To Break a Silence: A Little Mermaid Retelling by Lydia Mae (Shattered Tales book 5)

Stella’s first trip to the surface nearly ends in disaster. To avoid being captured by the humans, she sings, a call that has all but one of the humans jumping into the sea. The young prince nearly drowns, and Stella finds herself captivated by him as she saves his life. But even though she’s sacrificed everything to join him on land, he doesn’t seem to return her affections.

Captain Dillon is immune to the call of sirens, but one still costs him his position and good name in the navy. He’s determined to capture her to prove his worth. But the silent maiden he finds on the shore might be the answer — if she’s who he thinks she is.
A case of mistaken identity gives Stella everything she ever wanted. But why is her heart drawn to the captain who’s sworn revenge against her?

“The stars are lovely, but you shine brighter as if to make them pale in your light. You are a starling on earth.”

There’s so many sweet moments between these two! The romance was so cute. Both Stella and Dillon had past issues to overcome, and each grew by the end of the story.

Little Mermaid retellings must walk a thin line of showing the innocence of a character experiencing a new world full of wonder and making that character sound naive and young. We’re not told how old Stella is (possibly 17) while Dillon is considered mature enough to be a captain at twenty-two.

I loved the world-building, and all the little nods to the original, such as speaking and walking feeling like shards of glass. This was a lovely debut by the author and I can’t wait to read more!

4.5 Roses
No swearing
No descriptive injuries
A couple of sweet kisses

(Thank you to the author for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review.)