodi when, suddenly, she could "speak". She's been without a voice her whole life and yet has no thoughts or feelings about her new ability to communicate. I was so surprised and disappointed.
-A lot was implied about Madam's past and her plans for the dragons. But this could have been expanded upon quite a bit. She could have almost become a sympathetic character if we'd had more time to explore her past. A complex villain is a better villain. But we just didn't get there.
-Ari is referenced by name before before our narrator actually learns his name. It was a small copy-editing error, but it was early in the book and was the first signal that everything had been rushed.
I know the authors have said this series has been very difficult to write due to the darker subject matter. I get that. But I wish the series had been given the ending it deserved.
I will still read books by Madison and Mahle. I read Hollow Court right after this one, and it was fabulous. I just wish more time had gone into Of Songs and Silence.
It pains me to give this such a low rating. I've thoroughly enjoyed the other books in the series. However, this book felt very rushed. Madison and Mahle typically give time for relationships to develop and are very aware of issues of consent and when consent can be given (think Rowan and Evander). However, Melodi and Ari's relationship began so early that it was not believable. Also, he was, in a sense, her captor, and there was no discussion of the issues there.
Some examples of the story being rushed and not fully developed:
-There was no reaction from Melodi when, suddenly, she could "speak". She's been without a voice her whole life and yet has no thoughts or feelings about her new ability to communicate. I was so surprised and disappointed.
-A lot was implied about Madam's past and her plans for the dragons. But this could have been expanded upon quite a bit. She could have almost become a sympathetic character if we'd had more time to explore her past. A complex villain is a better villain. But we just didn't get there.
-Ari is referenced by name before before our narrator actually learns his name. It was a small copy-editing error, but it was early in the book and was the first signal that everything had been rushed.
I know the authors have said this series has been very difficult to write due to the darker subject matter. I get that. But I wish the series had been given the ending it deserved.
I will still read books by Madison and Mahle. I read Hollow Court right after this one, and it was fabulous. I just wish more time had gone into Of Songs and Silence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2024
Nothing against Melodi and Ari, but I wish this book had just followed the original two couples. It was obvious from the beginning that this was going to be a romance given the time constraints. The result was lackluster romantic development and two storylines that converged in a somewhat less than satisfactory manner.
Thoughts about the series as a whole:
I loved the dark/twisted fairy tale vibe and the way the authors didn't shy away from difficult subject matter. The fairytale elements were well-handled, and I loved each of the pets (although I admit to having a particular fondness for Pumpkin).
Aika and Remy were my favorite couple, and Aika - with her complex emotions, humor (the grandpa Einar jokes were a hoot), and snark - was my favorite overall character.
This is my second series by this author duo. I'm sure it won't be my last.
Thoughts about the series as a whole:
I loved the dark/twisted fairy tale vibe and the way the authors didn't shy away from difficult subject matter. The fairytale elements were well-handled, and I loved each of the pets (although I admit to having a particular fondness for Pumpkin).
Aika and Remy were my favorite couple, and Aika - with her complex emotions, humor (the grandpa Einar jokes were a hoot), and snark - was my favorite overall character.
This is my second series by this author duo. I'm sure it won't be my last.
August 23, 2024
Ehhhhhhh... I mean, I loved this series and the conclusion of it was great. But Melodi's story? Cough cough. Meh.
If I thought Disney's Ariel's adoration for Eric was bad, this was... it's cringe.
Girl is kidnapped, doesn't fight or really question. Falls in lust--I mean love with the kidnapper. Never questions anything, is just like Cool, cool.
She deserved a well thought out story and she didn't get it.
If I thought Disney's Ariel's adoration for Eric was bad, this was... it's cringe.
Girl is kidnapped, doesn't fight or really question. Falls in lust--I mean love with the kidnapper. Never questions anything, is just like Cool, cool.
She deserved a well thought out story and she didn't get it.
June 5, 2023
Okay, guys, this was such a good finale for this series! I am so glad I was able to receive an ARC copy of this in advance to review, and everything in this review is my honest opinion of the book.
