Reviewed by Taylin

TITLE: Prince’s Tide

SERIES: A Mythical Desires Universe Novel

AUTHOR: ML Eaden

PUBLISHER: Chaotic Neutral Press LLC

LENGTH: 270 Pages

RELEASE DATE: May 25, 2023

BLURB:

Royce’s childhood was anything but calm. As an adult with famous parents, he preferred to live away from the public eye. All he needed was a boat, a crew, and his best friend Pete. That changed when Royce made a mistake that dropped him into the Gulf. Struggling for survival, his rescue isn’t from above, instead it comes from the sea itself in the shape of a legend long thought extinct and relegated to stories.

Fascinated with life above the waterline, Troller happens upon a fishing boat with a lone person on deck. When the sailor falls overboard, he doesn’t stop to think about the consequences of rescuing the human. When he comes face to face with Royce. He’s instantly enamored, but his people haven’t shown themselves in centuries. Troller swims away, afraid he’s risked his people’s safety, unable to forget the man he saved.

A year later, Troller uncovers a secret that has his people below the waves. Its knowledge could cost him his life. He swims to the one place he might be safe and arrives on Royce’s boat, naked and exhausted. Their mutual attraction quickly becomes more as they build a life together. When their secrets threaten to separate them, will love and trust be enough to keep them together and alive?

Prince’s Tide is a spicy merfolk romance with a HEA. The Mythical Desires Universe is a queer-centric world where myth and legends exist alongside advanced science and technology.

Content Warnings can be found in the front matter or at mleaden.com

REVIEW:

When an accident tossed Royce into the sea, he believed his rescuer was a figment of his imagination. A year later, Royce discovers the fairytale is real. The day Troller rescues Royce from death is the result of his curiosity getting him into trouble. With his life forever changed, he seeks out Royce, and the consequences are far-reaching.

Prince’s Tide is the first in a series of Merfolk Shifter Romances from the Mythical Desires Universe. It is set in the future, when inclusion and acceptance are the norms, and science facilitates that which nature cannot provide, in food, ways of life, and procreation. But that message had not reached the merfolk. The story was an engaging tale of love and enlightenment, above and beneath the waves that had vibes of Little Mermaid-meets-Aquaman.

The story is told in the first person from the viewpoints of Troller and Royce. Worldbuilding evolves around the life of a trawler and the pod of Troller’s heritage. Details were in that sweet spot of not too much or too little, which suited my reading tastes. While reading, I experienced a few cases of – ‘hold on. I thought you said XY a few pages back, and now you’re doing Z.’ But the events flowed nicely and didn’t seem forced. By today’s standards, the main protagonists would be in the mid-life age group. However, as this story is set at no specific time in the future, the details suggest that, e.g., forty is the new twenty, but with a heap more experience.

Royce’s love of the sea allows him a normal life away from his famous parents. He is an honorable man with an all-inclusive crew aboard his trawler. This type of world occasionally pops up in writing, and the ‘in-the-future’ developments were an exciting view of what could happen—his tight relationship with his best friend, Pete, made for a lovely arc to the story, too.

Troller is a lovely being from myth. I love how he sees all clothes as befitting all genders, regardless of style. I particularly liked the imagery of a sequined dress aboard the trawler. I also liked how the author wrote about Trollers’ learning process from the sea to land – and vice versa. Historically, merfolk were persecuted, and as such, hid themselves away. This had lasting consequences for their race. So, when Troller ventured onto land, he discovered that long-lost abilities returned, which affected the story arc.

Prince’s Tide is different, and I like – different. Among other things, this story has drama/events like magic, transfiguration, manifested abilities, imprisonment, dictatorship, history, and learning. It advertises hope for the future of humanity and its relationship with the earth. However, there were areas where, for me, the story played safe and amicable when I’d have preferred gritty. There were also a couple of loose ends that I’d have liked to see tied up instead of left to, presumably, be dealt with in another book.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon