Siren Call (Mermaid Catcher) [Formato Kindle]

Review: I absolutely loved this book. Serina James is such a great heroine. She is fun, strong, and knows what she wants. She wants detective Alex Waters from the first moment he walks into her swimsuit shop. With the help of Binbin and Miko, Serina soon discovers that mermaids are real and that it is her destiny to be the mermaid catcher. Narelle, mermaid and soon to be Sea Queen, needs a Sea King. Alex Waters will make the perfect Sea King. The chemistry between these characters is amazing. This is my first mermaid tale and it was fabulous. A must read if you really like paranormal romance. Kimberly Llewellyn tells an amazing tale. Cannot wait to see what she does next.

Serena has been seeing things in the water all her life. Once, long ago, she saw her father kissing a lady just before he mysteriously left town forever.

As a new-business woman, Serena is moaning the lack of good male prospects. Her last boyfriend turned out to be a criminal who stole ten-thousand dollars from her. Things get worse when said ex disappear on a boating trip and Serena's cap stained with Larry-the-ex's blood is found on the boat. Enter Detective Alex.

We soon find out that mermaids are real and that they are the cause of the lack of men. Not the nice kind of mermaids, but ruthless monsters, ready to kill for their ends, charming men to their deaths. Serena, as the mermaid catcher, in the only thing that will save the town from this menace, if only she can keep herself out of jail long enough.

The plot could have been fine but the end product falls really short of expectations. None of the characters ring true. Alex, for sure, deserves to be kicked-out of any respectable police force. I found the animalistic nature of Serena's lust off-putting. The training part of a mermaid-catcher was way too short and unbelievable. And who ever heard of death by breeding ? How does it even work ? Now, that would have been an interesting idea to develop ! But no, we get almost nothing on the nature of mermaids, their lives, their habitat and their reproducing (I've always wondered : it seems to me their fish-tail would be in the way...).

Part of this book wants to be a fantasy novel, but most of it is a sappy romance novel (only they seem to fall in lust more than fall in love). Both parts fight for supremacy and do not work well together. I would suggest to the author that she rewrites the novel, flesh out the mermaids and seriously rethink the pace of Serena's and Alex's relationship. I would also edit the fish sentences at the beginning of each chapter. Some will find them funny, I found them corny.

After many years and three kids later I'm finally reading again. And this is the first book I chose to read. The pretty cover attracted me. It was easy to get into. Helped wake up my imagination. It took me a weekend to read. I give it 4 stars because I wish it had more meat to it, it left me hungry for more.