I loved this, and I really enjoyed it for what it was! I read this book so quickly, and I loved every second of it! As you know, fairytale retellings are my jam, and I will read any that I can get my hands on, so this book was perfect for me. I especially love Little Mermaid retellings because of the beautiful scenery under the sea and all of the beautiful sea creatures, and while we didn't get a ton of that here, it was still really well done! I enjoyed the unique take on LM and Ariel, anyone catch that our MMC was named Ari?? Idk if that was on purpose, though I hope it was.
I loved getting those sneak peeks inside of Aika, Zaina, Remy, and Einar, as well as getting to see Melodi through her own eyes finally! I loved getting to know her and getting to see some of Ari as well. I do wish that we got to see more of them in this book; it felt almost too short because I wanted so much more of them and their relationship. I also thought that we would be given another duology for just her character, so it definitely felt a little bit rushed based on what I was expecting. I did really love getting an FMC who wasn't a complete badass and who was a normal girl who had deficiencies and less capability than those around her. Unlike her sisters who were these amazingly talented and fearless and badass fighters, schemers, and strategists, we get this heroine who is utterly normal...besides that she can breathe underwater of course! And we get to see her become more confident in herself and learn to fight her own battles a bit. It was a nice reprieve from the many FMCs I have read lately who all have this incredible special abilities, while still giving Melodi a unique perspective and some different skills. Ari was perfection! I loved his protectiveness and badass triton skills and his funny octopus friend, Napo, and his broody cousin, Kane. I wish we got to see more of him and get to know more about him! He was smart and strong and rebellious and a freaking commander for the Mayiman King! I didn't really get as good of a feel for his personality through his limited viewpoints as I did for both Einar and Remy due to their story being completed in one book, but I really enjoyed what I did get!
This book had action and romance and intrigue and fun moments. I loved the sisterly dynamics we got to see with Melodi finally being included. Hers was my favorite of the series so far; every time we went to one of the earlier characters' POVs, I just wanted to get back to Melodi and Ari, even though we needed their POVs to continue the story and I did enjoy them because I love all of their characters! This would have been a 5⭐ read if the wrap-up had been a little more fleshed out and given a little more time to see the plan come to fruition. That being said, it didn't stop me from enjoying and loving this story! I will definitely be recommending these books for fans of fairytale retellings like myself, especially if they have a little twist!
Rating: 4⭐
I loved this, and I really enjoyed it for what it was! I read this book so quickly, and I loved every second of it! As you know, fairytale retellings are my jam, and I will read any that I can get my hands on, so this book was perfect for me. I especially love Little Mermaid retellings because of the beautiful scenery under the sea and all of the beautiful sea creatures, and while we didn't get a ton of that here, it was still really well done! I enjoyed the unique take on LM and Ariel, anyone catch that our MMC was named Ari?? Idk if that was on purpose, though I hope it was.
I loved getting those sneak peeks inside of Aika, Zaina, Remy, and Einar, as well as getting to see Melodi through her own eyes finally! I loved getting to know her and getting to see some of Ari as well. I do wish that we got to see more of them in this book; it felt almost too short because I wanted so much more of them and their relationship. I also thought that we would be given another duology for just her character, so it definitely felt a little bit rushed based on what I was expecting. I did really love getting an FMC who wasn't a complete badass and who was a normal girl who had deficiencies and less capability than those around her. Unlike her sisters who were these amazingly talented and fearless and badass fighters, schemers, and strategists, we get this heroine who is utterly normal...besides that she can breathe underwater of course! And we get to see her become more confident in herself and learn to fight her own battles a bit. It was a nice reprieve from the many FMCs I have read lately who all have this incredible special abilities, while still giving Melodi a unique perspective and some different skills. Ari was perfection! I loved his protectiveness and badass triton skills and his funny octopus friend, Napo, and his broody cousin, Kane. I wish we got to see more of him and get to know more about him! He was smart and strong and rebellious and a freaking commander for the Mayiman King! I didn't really get as good of a feel for his personality through his limited viewpoints as I did for both Einar and Remy due to their story being completed in one book, but I really enjoyed what I did get!
