The Merman Transformation Paperback – August 8, 2014

The book is awesome, plenty of reviews about all the specifics. I think my favorite thing about this book and many of the author's other stories that I would like to point out, is that the love relationships are typically mature and positive. Not the super angsty, destructive, "poor me, no one could possibly love me" type relationships you often see, which m/m "love" stories often fall prey to (unfortunately.) Half a story can be wasted with characters denying any possibility of them ever having a relationship, and once they do commit, they often hurt eachother more than anything the rest of the book. Not Aratare's stories--the characters know what they want, and they go get it! Amazing drama and world building, but even if everything is falling apart around the main characters--the romantic relationships themselves are right, they're positive, super intense with an appropriate little sprinkle of conflict/angst here and there to keep them from being sappy sweet. These love relationships are a breath of fresh air really.The author has many different stories available through Raythe Reign publishing, so no worries about lack of material if you get hooked on this series. There are many different characters and storylines to dive into, and the author does not fall into the trap of just replicating the same main characters over and over again--they all have their own unique personalities and mannerisms (Emrys vs. Asher, anyone?) There is plenty of info about the other books and how to gain access to all of them through the Raythe site, which is alot of fun to dig through, but warning-you will get sucked in! This book was my own introduction to Raythe. I can devour a book in just a few days, been a site member for half a year or so, and still only maybe halfway through the material, which is added to pretty much daily.This book is a fantastic way to get a taste of this author's many different worlds, but do keep in mind--there may not be any turning back, and you will likely find yourself not wanting to!

This was a nice easy read with a easy storyline and good easy characters. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

I loved this story since the first time I read it in the official website of Raythe Reign, and I just had to have the physical copies. It has well executed fascinating and intriguing ideas, it is touching and it made me dream .The only "issue" is that it is yaoi (boy falls in love with boy) with explicit erotic descriptions and that may dissuade some from giving it a chance, resulting in missing a beautiful story (not an issue for me!). I definetely recommend it.

3.5 stars rounded down. I’m not certain what I was expecting of this, but I guess I can say it pleasantly surprised me for the most part. Enough so that it has me hooked (sea what I did there? And there?), and curious to find out more about the Mers and what is happening to Gabriel, and just what his heritage is going to mean for him. Except the very explicit sex scene which felt out of place with its literal central position in this novella, it’s a surprisingly intriguing story. The underwater/merfolk aspect definitely has me curious about how this world building is going to play out – I’m a sucker for this sort of watery realm, and I don’t get nearly enough of it in my reading diet … at least, not yet. The writing itself is fairly standard, though there are some strange idiomatic expressions scattered throughout (one I note in my “Strange stuff” section below), and a couple times I was not quite convinced that it is language that Corey and Gabriel, as twenty-one-year-old college students, would actually use. And what was up with basically every place name having an obvious connection to the ocean/water? Is that how it usually is in seaside towns? Yes, I am one of those weird people who reads/tries out romance novels for the story and where applicable, the worldbuilding, itself, not for the sex scenes. Those have to be earned/warranted in my mind, after the characters concerned have had some time to get attached emotionally, and the one in this was definitely more gratuitous than anything else, especially with its very … stark details. I can think of several much more PG-rated scenarios which would have been just as effective setting up Gabriel’s link to the strange man in the ocean. And I could probably think of a few more once I find out which direction the story is evolving in. I just wish this book wasn’t so short, and that the full story of Gabriel and the Mers wasn’t broken down into FIVE parts, ranging from about 140-160 pages each. I'd rather have one or two bigger books than five shorter ones; though I think I can guess the reasoning behind choosing to have so many smaller parts. While it intrigued me, I’m also not ready to go all-in when there are other books which have a higher priority on my to-buy list.(full review on goodreads)

The story is beautifully written. This is one of my favorite love stories. I fully support X. Aratare and Raythe Reign because of all of her stories are beautifully crafted, well thought out, the characters are rich and believable and the love stories-because love is why I buy them-are some of the best I have ever read. They are never, ever crass and are truly a gem. She writes both M/M and M/F stories that are above all amazing and thrilling stories of falling in love and love persevering over all. I've purchased her books twice just to have the full experiences of the audiobooks available to me. The Merman series is amazing in its new novelization. I fell in love with all of the characters and am grateful I got to go on the ride with them. I also bought the audiobook to be supportive and to hear Chris Patton {my favorite voice actor} narrate.

I liked this book

The plot of the story is really good. It was just executed pretty poorly and the writing style wasn't the best. Some of it was pretty confusing, to be honest.

👍

Zuerst hatte ich mir diesen Band als kostenlosen Download heruntergeladen und war so begeistert, das ich mir schnellstmöglich auch noch das Buch gekauft habe. Und ich habe es keinen Tag bereut. Am Anfang wird erstmal der Hauptcharkter und seien traurige Vergangenheit vorgestellt. Gabriel und sein Freund sind einem gleich sympathisch. Man erfährt dass die beiden bei Gabriels Oma den Sommer verbringen wollen und dass die Kurzgeschichte die Gabriel verfasst hat wie eine Bombe eingeschlagen war und eine weite Fangemeinschaft besitzt. Hinzu kommt das die ganzen seltsamen Ereignisse die zuküftig folgen werden damit zusammenhängen das er das Meer betreten hat um jemanden vom ertrinken zu retten. Davon mal abgesehem wird er noch von Unterwasserträumen heimgesucht in denen er sich einem völlig Fremden hingibt.Ein toller Anfang der Merman Reihe und kann ohne bedenken weiterempfehlt werden. X3

J'adore cette auteure, tous ses romans sont magnifiques.Le premier tome de "The Merman" est passionnant, on est direct plongé dans l'univers et dans l'intrigue, avec sa part de mystère un peu inquiétante. Ca donne vraiment envie de lire la suite !!Je le conseille fortement à tous les fans de m/m :)