Gain The Heart Of The Sea Authored By Chesney Infalt Softcover
Spoilers
I loved this gender bending reimagining of the little mermaid!
Sabine is sassy and sweet and really captures the attention, Caspian is an adorable cutiepatootie and really drags you into the deep,
The story was compelling and well paced and intriguing even if you already know the basic storyline!
An array of side characters really brought the story and the world to life.
I absolutely adore Maire, I think her character is fascinating, I would love to see a prequel from her perspective, showing her motivations, . . just an idea!
Overall, highly recommend! Engaging writing, but a rushed plot and underdeveloped world left me wanting more from it,
In this genderreversed Little Mermaid, Princess Sabine of the Kingdom Above fell in love with Prince Caspian of the Kingdom Below when they were young, They were all but inseparable, despite the difficulties of being human and merman, Yetyears later, their kingdoms are separated from each other, and Sabine is facing marriage to a prince of some other realm picked out at, of course, a royal ball to be heldin her honor.
Below the waves, Caspian longs to return to his human beloved almost as much as she misses him, But those events ofyears ago come back to haunt him in the form of the mysterious Maire, a seawitch who offers him the chance to walk the land and win his lady's heart, but only if he can get her what she wants.
While I enjoyed the first person dual POV narration that skipped between the now and then timelines though the lack of conjunctions could make dialogue a tad stilted at times, there were so many things that left me confused.
Little explaination of key things like what the Condemned actually were it's still fuzzy after having read it all just, . . Bad MerShifter Things that bite, how come knowledge of mermagic was lost in "The Fall" and even a vague idea of what that magic was being gone despite it being only a generation or two back, why the land folk thought ignoring the mer would protect them from the Condemned, even just how comeyears is enough for Sabine to forget the face of her beloved Caspian when she instantly knows his brother Devere .
HumanCaspian doesn't even seem to have to do much, and I was disappointed that there's not really a development of romantic relationships either early on they already love each other, just haven't said it yet or later.
I wanted to see how it happened so badly, not to mention all these side characters who sounded so interesting were more sidepieces Mormor's magic and talking to the mer would have been cool to see, or some kind of background of Bill how come they're friends with a pirate
The ending felt like a bit of a rush to wrap things up, and the villainous monologue didn't exactly explain why things went the way they did.
Sorry to say it just didn't quite work out for me, It felt more like a breezy novella than a full on story that with polish and development to the story structure would be a really nice, romantic tale with a twist.
Good character voices made it an easy read, The Heart of the Sea is a lovely retelling of 'The Little Mermaid', However, instead of the instalove between merfolk and Princess as seen in previous versions, the relationship between Princess Sabine and Caspian grows over a number of years, The story flips between the present andyears prior, which makes for an intricate tale that weaves together seamlessly,
The characters were charming, relatable, and very easy to root for, The two protagonists easily stole my heart and I was invested in their love story, Sabine is sassy and likable where Caspian is sweet and enchanting,
I really love the way the author wrote mermaids and the magic within her world, It was a unique take that I had not seen in other versions,
Overall, if you are looking for a romantic
read filled with adventure and magic, this is the book for you,
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review, An enjoyable fairytale retelling! This genderswapped reimagining was a very captivating read, The romance between Caspian and Sabine was adorable from the start, deeper by the end, The plot was creative. Overall, a fun read! OH MY GOSH! I guarantee this review is going to be a bit of a mess considering I can't even handle how much I LOVED this book!
I've been looking forward to reading The Heart of the Sea for awhile and had pretty high expectations for it.
A genderswapped Little Mermaid retelling Sign me up! But wow, I had no idea that Infalt's spectacular storytelling would blow me out of the water haha see what I did there The plot contained some of the elements from the beloved classic, but for the most part is was a completely unique story that I personally felt was far better than the original.
In The Heart of the Sea, our human princess Sabine and mer prince Caspian were childhood friends and sweethearts, A terrible event separates them and five years later Caspian is manipulated by the sea witch into giving up his voice in exchange for making Sabine's dreams come true.
He is turned into a human and comes to the palace at an interesting time, when Sabine's parents are hosting what is essentially a meat market so Sabine can choose her future husband from a handful of suitors who have come to win her hand.
That's really all I want to say because I'd rather not get into spoilers, but suffice it to say that this book is filled with everything from sweet romantic scenes to terrifying, heartracing scenes with the Condemned merfolk the sea witch has transformed into deadly creatures out for blood.