This book had action and romance and intrigue and fun moments. I loved the sisterly dynamics we got to see with Melodi finally being included. Hers was my favorite of the series so far; every time we went to one of the earlier characters' POVs, I just wanted to get back to Melodi and Ari, even though we needed their POVs to continue the story and I did enjoy them because I love all of their characters! This would have been a 5⭐ read if the wrap-up had been a little more fleshed out and given a little more time to see the plan come to fruition. That being said, it didn't stop me from enjoying and loving this story! I will definitely be recommending these books for fans of fairytale retellings like myself, especially if they have a little twist!
Rating: 4⭐
October 27, 2024
I've never been a big fan of The Little Mermaid so I was not expecting to like this book as much as Zaina's books which are a retelling of my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. Surprisingly, I disliked this book for other reasons than the actual fairy tale.
The retelling and changing of the fairy tale were actually quite interesting. It created some unexpected depth of character development for Madame which ironically created the problems with this book. The only character with any depth at all was the villain.
The MMC is a blank piece of paper. He has no personality, no character, he is merely a predictable plot device. The plot itself, apart from Madam, was flat and while the author kept telling me how high the stakes are they never felt real. The violence in the book felt gratuitous, meant to shock and awe more than make the reader feel invested in the story. The "love story" involves the fmc instaloving a complete stranger who refuses to answer any of her questions as a plot device meant to increase tension and curiosity for the reader.
I felt nothing but irritation for the mc. Actually ALL the mcs - because there were many. Far too many. Every mc character from the last four books PLUS their love interests all had POVs. There was no opportunity for plot twists or surprises since we saw everything from everyone. Indeed, at the end of the book the villain is defeated through luck rather than smarts despite constant internal dialogue from multiple characters.
Overall, disappointing for different reasons than I expected. I didn't like the 3rd and 4th books in the series so not too surprising that I didn't like this one either. The authors are quite hit or miss for me so I may or may not risk reading any of their other series in the future.
The retelling and changing of the fairy tale were actually quite interesting. It created some unexpected depth of character development for Madame which ironically created the problems with this book. The only character with any depth at all was the villain.
The MMC is a blank piece of paper. He has no personality, no character, he is merely a predictable plot device. The plot itself, apart from Madam, was flat and while the author kept telling me how high the stakes are they never felt real. The violence in the book felt gratuitous, meant to shock and awe more than make the reader feel invested in the story. The "love story" involves the fmc instaloving a complete stranger who refuses to answer any of her questions as a plot device meant to increase tension and curiosity for the reader.
I felt nothing but irritation for the mc. Actually ALL the mcs - because there were many. Far too many. Every mc character from the last four books PLUS their love interests all had POVs. There was no opportunity for plot twists or surprises since we saw everything from everyone. Indeed, at the end of the book the villain is defeated through luck rather than smarts despite constant internal dialogue from multiple characters.
Overall, disappointing for different reasons than I expected. I didn't like the 3rd and 4th books in the series so not too surprising that I didn't like this one either. The authors are quite hit or miss for me so I may or may not risk reading any of their other series in the future.
June 11, 2023
This being the fifth and final book in the Twisted Pages series, I had been waiting with baited breath to see how Mel's story would wrap everything up... and I am very satisfied! I had the entire thing devoured in a day!
I admit, there are areas where I would have liked to see a bit more detail, which is why I've given it 4 starts instead of 5. I would have liked to have had a bit more insight into Mel's headspace and build up of the call from the sea at the beginning... that said, I think if I had done a re-read and went straight into it from book 4 I may have felt differently about that.
I really loved the introduction of the Mayima kingdom and an insight into a culture and family that we haven't really seen yet. The main love story kicked off quickly, but in a way that made sense to the storyline... and I love both Ari and Kane! We get a peek into Mel and Madame's family tree in a few different ways and while I loved it, I was left wanting a bit with Danica's history. I wish we could have seen more of Mel's time with her and learned a bit more about Cepheus' children. All that said, the areas I would have liked to see more of, aren't critical to the storyline and I think if the authors were to ever write a prequel, it would fill in a lot of those little gaps and really round out the lingering want for just a little bit more from this world!
