“Human legends whispered stories of my kind, giving us multiple names. Siren. We called ourselves merfolk. We were myths, fairy tales, and to humans, we didn’t exist. Our kind has fled these oceans centuries ago, so in some ways, the humans were right.”
Amae Waters will never live up to her father’s expectations–she’s not a leader and she’s not a soldier. Rather than live with his disappointment, she’s left his realm and built a life
for herself in Seattle, a mermaid blending in with humankind. Her mission? To prepare the oceans for the return of her people. But she’s not sure she’s cut out to accomplish that either.
A new predator has entered the waters of the Puget Sound, ravaging orcas and leaving their carcasses to wash ashore for humans to find. Whatever is killing them is beyond human understanding and Amae must find it before it irrevocably damages the complex balance of the ocean ecosystems.
But a greater danger lurks in the deep. Amae is done evading traps. She’ll defend her territory and prove she needn’t be a soldier to be a warrior or become the sacrifice used to end her people.
Look for other stories in this exciting Urban Fantasy series from Philippa Ballantine, Stacia D. Kelly, Lauren Harris, Katee Robert, and Asa Maria Bradley.
Siren’s Surge/Siren’s Curse/Siren’s Tide /Siren’s Serenity
If you plan to buy any of the books please use the links provided. This helps the blog and doesn’t cost you anything extra. –Thank you for your support from the Wickedcoolflight Crew.
Excerpt from Siren’s Calling:
I tasted blood in the water.
Changing course with a flick of my tail, I swam against the fast-moving ocean current toward the source. There were no vibrations in the water to indicate the thrashing of a living thing in distress and the seas were quieter than usual. Not surprising, with this much blood carried on the currents. Predators would be drawn to it and prey would be wise to leave the area or hide.
Curious, I’d come to investigate, thinking one of the killer whale pods had taken a baleen whale. It wasn’t unheard of, though it didn’t happen often. A big kill like that would draw plenty of ocean denizens, and I hadn’t tasted whale in a long time. I wouldn’t kill one, not when I couldn’t finish consuming it myself and not when so many whale species were endangered, but I wouldn’t let it go to waste, either.
When I didn’t find anything in open water, I’d pulled myself up onto the rocky outcropping between islands and found it. The body. But it wasn’t a humpback or gray whale, not a mink or fin whale, either. It was an orca, a killer whale, and that didn’t make any kind of sense.
Before I could take a closer look, the sound of a powerful motor cut through the morning calls of seabirds. Harbor seals lifted their heads and looked around from where they lay on another rock outcropping. A lone Steller sea lion grunted and scratched his head with a huge hind flipper. He turned to stare at me and I met his gaze, unconcerned. He was a prime specimen of a bull, the largest I’d ever encountered, but he posed no threat to me.
The waves slapped against the rocks around my tail fin in a changed cadence. A boat was approaching, and with it, humans. They were probably whale watching, which meant every one of them would be on the lookout for wildlife. Most of them would have binoculars. I couldn’t let them see me in this form.
I dove back into the water, darting through forests of kelp and berating myself for lingering past dawn. There was too much light and I had to dive deep to be sure nothing on the surface caught sight of even a tail flick from me.
As far as humans were concerned, I didn’t exist. I was a myth, a fairy tale.
If they saw me, they might not even believe what they’d seen. In their dreams or after too many drinks, they might whisper, “Mermaid.”
And they’d be right.
Cait Sidhe’s Review:
Amae is not Disney’s mermaid. While she lives among the humans after being exiled from Salacia by her father, there is no denying that she is something alien and other. Her true form is sharp and dangerous, all shark teeth and razor-sharp fins and claws. Terrifyingly beautiful, she’s otherworldly and predatory. Even the way she thinks is cold and calculating, yet that isn’t even close to the soldier her father wants her to be.
However, as she discovers, she is not the scariest predator in the ocean right now. Something is decimating killer whales and leaving their bodies for humans to find. When she is contacted by a field biologist conducting research on orcas in the Puget Sound, she realizes that she needs to uncover the truth of these killings. Working together with a selkie, albeit grudgingly, they need to stop whatever is merciless killing before it draws even more attention from the humans and possibly reveals their secret as well.
I appreciated the mythology of Siren’s Calling. Not only are the merfolk, like Amae hiding from the humans, so are werewolves and vampires, though they are only mentioned in passing. The aquarium is cared for by a “lesser fae”, probably a brownie if we have to put a name to it. Then, of course, we have the selkie, though his form is as a Steller sea lion, instead of the usual seal. Also making their appearance are the Deep Dwellers, nightmarish eel-like humanoid creatures. They are not named other than to be possible distant relations to the merfolk but I’m guessing them to be merrows or something like.
Siren’s Calling was certainly more of a dark urban fantasy than the paranormal romance I expected. While there is some appreciation of Keegan, the brawny selkie, (and who wouldn’t!) it never goes beyond comfortable friendship. With good pacing, mystery, and adventure, Siren’s Calling is a great addition to The Sea King’s Daughters series.
4 out of 5 propellers!
About Piper J. Drake:
Piper J. Drake is a bestselling author of romantic suspense and edgy contemporary romance, a frequent flyer, and day job road warrior. She is often distracted by dogs, cupcakes, and random shenanigans.
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