Of Sea and Song by Chanda Hahn - May 2023

[Gem , Belle]

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Of Sea and Song (Daughters of Eville #3) by Chanda Hahn, your discussion leader is Gem.
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about spoilers

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Summary

I killed a man to protect my sisters, and now I am a fugitive. With bounty hunters hot on my trail— willing to take me dead or alive— I’m forced to disguise myself as a cabin boy on the Bella Donna. I should have been safe at sea, but I cannot escape the dangerous feelings evoked by the ship's handsome captain.

For I am Merisol, one of the adoptive daughters of Lady Eville, and to escape my past and save my friends I will make an uncertain bargain with a shady sea witch. The deal sounds too good to be true. What could possibly go wrong?

[Lisa]

I will be doing this one as an audio book, but it should be enjoyable.

[Shanna]

I’m also doing it via audiobook. I’ve been enjoying it a lot so far!

[Lisa]

I didn't realize that this was the 3rd book of a series that I read the first of several years ago. The first one is Of Beast and Beauty and I enjoyed it very much. As I was starting this one, I was recognizing names and details. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as well, and will want to read or listen to the rest of the series eventually.

[Lisa]

I loved all the twists in this Little Mermaid retelling. So much more fun than the original, and much more in depth than the Disney version.

[Cheryl]

You gave it four stars. Try to talk me into reading it, please.

By fun do you mean light enough? The blurb makes it seem likely to be too intense.

Was she a mermaid? What does she sacrifice to be able to serve as a cabin boy?

[Lisa]

Cheryl, I definitely wouldn't consider it light. I guess by more fun than the original is that I found the original kind of boring and this is not boring at all.
It is certainly not more intense than the majority of fairy tales in any way. The blurb makes it sound like she is a murderer, but the guy's death was a complete accident. She was fighting him off of her sister, who he was trying to rape, but she had no intention of killing him.
Marisol (Mary) isn't a mermaid. The only real sacrifice she has to make to become the cabin boy is completely leaving her family and having no contact with them at all, as well as cutting off her long hair.
It is the sea witch and her daughters that are the mermaids. Mary has to make a bargain to save the crew of the ship. If I say much more there are major spoilers, so I will leave it at that.
There is adventure, humor, romance, good and evil, family devotion, honor, loyalty to friends, surprises and unexpected twists, and so much more.
I honestly think you would like it, but I could be wrong, since everyone has different tastes. How can you get it. I was actually surprised that the only way I could get this one right now was on audiobook through Hoopla, but the narrator was quite good.

[Gem , Belle]

Starting this one now. I'll pop back in when I get far enough along to have an opinion.

[Gem , Belle]

I really enjoyed this book... I think it's my favorite retelling to date. At first I couldn't figure out how the story was related to the Little Mermaid. I enjoyed the suspense and am so glad the romance did not overwhelm the story. I don't read "romance" books. I don't mind the element of romance and I think here it was done just right.

I listened to the audiobook because I couldn't get a physical or ebook. I want to read/listen to the first two books. I like this author. I agree with everything Lisa said in her review above.

[Lisa]

I'm so glad you liked it, Gem! It seems that there are seven in the series (Daughters of Eville). I need to go back and read the second one, which is a Cinderella retelling. I can't get them through my library, but they are on kindle. I will probably just listen to them on Hoopla, though, as this was an enjoyable listen.

I found the "daughter of the sea" twist quite intriguing.