Overall, I loved the way this series was wrapped up. The big questions were answered, then some with more insight into why and how and who. This series has been one of my favourites since book one and the conclusion really does it justice.
Thanks to the authors for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!
I admit, there are areas where I would have liked to see a bit more detail, which is why I've given it 4 starts instead of 5. I would have liked to have had a bit more insight into Mel's headspace and build up of the call from the sea at the beginning... that said, I think if I had done a re-read and went straight into it from book 4 I may have felt differently about that.
I really loved the introduction of the Mayima kingdom and an insight into a culture and family that we haven't really seen yet. The main love story kicked off quickly, but in a way that made sense to the storyline... and I love both Ari and Kane! We get a peek into Mel and Madame's family tree in a few different ways and while I loved it, I was left wanting a bit with Danica's history. I wish we could have seen more of Mel's time with her and learned a bit more about Cepheus' children. All that said, the areas I would have liked to see more of, aren't critical to the storyline and I think if the authors were to ever write a prequel, it would fill in a lot of those little gaps and really round out the lingering want for just a little bit more from this world!
Overall, I loved the way this series was wrapped up. The big questions were answered, then some with more insight into why and how and who. This series has been one of my favourites since book one and the conclusion really does it justice.
Thanks to the authors for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!
June 9, 2023
The thrilling conclusion to the Twisted Pages is finally here! Alone in Delphine, the only thing Melodi has for company is the mysterious song of the sea. When she finally follows it, she’s met with the Mayiman who has been haunting her dreams
Ari has been tasked with capturing a girl from land for the brutal King he serves. But Ari has secrets of his own and the last thing he needs is the connection he finds with Melodi.
Life in the underwater kingdom is brutal, but for the first time in her life, Melodi has a voice. If Melodi and Ari can work together, they may be able to help one another achieve the lives they desire, but first they have to get past the secrets and lies.
Meanwhile Zaina & Aika are sailing for Delphine to confront the monster that raised them. But taking on Madame is no easy feat, especially with Damian at her side.
Honestly I think this is my favorite series by this pair and I’m so very sad that it has come to an end. But this ending absolutely did not disappoint. I’ve been so excited to learn about Melodi, she’s definitely my second favorite character. I loved the insight to Madame’s upbringing and why she is they way she is. Somehow I completely missed the fact that she’s Ursula? I don’t know where or how, because the pieces are there through the whole series. I love when an author can take a character you absolutely despise and then endear you to them a little. This book was so easy to read in its pacing. It didn’t feel too short even though we only get one book for Mel’s story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review
Ari has been tasked with capturing a girl from land for the brutal King he serves. But Ari has secrets of his own and the last thing he needs is the connection he finds with Melodi.
Life in the underwater kingdom is brutal, but for the first time in her life, Melodi has a voice. If Melodi and Ari can work together, they may be able to help one another achieve the lives they desire, but first they have to get past the secrets and lies.
Meanwhile Zaina & Aika are sailing for Delphine to confront the monster that raised them. But taking on Madame is no easy feat, especially with Damian at her side.
Honestly I think this is my favorite series by this pair and I’m so very sad that it has come to an end. But this ending absolutely did not disappoint. I’ve been so excited to learn about Melodi, she’s definitely my second favorite character. I loved the insight to Madame’s upbringing and why she is they way she is. Somehow I completely missed the fact that she’s Ursula? I don’t know where or how, because the pieces are there through the whole series. I love when an author can take a character you absolutely despise and then endear you to them a little. This book was so easy to read in its pacing. It didn’t feel too short even though we only get one book for Mel’s story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review
June 14, 2023
A tale of twists and fated loves
This series is one hard fought battle after another and this one is of Melodi being dragged into depths far over her head…literally!
As secrets of her parentage begin to surface things begin to make sense as to who Madame is and what has created the monster she is.
