Book Review: Secrets of the Deep by Marisa Noelle

Terrified of water...Cordelia discovers she is a mermaid...

And her boyfriend is a shark shapeshifter...

And he may have betrayed her...

Terrified of water since her twin brother's tragic death, Cordelia confronts her fear and discovers she's not just human - she's a mermaid, born of the oldest bloodline. Entrusted with a powerful relic, she holds the key to breaking an ancient curse that binds her kin beneath the waves.

But danger lurks in the form of the selachii, elusive shark shapeshifters hell-bent on claiming the relic for themselves. Caught between duty and desire, Cordelia finds herself entangled in a web of forbidden love when an old flame reappears with secrets of his own.

As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, Cordelia must navigate treacherous waters, unsure who to trust. Every choice could lead to salvation or eternal captivity for her fellow merfolk.

Will Cordelia choose love and risk the curse, or sacrifice her heart for the freedom of her people?

GENRE: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy / Romance

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marisa Noelle is the writer of middle grade & young adult novels in the genres of science-fiction, fantasy, horror & mental health including The Shadow Keepers, The Unadjusteds Trilogy (The Unadjusteds, The Rise of the Altereds, & The Reckoning), The Mermaid Chronicles – Secrets of the Deep, & The Unravelling of Luna Forester. She is a mentor for the Write Mentor program that helps aspiring MG & YA authors. With dual citizenship, Marisa has lived on both sides of the Atlantic and uses settings in both the USA and UK as inspiration for her novels. When she’s not writing or reading or watching movies, she enjoys swimming. In the pool she likes to imagine she could be a mermaid and become part of some of her make-believe worlds. Despite being an avid bookworm from the time she could hold a book, being an author came as a bit of a surprise to her as she was a bit of a science geek at school. She lives in Woking, UK with her husband and three children. You can find her on Twitter @MarisaNoelle77, TikTok @MarisaNoelle12, or her website www.MarisaNoelle.com

Review

This is the first book of The Mermaid Chronicles and is a promising start to a series that's already hinted at adventure, mythical sea creatures, ancient civilizations, and more! But I just wanted to note a few things to set the expectations of those who might want to check this out:

• The Amazon subtitle says A Forbidden Love, Enemies to Lovers Fantasy Romance Retelling. Forbidden love? Yes. Enemies to lovers... I wouldn't really call it that, unless you count being on opposite sides of a feud ala Romeo and Juliet. There are certainly no murder attempts on each other. And I don't know which story this book is supposed to be a retelling of, but that might just be me. Unlike Maya, mermaids aren't my specialty, haha!
• You know how YA books these days seem to be like, really for adults but tagged as YA, complete with all the violence and darkness and high heat love scenes? This one's actually YA. The protagonist is 17 turning 18 and with first person POV, her voice really shines as that of a teen. And while there's some very mild spice, it's teenage, lovey-dovey stuff.
• Whatever the genre's really called these days — romantasy, fantasy romance, romantic fantasy, fantasy with romance; I still don't really know — make no mistake, this book has romance.

Anyway, this is a quick, fast-paced read, with nothing horribly graphic, except perhaps for a shark attack. Cordelia's an interesting character to follow, and it was nice to see her have friends and a good relationship with her father despite their mutual grief and loss.

The book's plot twists seem a little obvious, and while that might be disappointing to some, I'd like to attribute that to the author deliberately laying out of the hints (I'm an adult and a longtime reader of YA, I mean I should know this by now, right? 😉) in such a way that the surprises don't also come out of nowhere and not make sense. I actually appreciated that.

Though it was kind of weird how everyone ended up actually being involved in everything, and nobody really seemed to be shocked by the existence of mermaids and shapeshifting sharks. The resolution also felt somewhat anticlimactic, but on the flip side, it was a good setup for the upcoming books. Oh no, it won't be enough to just read this installment. You'll want to read them all, especially if you miss the lighter side of YA!

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan

If you fancy a short read, I have a cozy reimagining of the Norse myths about Hel, but it's just under 70 pages and can be read in one sitting. ✨ Plus there's a swag kit coming soon! Includes a "membership card," a bookmark, a sticker, an origami dog, and an exclusive 500-word story 🫶🏼

All things end, and all must die.

But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.

This is a prequel short story to THE PROPHECIES OF RAGNAROK trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.