3.5⭐️

Hans Christian Andersen‘s <i>The Little Mermaid</i> is one of the most depressing stories out there. She ends up as seafoam and the Prince marries someone else (I apologise if this was a major spoiler for you - I‘m not adding any warning because I think it‘s common knowledge?). It‘s just such an incredibly unfeminist story and I‘ve never understood why it has so many retellings.

Soooo… I was lured by the great cover and thought this was about sirens, which it is, but it‘s inspired by <i>The Little Mermaid</i> (something I would have found out, had I read the blurb).

The sirens have the order to kill everyone on the Prince’s ship but Celeste ends up rescuing the Prince and his friend (plus his doggo - thank god). She is thus punished and has to kill the Prince to redeem himself.

This story‘s like a mix between <i>The Little Mermaid</i> and <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i>. It‘s a good debut and I was really entertained, esp. towards the end.

I struggled with Celeste‘s motivation and there‘s just a lack of depth that you can‘t solely blame on the book being YA. I also struggled with the love interest Raiden (the Prince - he seemed like a caricature of a dashing and mysterious man, but he behaved like a dick).

Overall it‘s just light entertainment, so if that‘s what you‘re after then this might be the book for you. I‘m inclined to read book 2 because I‘m curious to see where this is going.

But like I said, this is absolutely solid for a debut.

—-

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Atom for providing me with a digital review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This morally-grey twisted Little Mermaid inspired tale takes us to a place where everything is not quite as it seems. Following a siren who just can’t seem to fit in, we venture through a tale of hope, deceit and mystery that leaves you aching to read more.

The book is well paced and allows you to dive deep into the innermost feelings of the characters, leaving you with a true found-family connection to the cast. The book starts out with strong Little Mermaid vibes and quickly transforms into a swashbuckling tale of romance, betrayals, and good old fashioned treasure hunts. I enjoyed slowly learning about the lore of the world, as the more that was revealed the more captivated I became, as though the book itself was a siren song that I could not turn away from.

Thank you to Kelsey Impicciche and the publishing/NetGalley team for allowing me the opportunity to give an advance review of this book. This was such a refreshing read and perfect for all you pirate-loving, Little Mermaid fans who can rally behind an FMC with a dagger. I really enjoyed this one, and award a 4/5 starfish rating 🦀

Voice of the Ocean by Kelsey Impicciche is everything I wanted in a siren story and more. Think The Little Mermaid meets Pirates of the Caribbean, but make it full of feelings, longing, betrayal, ancient magic, and a sizzling forbidden romance.

Celeste has always been told she is too much. Too loud, too emotional, too dramatic, too everything. As the youngest daughter of the Siren Queen, she has spent her whole life trying to prove herself worthy of the Chorus, the elite siren warriors. But when she breaks the rules to save a human prince, her world is turned upside down. What follows is a twisty and heartfelt journey across land and sea, with secrets, soft moments, found family vibes, and one very good dog.

I love reading YA fantasy, especially when it is a retelling, and this one completely scratched the itch. The emotional depth and chemistry between Celeste and Raiden had me absolutely hooked. I flew through this book and am already counting the days until I can hold a finished copy in my hands. The banter, the tension, the quiet vulnerability between the characters... I am obsessed.

Also, “I can think of other ways you can thank me” lives rent free in my mind.

Thank you so much to Kelsey Impicciche, Little, Brown Book Group UK, Atom, and NetGalley for this early copy. I adored it and cannot wait for what’s next.

Tropes you’ll love:
🧜‍♀️ Siren and human romance
🐾 Loyal animal companion
⚔️ Warrior training
🚢 Hidden identity
💘 Forbidden love
🫣 One bed
📖 Retelling magic
✨ Sizzling prince
👑 Pressure to prove yourself
⛵ Friends to lovers (with tension)

Voice of the Ocean releases April 22, 2025, and you’ll definitely want this one on your shelf.

I follow Kelsey on YT and was so excited to get a hand on the ARC of her debut book.

The story itself is very trope heavy and the influence of the most famous versions of The Little Mermaid was definitely obvious. However, I went in expecting a retelling and that’s what I got. It was in the world building and the later half of the book that the originality of this retelling really came out. I enjoyed the character of Celeste and how she learnt the power of her emotions in a world where that isn’t accepted and Raiden was a good swoony love interest for her.
Kelsey’s writing style is decent and easy to read but you can tell it’s her first book. I’m excited to see how her writing improves and develops as she writes further into this series and others.

Overall, this was a book I really enjoyed, read most of it in one day. I am looking forward to the following book!

A fun and unique Little Mermaid retelling with a pirate twist—what's not to love? As a big fan of mermaids (and always wishing there were more books about them), I was excited to dive into this one. The world-building is rich and immersive, and the found family dynamic added a lot of heart. The plot is twisty and ends on a strong note, setting up the sequel nicely.
That said, the pacing was a struggle. The beginning felt slow and overly detailed, especially before Celeste even got on the ship. Once there, the story lingered too long on bonding moments and pirate hijinks that didn’t push the plot forward. The most exciting parts didn’t arrive until about 80% in—and then everything felt rushed. I also wish the “Voice of the Ocean” had been introduced earlier and with more buildup.
The characters had potential, but many of the side characters felt flat. Raiden and Celeste were more developed, but I never fully connected with them. Raiden didn’t click as a love interest for me, and their relationship felt a bit forced. Celeste, though, was a refreshing main character—emotional and soft in a way we don’t often get to see. I loved that, but her inner conflict around it became repetitive and started to lose its impact.
Despite some flaws, this was still an enjoyable read, and I might pick up the sequel to see where things go next

This was everything my To Kill a Kingdom loving heart has been looking for!! Even though I think I actually love this FMC more, she's an over emotional queen like me. I'm very picky about retellings but I love this

This was very sweet, my all read screamed Ariel if I can be honest. But regardless I found it beautiful. I definitely enjoyed it and will recommend to all sea lovers

'Voice of the Ocean' centres around Siren, Celeste, in both her home nation of Staria and the human world in which she finds herself. We hear of her curiosity about humans throughout her formative years and get to know Celeste as someone who dreams of more than the life she is born into, as a princess of Staria. Partly a retelling of 'The Little Mermaid', many may recognise the heroine of that story in this theme and in the plot point that catapults Celeste onto human shores.

From here we get many chapters that build the reader's understanding of Celeste's upbringing, her talents and her insecurities. I like the running internal narrative that Impicciche has included for Celeste, who can be hard on herself. An important message for Young Adult readers today, and something many will be able to relate to. The novel also ensures to have a range of representation for gender and sexual identity, which was nice to see.

The world created here is well described and mapped out. It does feel like a lot of time and attention is paid to these observations in the first 2/3 of the novel, as Celeste experiences new places, new words, new human customs and human relationships. A little tension occurs within these chapters, but largely it feels like 'Voice of the Ocean' is setting the scene for further work to come. For a reader like myself, who isn't massively familiar with sirens, I did find it interesting. I liked the lore woven around this and learning more about Celeste's ancestral history. The novel in itself felt like it had been thought through and tightened up, to create a solid backstory for each of the main characters we meet.

It took me a while to read this novel, dipping in and out for the first 3/4. However, the last section flew by in one sitting and was completely action packed.

I personally would have liked the climatic scenes to occur somewhat sooner, to allow these to build for the reader and to give us more sense of the impact on the characters. It feels a lot is revealed in the later scenes, with little time to digest. I felt the pivotal scenes were handled well, without too much idealism- the characters remained true to themselves and their motives and the previous character building paid off in helping an understanding of why alliances were formed (or not) as the novel continued. I assume the novel will have a sequel or two to allow further exploration from the rather busy finish.

The 'enemies-to-lovers' trope feels one of the main themes, but actually one area that seemed more rushed. It would have been interesting to develop more of Celeste's internal narrative here and understand the development of the romance plotline. It feels some cuts could have been made elsewhere to allow for this.

I erred between two and four stars at various points in this novel. A nice debut for Kelsey Impicciche and, for those who are aware of her from her online platforms, it does feel reflective of her personality and voice. There is a lot of potential here and I'll await (hopefully) more about Celeste in the future, to see where the climatic events of 'Voice of the Ocean' take her next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was a huge disappointment.

Reading the description for this book, I thought, finally! A book about Siren's and the ocean. As a lover of all things ocean and mermaid/siren related, I was super excited to see a book based on Sirens. However, I was immediately disappointed when the first 20% was a copy and paste of The Little Mermaid. Do not get me wrong, I love The Little Mermaid and it is my all time favourite Disney film, but I was not looking for a retelling, I was looking for a new Siren story. I took to goodreads to read the current reviews to see if people felt the same and I saw many reviews, including the authors, describing this as a retelling of the original fairy tale, however I am just disappointed that this was described as so in the books description, otherwise I may not have been as enticed to pick up this title.