I still can’t forgive her even knowing her story, she’s too good of a villain for that. 😈
I do feel for the sisters though. I’m glad they got their ending and I like how the authors put it perfectly…it’s not a happily ever after but it is an ending…for now. They did a great job in portraying that the scars they have will take time and won’t fully fade but they do have a life on the other side.
This is the conclusion to the series and features each sister with their perspective husband. Plus they each now have an animal ‘familiar’ because they are most definitely not a pet 🤭. I’m looking at you Napo. 😘
A dark romantic fantasy with hard fought battles, betrayal, life and death battles, sacrifice and found family.
I feel Damian got the most fitting end at Madame’s hand, Madame…not sure yet. I wish we knew more on the roles of the dragon’s referenced so much.
I’d honestly love a cameo book with a look into the future where all the animals get up to mischief together and the shenanigans that would ensue especially with little ones.
Multiple povs told in 1st person
Character pairings-
Melodi and Ariihua with Napo (Kane the loyal cousin)
Arika and Remy with Pumpkin
Zaina and Einar with Khijhana
Steam-kissing with fade to black
This series is one hard fought battle after another and this one is of Melodi being dragged into depths far over her head…literally!
As secrets of her parentage begin to surface things begin to make sense as to who Madame is and what has created the monster she is.
I still can’t forgive her even knowing her story, she’s too good of a villain for that. 😈
I do feel for the sisters though. I’m glad they got their ending and I like how the authors put it perfectly…it’s not a happily ever after but it is an ending…for now. They did a great job in portraying that the scars they have will take time and won’t fully fade but they do have a life on the other side.
This is the conclusion to the series and features each sister with their perspective husband. Plus they each now have an animal ‘familiar’ because they are most definitely not a pet 🤭. I’m looking at you Napo. 😘
A dark romantic fantasy with hard fought battles, betrayal, life and death battles, sacrifice and found family.
I feel Damian got the most fitting end at Madame’s hand, Madame…not sure yet. I wish we knew more on the roles of the dragon’s referenced so much.
I’d honestly love a cameo book with a look into the future where all the animals get up to mischief together and the shenanigans that would ensue especially with little ones.
Multiple povs told in 1st person
Character pairings-
Melodi and Ariihua with Napo (Kane the loyal cousin)
Arika and Remy with Pumpkin
Zaina and Einar with Khijhana
Steam-kissing with fade to black
June 5, 2023
I was absolutely thrilled to see this ARC drop into my kindle! Twisted Pages book 5 finally brings us Melodi! If you're like me, and you have been so anticipatory every time Melodi has been mentioned in the series, then you will be just as excited to read this installment.
First, the characters. I am always so excited about the animal side kicks that I always want to talk about them first. Napo is precious and must be protected at all costs! I love his stubbornness and the way he takes care of Mel, particularly by making sure she eats lol. Food is a way I express love to others so I heavily relate to him taking care of her this way. It endeared me to him so much!
It was so nice to finally get inside Mel's head. I was very ready to get to know her and see all of the ways that she had been effected by Madame and Damian. I feel like Mel really stands out because she has such a different nature to Zaina and Aika. She has not been raised to fight, she has been sequestered away and sheltered. But because of her muteness, she has had to learn to endure Madame's emotional torture in her own way. And this has unknowingly prepared her for what she has to face under the sea.
Ari is perfectly swoon-worthy. I love the way he addresses Mel, though I won't spoil it.
Kane was a favorite too. I loved his witty banter.
The last 30% of the book had me on a roller coaster, audibly gasping and I'm pretty sure I yelled the word no more than once!
Great continuation of the series!
First, the characters. I am always so excited about the animal side kicks that I always want to talk about them first. Napo is precious and must be protected at all costs! I love his stubbornness and the way he takes care of Mel, particularly by making sure she eats lol. Food is a way I express love to others so I heavily relate to him taking care of her this way. It endeared me to him so much!
It was so nice to finally get inside Mel's head. I was very ready to get to know her and see all of the ways that she had been effected by Madame and Damian. I feel like Mel really stands out because she has such a different nature to Zaina and Aika. She has not been raised to fight, she has been sequestered away and sheltered. But because of her muteness, she has had to learn to endure Madame's emotional torture in her own way. And this has unknowingly prepared her for what she has to face under the sea.
