The Fate of Stars (Sea and Stars Book 1)

I picked up this book after meeting the author at a book event in early 2020, and it was hard for me to sit down with a book and concentrate on the words for years. So, when I regretfully admit it took me a couple of years to finish, it's not a flaw in the story, but purely my own procrastination. The heartbreak and loneliness portrayed in the beginning of this book really pulled at me, bringing more empathy than I could handle at first. How on earth was Tallora going to ever be happy again? Everything was so grim and hopeless, and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. How would I ever be able to stand Dauriel, the cruel kidnapper who stole the light from an innocent mermaid? How could a happy ending be pulled from so much cruelty without turning into an apology for abuse? Yet, this book brings us to a perfect resolution for this chapter of their lives. It ends exactly how it needed, and deserved, to end. The world building is fantastic and I can't wait to return to see how things unfold further. The pacing is amazing, the characters are fantastic and deliver on all the snark you could ask for. I've got a lot of reading to catch up on, but I can't wait until I can shovel through the rest of my giant TBR list to get to the next book. I'm really looking forward to it!

Slow burn. Enemies to lovers. Mermaids. Magic. This was such a beautiful sapphic fantasy romance. I absolutely loved it. There were so many parts of this book that I highlighted because I was in awe of the writing style. Both women were extremely strong leading characters in their own way and the character growth that ensued for both leading characters was so fantastic. The whole concept of this story was brilliant . The fact that one of the love interests was a mermaid was amazing too, I have yet come across many mermaid romances especially ones so well written like this. I can’t wait to read the next one!

Honestly I feel like this series opened my third eye. That probably doesn't make sense, but let me get there. I love mermaids, I've always wanted more fiction with mermaids, but it's so hard to do mermaids right. SD Simper manages to take a fictional being that is so hard to write well and craft not only an amazing narrative with rich lore and world-building, but do it RIGHT. I absolutely loved this book! Now, I will say, if you don't like a little darkness in your fiction this might not be the series for you, but if it's something you can push past I actually highly recommend trying because the reward for doing so is very much worth it. Amazing series, amazing writing, and SD Simper really has a chokehold on the broody lesbian market and I don't think I'd have it any other way tbh.

While trying to save an overboard woman from drowning, Tallora is captured by Dauriel, the Solviran princess and is set to suffer a fate of exploitation. Mermaids are rare and Tallora’s presence in the kingdom causes a lot of buzz. Dauriel meant to impress her mother, the queen, with the rare find, but soon finds herself regretting her actions when it’s time for the tough spirited mermaid to be broken. Set on righting her wrong, Dauriel does everything she can to protect Tallora and eventually wins over her trust. Politics come into play as other kingdoms have their own views on captured mermaids, and Tallora finds herself in the middle of a possible war with no one exactly on her side except Dauriel who must risk her own life to set Tallora free. If you can’t already tell, this is an enemy’s to lovers romance. Despite the rough beginning, I liked these two characters together. Tallora really challenges Dauriel’s perception of things. I think it’s clear that Dauriel is aching for the adventure and glory that was withheld from her for so many years due to illness but she lives in a bubble of her own assumptions: dragons are wicked, mermaids are beasts, and some people are just “lesser.” The best quality about Dauriel is her willingness and ability to change and grow. We see her soften and regain some light back into her life with Tallora’s presence, but we also see actions manifested by this change in perception by the end of the novel. Dauriel’s motive for stealing Tallora…

Good enough to read until the end, but I just felt like it was lacking something compelling to keep me putting it down