I read this book so fast that I joked with one of my friends that I ripped through it like the Condemned rip through flesh,
That's another thing I loved about this book, by the way, The fact that the chapters were so short kept me glued to the pages because I kept telling myself "one more chapter" and the next thing I knew I had readmore pages.
The story is riveting, the characters are so lovable, and the writing is positively glorious, I literally love everything about this book, including the super pretty chapter headers! Oh! And I also really enjoyed how The Heart of the Sea is told during two timelines, the present and five years ago when Caspian and Sabine were younger.
Having the book written that way kept me super engaged because there was always something exciting going on, but then we also got the chance to really get to know the characters better.
Speaking of characters, my favorite other than the obvious choice of Caspian who is the perfect guy would have to be the pirate, Captain Bill, He definitely provided some comic relief and was an amazing friend,
I'm pretty sure this book is a standalone, but I would LOVE a sequel, Or even a book focusing on Aksel one of the suitors who turns out to be a great friend to both Caspian and Sabine and Sabine's younger sister, Sanne.
I totally ship those two! All that said, I am now a huge fan of Chesney Infalt and look forward to reading MANY more books by her!! Irecommend you check out The Heart of the Sea, as it is definitely one of the best books I have read this year!! Where do I even start! I love classic fairytales and I love retellings even more!
This gender swapped Little mermaid retelling, full of magic and adventure.
I enjoyed every moment and completely devoured this book, I loved that it wasnt a completely linear timeline and there are a lot of flashbacks woven wonderfully to create a spectacular and fun style that completely entrances you and keeps you wanting to know more.
There are also multiple points of view which allow for a fuller picture of the story as a whole,
Sabine and Caspian are both very relatable and down to earth characters, full of personality and charm, One of my favorite things about this couple is that this is not your common love at first sight story, but instead their love grows step by step and build up brick by brick.
Their relationship starts off when their children so it starts off with a sense of innocence and hope, and their love is strengthened that much more as they face and overcome different adversities.
On thing I found especially notable was the magic system which was very interesting and reminded me a little of the ABC show Once Upon a Time.
I kept hearing in the back of my head Rumplestilkins aka Robert Carlyle voice when he used to say “All magic comes with a price, dearie, ”
Thank you so much to Booksprout and author Chesney Infalt for my ARC copy of this book, The Heart of the Sea is the first book of hopefully many more to come! of the Once Upon a Reimagined Time Fairytales retellings with fun twists, This book is perfect for lovers of classic retellings, and if you enjoyed House of Salt and Sorrows and To Kill a Kingdom, I guarantee you will love Heart of the Sea.
The Heart of the Sea is a genderswapped retelling of The Little Mermaid, Princess Sabine of the land and Prince Caspian of the Sea build a love over the years of their childhood amidst growing tensions between their two different worlds.
A scourge on the Kingdom Below forces them apart forlong years while a sea witch's curse makes all hope crumble,
I think one of my favorite things about this retelling is that there is no instalove, The connection between the main characters is built over time in a way that makes sense and is reinforced by the ending of the story, The closest retelling I've read in this regard is Macdonald's A Song of Sea and Shore, I think I actually prefer Infalt's version because we get to see Sabine and Caspian as adolescents growing into their first and true love together before the events of the story drive them temporarily apart.
I really like that both main characters had two loving parents, So often in fairytale retellings one or the other main character is orphaned or otherwise scarred by their family upbringing, so that was a nice change of pace.
There were also some great sibling relationships on display,
Infalt has a readable and charming style that is easy to get engrossed in, Once I started reading it was hard to put down, The only thing I didn't care for personally was the flipflop back and forth between five years prior, present and past tense in the first person, and being in Caspian and Sabine's heads.
All three of those things together was almost a little too much for me,
I really enjoyed this retelling and can wholeheartedly recommend it for the fans of sweet endings and happilyeverafter,
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review, A Beautiful Alternative
THE HEART OF THE SEA is a beautiful reimagining of a very familiar story of “The Little Mermaid”, In this tale, Princess Sabine and Mer Prince Caspian were childhood friends who, over time, grew to love each other, As they were growing up, their kingdoms were increasingly restless and eventually Above and Below separated, With danger threatening Sabine and curses and magic coming into play, the story takes the reader into a story of different possibilities,
The characters were delightfully charming, and their love never faltered, The secondary characters added to the feelings the characters brought out in the reader, Making it believable, showing us their love, provides that fairy tale aura that will fully invest the reader in this love story, Will there be a happy ending Or are the two worlds forever separated
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