Wish out of Water by Holley Trent

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been gone for a couple of weeks but I'm back with another review of a book you might've seen floating around on your timeline. The cover lured me in like a siren's song so continue reading if you want to hear my thoughts on my first Holley Trent book.

Wish Out of Water starts out somewhat reminiscent of a familiar mermaid tale with Brook saving prince Cooper from a parking lot accident. He's entranced by her upon first sight and thanks to the wallet she dropped, he's able to track her down. Brook lives in a house out of the way with her siblings who help her run a swim academy. Cooper and his royal aid want her to sign a non disclosure agreement but she refuses. Instead he proposes to her with the promise of money to help her swim school as a part of a scheme to get out of being heir to the throne. 

Brook's characterization is way too vague for most of the book. She's seemingly perfect as Cooper consistently reminds me and we know little about her beyond the fact that she's a mermaid with a swim academy. We're not really explained the transformation process to her mermaid form nor do we see it until closer to the end. Her mermaid powers aren't well explained.

Despite spending so much time with Brook and Cooper I didn't get understanding for why they fell in love with each other outside of love at first site. At first readers are constantly told about the special abilities merfolk have to draw in people. And we're supposed to believe that's drawing Cooper in. But then we're told those abilities aren't having an effect on him. While they spend days at sea together they don't really open up with each other much because both are so guarded when it comes to their families.

The last 30% of the book had all the world building that should've been scaterred throughout and I was left confused. There were so many reveals that we didn't have time to linger on the fall out of any of them. The monarchy was very confusing and I wasn't sure how it operated. Cooper for example is the illegitmate son yet he was in line for the throne despite having legitimate siblings. The merfolk dynamics also were hard to understand. This all seemed to set up for the next book in the series which will follow Brook's brother River. 

I went in expecting Black mermaid magic instead I got an ambiguously described sheltered and meek woman who doesn't even try to learn more about her mermaid heritage. The love story with the prince was slowburn to the point of standstill before being rapidly rushed along and overall their fairytale left me feeling hollow.