Ari is perfectly swoon-worthy. I love the way he addresses Mel, though I won't spoil it.
Kane was a favorite too. I loved his witty banter.
The last 30% of the book had me on a roller coaster, audibly gasping and I'm pretty sure I yelled the word no more than once!
Great continuation of the series!
June 9, 2023
If you love the more classic telling of fairy tales, you would love this series and this great twist on the Little Mermaid.
First I have to start with, if you haven't read the first 4 books in the series, you definitely need to start from there. This is such an intricate series that brings in each character along the way and you really need to read them in order to be able to understand where the story leaves off.
Second I want to add a trigger warning. This is a great fantasy series with a very real look at abuse both mentally and physically.
With all that said I really ended up loving this last installment of the Twisted Pages series. This isn't your Disney version of the classic tales, definitely closer to the Grimm's Fairytale feel. Elle and Robin do a great job at taking you back to where it all started from in Of Songs and Silence, all while being true to giving Melodi her own story. You finally understand where Madame came from and what had made her who she is today. I loved getting to see the growth in Melodi's character, just like they did with both sisters Zaina & Aika in the other books, and all of the great new characters they added in along the way. I will forever love them for giving each sister an animal companion and Napo definitely stole the show in several scenes. Overall it was a great end to the series.
*I received an ARC from the authors in exchange for an honest review.*
First I have to start with, if you haven't read the first 4 books in the series, you definitely need to start from there. This is such an intricate series that brings in each character along the way and you really need to read them in order to be able to understand where the story leaves off.
Second I want to add a trigger warning. This is a great fantasy series with a very real look at abuse both mentally and physically.
With all that said I really ended up loving this last installment of the Twisted Pages series. This isn't your Disney version of the classic tales, definitely closer to the Grimm's Fairytale feel. Elle and Robin do a great job at taking you back to where it all started from in Of Songs and Silence, all while being true to giving Melodi her own story. You finally understand where Madame came from and what had made her who she is today. I loved getting to see the growth in Melodi's character, just like they did with both sisters Zaina & Aika in the other books, and all of the great new characters they added in along the way. I will forever love them for giving each sister an animal companion and Napo definitely stole the show in several scenes. Overall it was a great end to the series.
*I received an ARC from the authors in exchange for an honest review.*
May 30, 2023
It's been a long journey to get here, and man what a wild one it has been! The series isn't called Twisted Pages for nothing! I'm so sad that the seies is over, but I'm happy with the way that it ended. Zaina, Aika, and Melodi have been put through the ringer by their pseudo mother, Madame (Melodi's bilogical but that's where it ends), and their unhinged brother Damian. However, each of them is given a chance to find something real, even if it starts out as a cruel farce conceived by Madame in a bid for control of two kingdoms. Throughout the series the FMCs and the MMCs really blossom into the persons they should have always been, despite the cruelty they faced by their mother, despite the loneliness they faced in their tasks, despite the worry they all felt for each other's safety.
It really is a series pulls at the heartstrings while simultaneuosly lightening the darkness with laughter, witty banter, and tender moments of love and affection.
I'm so grateful that Elle and Robin were able to finish this series. I know it wasn't easy for them, and I'm sure there were many nights they wanted to give up, but they soldiered on for the readers that love this world and these characters.
If you like fairytale retellings/reimaginings with a slightly darker vibe (not too dark), then you will love these books!
If you do read the series, please, leave a review!
It really is a series pulls at the heartstrings while simultaneuosly lightening the darkness with laughter, witty banter, and tender moments of love and affection.
I'm so grateful that Elle and Robin were able to finish this series. I know it wasn't easy for them, and I'm sure there were many nights they wanted to give up, but they soldiered on for the readers that love this world and these characters.
If you like fairytale retellings/reimaginings with a slightly darker vibe (not too dark), then you will love these books!
If you do read the series, please, leave a review!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews