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gypjet's review
3.0
Tidal Whispers is a book containing for short stories that involve supernatural sea creatures. Overall, it was a short, quick read.
"Hearts Desire": The first short story was about a girl in love with a mer-man. She doesn't know it until years later when she returns to her family's seaside cabin to grieve for her parents who had been killed. She runs into her first love and is given a choice to have him live with her on land or join him in the sea.
This is the weakest of the stories in the group. There isn't any real conflict, just a grieving girl. Her only problem is to decide if she'll join Cam and that takes all of two seconds to decide. I like a story that builds to a definite climax. It's a nice sweet story but forgettable.
"The Sweetest Song": This story started out with a siren (Circe, the original from the Odyssey? possibly) getting a dressing down from the dirty old man god, Poseidon. At first, I was rolling my eyes and deciding to skip this one because the premise was so ridiculous, but I preservered. It ended up being a rather touching love story. The siren, eager to avoid her fate of losing her voice and becoming Poseidon's sex slave, has to sink Otis' boat, the Calypso, to maintain her boat sinking quota. She comes to land to study him since he has been oddly resistant to her voice, even preventing his crew several times from wrecking on the rocks. She quickly discovers the reason and fascinated with him they begin an affair.
The characters in this story are better developed than the first, so it's easier to get involved in their story a little better, even with the silly beginning. It doesn't end well with Circe's career, but the story has a quickly wrapped up deus ex machina ending (literally) and they live happily ever after. Again another quick, sweet story but nothing really memorable.
"Pearl of Pau’maa": This story is stronger than the first two. It has a different take, coming from the point of view of two different characters. The first is a mer-man,Harmon, who has to recover an heirloom pearl that his good-for-nothing brother had pawned to cover gambling debts. The pearl is special, guiding its owner to his one true love. Meanwhile the human girl, Miki, has defied her elders to dive in the ocean for food. Recently the pearl oysters the islanders used for their livelihood have disappeared and the superstitious people have forbidden anyone to go into the water. Since Miki has the choice of starving or marrying the cruel rich boy, she chooses the water.
Since this is the story that has the strongest conflict so far in the book, it was a stronger read. The character's have some spunk and you are glad they get their happy ending.
"The Undergarden": This is the strongest of the stories (probably why it was placed at the end).This is the tale of two lonely children from different worlds. Nixie is a water sprite. She has no family and no people. She watches the "pink ones" from the water as they play on the beach and yearns for companionship. Wyatt, is a human boy who lives with his mom and step dad, but is basically left to himself. He desperately misses his dad who died. Nixie realizes through telepathy that he thinks differently than the others and approaches him. They begin a lifelong friendship.
This story has a lot of conflict and character development. Nixie is even more ignorant than Wyatt, not knowing much about her sea home. Wyatt understands more and is conflicted when he is old enough to realize that a life with a sea sprite may be difficult since he lives on land, and she in the sea. Having no one besides Wyatt, Nixie is desperate when he leaves her and only happy when he returns. This story has a bittersweet ending, which makes it more realistic, but it still wrapped up to quickly and predictably.
I did like this one the most and it will stick with me because the author did a brilliant job at creating and explaining emotion.
Overall, I'd recommend this to paranormal romance lovers, who like light, happy reads and stories about sea creatures.
"Hearts Desire": The first short story was about a girl in love with a mer-man. She doesn't know it until years later when she returns to her family's seaside cabin to grieve for her parents who had been killed. She runs into her first love and is given a choice to have him live with her on land or join him in the sea.
This is the weakest of the stories in the group. There isn't any real conflict, just a grieving girl. Her only problem is to decide if she'll join Cam and that takes all of two seconds to decide. I like a story that builds to a definite climax. It's a nice sweet story but forgettable.
"The Sweetest Song": This story started out with a siren (Circe, the original from the Odyssey? possibly) getting a dressing down from the dirty old man god, Poseidon. At first, I was rolling my eyes and deciding to skip this one because the premise was so ridiculous, but I preservered. It ended up being a rather touching love story. The siren, eager to avoid her fate of losing her voice and becoming Poseidon's sex slave, has to sink Otis' boat, the Calypso, to maintain her boat sinking quota. She comes to land to study him since he has been oddly resistant to her voice, even preventing his crew several times from wrecking on the rocks. She quickly discovers the reason and fascinated with him they begin an affair.
The characters in this story are better developed than the first, so it's easier to get involved in their story a little better, even with the silly beginning. It doesn't end well with Circe's career, but the story has a quickly wrapped up deus ex machina ending (literally) and they live happily ever after. Again another quick, sweet story but nothing really memorable.
"Pearl of Pau’maa": This story is stronger than the first two. It has a different take, coming from the point of view of two different characters. The first is a mer-man,Harmon, who has to recover an heirloom pearl that his good-for-nothing brother had pawned to cover gambling debts. The pearl is special, guiding its owner to his one true love. Meanwhile the human girl, Miki, has defied her elders to dive in the ocean for food. Recently the pearl oysters the islanders used for their livelihood have disappeared and the superstitious people have forbidden anyone to go into the water. Since Miki has the choice of starving or marrying the cruel rich boy, she chooses the water.
Since this is the story that has the strongest conflict so far in the book, it was a stronger read. The character's have some spunk and you are glad they get their happy ending.
"The Undergarden": This is the strongest of the stories (probably why it was placed at the end).This is the tale of two lonely children from different worlds. Nixie is a water sprite. She has no family and no people. She watches the "pink ones" from the water as they play on the beach and yearns for companionship. Wyatt, is a human boy who lives with his mom and step dad, but is basically left to himself. He desperately misses his dad who died. Nixie realizes through telepathy that he thinks differently than the others and approaches him. They begin a lifelong friendship.
This story has a lot of conflict and character development. Nixie is even more ignorant than Wyatt, not knowing much about her sea home. Wyatt understands more and is conflicted when he is old enough to realize that a life with a sea sprite may be difficult since he lives on land, and she in the sea. Having no one besides Wyatt, Nixie is desperate when he leaves her and only happy when he returns. This story has a bittersweet ending, which makes it more realistic, but it still wrapped up to quickly and predictably.
I did like this one the most and it will stick with me because the author did a brilliant job at creating and explaining emotion.
Overall, I'd recommend this to paranormal romance lovers, who like light, happy reads and stories about sea creatures.
jeanz's review
5.0
MY REVIEW
Firstly I love, love, love, the cover, the mysterious woman on the front. I also love those colours, as you will have noticed from my blog I love blues and purples! I decided to review this book as I enjoy reading anthologies, I always say it's a brilliant way to discover new authors you may not have read before. J. Taylor Publishing gave me this e-book to review, so thank-you to them.
Heart's Desire by Julie Reece
I did find this short story slightly harder to get into at the very beginning, but persevered and ended up quite enjoying the whole mystical love story. As always I do not wish to give spoilers so thought you may not totally understand some of my comments now you will understand them once you have read the individual stories. I loved that both were prepared to sacrifice things for the love of each other. Tessa does have some fairly racy dreams so wish to point out that this story does have adult content.
Did I enjoy it? Yes 3.5/5!
The Sweetest Song by Claire Gillian
I felt like I slipped into this short story straight away. Once again the theme has love and sacrifice. Poseidon and Aphrodite feature in this story.Poseidon is portrayed as a bit of a pervy old man, wanting Circe to fail in her task so he could claim her as some sort of slave/plaything. Again I am unable to say a great deal more as it would giveaway too much. Having read other work by Claire Gillian I had a good idea that I would enjoy her short story and she didn't disappoint!
Did I enjoy it? Yes 4.5/5!
Pearl of Pau'maa by Kelly Said
This story again was extremely easy to fall into. It feature two mer brothers, Harmon who has joined the army the more responsible one of the two brothers. Also Creeb who is more of a scoundrel, a gambler and not as trustworthy. The story also features Mike who is a poor islander who dives for her food and pearls to sell. There is a legend of the pearl to learn all about too.
Did I enjoy it? Yes 4/5!
The Undergarden by Jocelyn Adams
Oh, this one is a lovely heart touching tale. I loved the relationship that developed between Nixie and Wyatt. Also at the very end I love how Meera wants to speak to a "pink one" therefore possibly repeating history.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, loved it 5/5
So to sum up, this is a great mixture of Tidal/Sea themed stories. I enjoyed all four short stories and would definitely read more by all of the featured authors.
elylibrarysec's review
4.0
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Hearts Desire by Julie Reece
Tessa Morgan is under the water swimming. Is it a dream or is it real? She seems to be swimming toward an underwater city. It was interesting to see this underwater world through Tessa’s eyes. Almost made you wish that it actually existed. Then the phone rings.
That phone call gives her quite a shock. When Tessa was fourteen she was at her family’s vacation retreat. She met a young man named Cameron. When she last saw him he gave her a beautiful ring. Now she’s all grown up and back at the vacation retreat. She’s starting to have dreams and He is coming for her.
Julie could have put a lot of sex in her short story but she didn’t. I was glad that she didn’t because I think it would have ruined the lovely story. Innuendo works – it gets our imaginations going. She shows us what someone will do for the one they love. What would you do? This was over way too quickly – I wanted to read more.
The Sweetest Song by Claire Gillian
Poseidon is very disappointed with Circe. She’s one of his sirens that lure ships to their doom. She has until the next new moon to get her job done.
Otis has a one bedroom apartment in Homer, Alaska. He thinks of himself as being defective. And, he’s also the captain of the Calypso – Circe’s current job. Circe has come to spy on him. Then she finds out why she has never succeeded with Otis.
Claire is just like the siren in her story. She pulls us into the story just like Circe pulls people in with her songs. I found that I loved this story but just like Julie’s it was over too quickly. I wanted to see what happens next for Circe and Otis.
Pearl of Pau’maa by Kelly Said
Harmon is seen going after his mother’s heirloom pearl. To do that he must pay his brother Creeb’s debt. Miki is a pearl diver and trap setter for her village. Kelly’s story is a little different because she uses actual sea creatures in her story. They’re just a little different.
The pearl has traveled close to where Miki is and that is when Harmon sees her. Harmon is not quite human so Miki doesn’t believe what she’s seeing. Harmon has helped her and now she’s starting to change.
Kelly’s story has greedy humans and even greedy sea creatures. It also shows that true love does exist even for two people that are total opposites. I would love to see what Kelly has in store for Creeb – he needs someone to bring him to task.
The Undergarden by Jocelyn Adams
Nixie is swimming toward a secluded bay – her favorite spot. She thinks of us as pink creatures. She mentally tries to connect with Wyatt to find out why he’s so sad. They meet when he was only nine years old. They quickly become friends. But then something happens and Wyatt can’t come to the bay anymore.
But life goes on and people change and grow. Wyatt then returns as a young man. We see how feelings can change from a child to a young person. Nixie is very innocent of our human world and that innocence can make things hurt when a misunderstanding happens.
Jocelyn’s tale was very sweet but actually brought tears to my eyes. It shows us just how short life is and that we can’t waste time thinking we are doing the right thing. If there is a misunderstanding between two people, you need to work it out and not wait until it may be too late.
This anthology was great. There is nothing bad that I can say about any of the stories other than that they were over too quickly. I was just getting to know the characters in each of the stories and then it was over. I can always hope that the authors will either carry the story over into a full length book or bring in a new character to carry on their story.
If you are looking for a sweet fantasy, a paranormal romance, and no explicit sex this is for you. If you only like a book for the sex, I’m hoping you will change your mind with this anthology. If you want to fill in the blanks for yourself, that is what we have an imagination for. These four ladies will not disappoint. You will not be disappointed if you add this anthology to your collection. You may even want to try something else that they have written.
Hearts Desire by Julie Reece
Tessa Morgan is under the water swimming. Is it a dream or is it real? She seems to be swimming toward an underwater city. It was interesting to see this underwater world through Tessa’s eyes. Almost made you wish that it actually existed. Then the phone rings.
That phone call gives her quite a shock. When Tessa was fourteen she was at her family’s vacation retreat. She met a young man named Cameron. When she last saw him he gave her a beautiful ring. Now she’s all grown up and back at the vacation retreat. She’s starting to have dreams and He is coming for her.
Julie could have put a lot of sex in her short story but she didn’t. I was glad that she didn’t because I think it would have ruined the lovely story. Innuendo works – it gets our imaginations going. She shows us what someone will do for the one they love. What would you do? This was over way too quickly – I wanted to read more.
The Sweetest Song by Claire Gillian
Poseidon is very disappointed with Circe. She’s one of his sirens that lure ships to their doom. She has until the next new moon to get her job done.
Otis has a one bedroom apartment in Homer, Alaska. He thinks of himself as being defective. And, he’s also the captain of the Calypso – Circe’s current job. Circe has come to spy on him. Then she finds out why she has never succeeded with Otis.
Claire is just like the siren in her story. She pulls us into the story just like Circe pulls people in with her songs. I found that I loved this story but just like Julie’s it was over too quickly. I wanted to see what happens next for Circe and Otis.
Pearl of Pau’maa by Kelly Said
Harmon is seen going after his mother’s heirloom pearl. To do that he must pay his brother Creeb’s debt. Miki is a pearl diver and trap setter for her village. Kelly’s story is a little different because she uses actual sea creatures in her story. They’re just a little different.
The pearl has traveled close to where Miki is and that is when Harmon sees her. Harmon is not quite human so Miki doesn’t believe what she’s seeing. Harmon has helped her and now she’s starting to change.
Kelly’s story has greedy humans and even greedy sea creatures. It also shows that true love does exist even for two people that are total opposites. I would love to see what Kelly has in store for Creeb – he needs someone to bring him to task.
The Undergarden by Jocelyn Adams
Nixie is swimming toward a secluded bay – her favorite spot. She thinks of us as pink creatures. She mentally tries to connect with Wyatt to find out why he’s so sad. They meet when he was only nine years old. They quickly become friends. But then something happens and Wyatt can’t come to the bay anymore.
But life goes on and people change and grow. Wyatt then returns as a young man. We see how feelings can change from a child to a young person. Nixie is very innocent of our human world and that innocence can make things hurt when a misunderstanding happens.
Jocelyn’s tale was very sweet but actually brought tears to my eyes. It shows us just how short life is and that we can’t waste time thinking we are doing the right thing. If there is a misunderstanding between two people, you need to work it out and not wait until it may be too late.
This anthology was great. There is nothing bad that I can say about any of the stories other than that they were over too quickly. I was just getting to know the characters in each of the stories and then it was over. I can always hope that the authors will either carry the story over into a full length book or bring in a new character to carry on their story.
If you are looking for a sweet fantasy, a paranormal romance, and no explicit sex this is for you. If you only like a book for the sex, I’m hoping you will change your mind with this anthology. If you want to fill in the blanks for yourself, that is what we have an imagination for. These four ladies will not disappoint. You will not be disappointed if you add this anthology to your collection. You may even want to try something else that they have written.
cjmartin1987's review
5.0
All the stories were really good, which is rare for an anthology. 5 stars!
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