Despite the original disappointment, I carried on in hopes that the book would ultimately win me over, now that I knew what it was I was reading. However, the book did not get much better for me. Despite the first 60% of the book being super slow and pouring detail into so many small things that could have been cut down, the ending of the book was rushed and ultimately a huge let down. I found it really hard to connect with any of the characters, and the FMC's quick sympathy for humans and relationship development over just a couple of days was just not very believable.

2.5 ✨

“𝑬𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆,𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆.” 🏴‍☠️

🧜‍♀️ Sirens & Pirates
🧜‍♀️ Enemies to Lovers
🧜‍♀️ Pirates of the Caribbean x Little Mermaid vibes
🧜‍♀️ Forced Proximity
🧜‍♀️ HEA

I have a question! Can a YA be too YA for an adult? 😅
I hope it makes sense, because after reading this book that’s exactly how I feel.
Now let’s make some things clear, I don’t have a problem with reading YA books and I definitely have some that I love where the authors delivered the tension you seek in a Romantasy book! I’m saying this because this book is a Romantasy but to me it didn’t feel like that!
Let’s start from the world building which was really nice and well build especially at the beginning of the book, but that was also the bad thing for me later in the book. The huge inner monologues and the super descriptive scenes later were exhausting and it’s something that gives me the iyk general in books. When I see long paragraphs after paragraphs without dialogues I get tired 😪 You’ll say to me that the FMC doesn’t speak but still you can deliver some dialogues with other ways.
The pacing also was an issue, first was slow, then was ok then again slow and suddenly last percentages were super fast.
Now as I said at the beginning this book also felt like something I would read really young like 13yo young!! Maybe it’s a personal thing but I haven’t also encountered this feeling with other YA books.
The storyline also got me a bit confused. I got myself thinking the Little Mermaid and the Pirates of the Caribbean and trying to see where the story fits!

𝐀 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

This might have been a little to. Yound adult for me personally the writing was good and I can see the appeal for a younger person but it just wasn't for me

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Voice of the Ocean is a reimagining of the the classic fairytale, The Little Mermaid. I binged this on a flight to Japan, it's a strong debut!

Celeste was a good narrator and strong FMC despite being quite naive. Although I suppose we can forgive her as she's only 17 and what teenage girl (human or siren) hasn't done something silly for love? The side characters were also fantastic and I did not see the twists at the end coming!

The few things I struggled with were the slow pacing at the beginning and the fact I felt this would be better off as a standalone.

Despite wishing it was a standalone fantasy, I'm keen to see where the story goes in book 2!

In this stunningly written novel, we join Princess Celeste, daughter of the Siren Queen, on an adventure alongside the Prince she saved from a deadly siren attack upon his ship and crew.

This novel was full of such beautiful imagery! Every scene was perfectly described and full of magical details. I also loved the unique and ethereal lore about the Goddesses and the stars. Oh, it was all so divine and stunning!

From the very beginning, I was captured by how beautiful this novel felt to be in. I especially loved the scene early on where Celeste saved the Prince. It played so vividly in my head. It was a perfect combination of scenes I remember watching in Pirates of the Caribbean and The Little Mermaid; with the lightning flashing and the lanterns flicking out one by one, it was just fantastic!

The world building was so good, and the plot completely captivated me! There was so much intrigue and twists to this novel, and the ending was explosive!

Celeste was a wonderful character. She was so kind-hearted and curious. Her inner dialogue questioning the morals of her people and the way she observed the humans was so well done. She was such a good person (or siren, I guess) with a good heart and pure intentions, trying to make the right decisions. She was fierce and brave and loyal. I adored every part of her character, and especially loved the representation for anxiety and heightened emotions and the self doubts she held.

The romance that bloomed between Celeste and Raiden was definitely a slow burn, but sometimes that makes it all the more exciting. There was lots of flirtation and heated glances and stares. There was plenty of chemistry and tension between the two of them, and they ended up forming such a deep bond with each other, each determined to protect the other.

It was so heartwarming watching Celeste form strong companionships with the humans she met on her adventure. There were so many heartfelt moments that made my heart feel so fuzzy; as well as lots of fun and comedic moments too! This novel was a truly amazing read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I've never read a book about sirens before, other than the mermaids in The Little Mermaid, so this was a perfect introduction to that realm!

Thank you so much to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this!

*I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) for free in exchange for an honest review*

Being a fan of The Little Mermaid and Kelsey Impicciche anyway I was excited to read this book and it did not disappoint! I read this whilst on a busy sightseeing holiday and I was finding any time possible to continue reading as I could not put this down.

I felt so seen reading this book as an overly emotional girl who still has to announce to people at work that I'm going to cry and they need to understand it's because I'm frustrated or angry rather than sad.

But Kelsey... Where is the rest of the story?!? I NEED to know how it ends!! The twists and backstabbing betrayal was almost too much to not be resolved fully and end on a cliffhanger for the second book... It almost hurt me turning the last page to find that there was no resolution yet!

Give me any sort of little mermaid retelling or just a story with mermaids or sirens, even just Ariel and Flounder hanging out, I will eat it up. And oh my god, this was a good one.

It really started off with a super similar set up to the little mermaid that we all know and adore, which just left me so intrigued as to what direction it would take and I am still giddy with stress and amazement over this whole story!

It was so much fun to just follow along with Celeste, Raiden and the whole gang! There were obviously stressful moments and so much drama but I literally had the best time.

As for the romance, I genuinely thought I was going to send myself overboard cause talk about a SLOW burn. But I loved it!!! The tension, oh my word. And to be fair Raiden probably could fling me overboard and I would say, thank you, daddy.

It was just so amazing and I am so mad that this is not a standalone 😩
I guess I’m happy that we’re getting more with these characters and this world but the agony!! I can’t bear to wait longer than 3 days at most!

I've followed Kelsey Impicciche for years on YouTube, so when I saw she was bringing out her first book, I immediately added it to my TBR.
Voice of the Ocean follows Celeste, a young siren who goes against her own people to save a human prince. Basically, think the Little Mermaid, but with sirens and a Pirates of the Carribean vibe.
There was lots I liked about this book. The world and most of the characters were well established and I really liked many of the side characters. Kiyami was a particular highlight. I also thought the tension between Celeste and Raiden was good, though I wasn't convinced by the overall arc of their relationship.
My main issue with this book was the pacing. I understand that worldbuilding takes time to do, but as a result, the first half really dragged in terms of plot. By contrast, the final act was absolutely thrilling, and the ending left me desperate to know what happens next. I'm looking forward to seeing where the author takes the story next, and would recommend Voice of the Ocean to anyone who loves fairytale retellings and doesn't mind a slower plot.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC!

4🌟🌟🌟🌟

Calling all little mermaid fans!!!! This retelling is fun, magical, and filled with a cast of fun characters that will keep you flipping (your fins) through the pages. i really enjoyed reading this book, and I really loved our mmc raiden🤭! Our fmc, celeste, was a breath of fresh air as she really comes into her own and realizes that softness does not mean weakness, and sometimes being soft is your greatest strength! She is full of love and hope, and she is determined to do what she knows is right! This has all the high energy swashbuckling antics I love and I think this will make a fantastic spring and summer read for all mermaid fans!! I highly recommend checking this book out when it releases on april 22!

thank you so much to Net Galley and Atom Books for this early copy!

For years, I’ve been searching for a book that captures the vibes of Pirates of the Caribbean, and Voice of the Ocean comes close.

While the pacing wasn’t perfect, the world drew me in, and the characters felt so real—diverse, lovable, and impossible not to root for. Several scenes had a vivid, emotional, almost cinematic quality. And I loved the found family dynamic!

As a debut novel, it has its rough edges, but there's a lot of promise in Kelsey's writing.

Thank you for the ARC. I was thrilled to dive into this adventure!

Did I pick up this arc solely on the basis that I've been watching Kelsey Impicciche on YouTube since her BuzzFeed days? Why yes.

Did this book exceed all of my expectations? Also yes.

I'm not the biggest fan of Little Mermaid retellings - it's just not one of my favourite fairytales or Disney films. But I'm willing to give anything a chance and overall this book was actually amazing.

It's thrilling and adventurous and unique and has such an twisty and intriguing ending.

I will say the most impressive part of the story was how Kelsey Impicciche was able to weave in the lose of the mermaids voice into the story. How do you carry a story where your main character cannot speak to the other characters? She does it so well and it doesn't limit the story and it doesn't make it any less exciting or intriguing.

Overall it's a great story. If you want to support an authors debut novel highly recommend this one or even if you just enjoy a good fairytale retelling - then this is the one for you!

Not going to lie, the first 25% of the book was slow for me as I try to grasp the world building and comprehend what is going on, the same as most fantasy book. But once I got past the 25%, it became so good I cannot stop reading. Sirens x pirates?! SOLD, the tension between the main characters is palpable even through just reading words 🙈 also the plot was at times predictable, but I definitely do not see that ending! This book is mot even out yet but here I am screaming hoping to read the next book as soon as possible!!