A Tale of Cursed Tides by T.R. Sherring – Book Review
Book Details
A Tale of Cursed Tides by T.R. Sherring
Series: The Lore of Orradon #1
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Lavender and Archer Press on March 26, 2026
Goodreads rating: 4.43/5
My rating: 4.5/5
A mermaid’s curse.
A witch’s bargain.
A prince’s heart.
Blurb
Mermaid Princess Alara’s kingdom is cursed.
No one has been able to enter or leave in over two decades and tensions amongst her subjects are rising. On the eve of her twenty-second birthday, the witch who cast the curse appears and offers to undo it all, but only if Alara can make a mortal prince fall in love with her, then break his heart before the next full moon.
It’s almost too easy.
Shortly after she arrives in the mortal lands, a gruesome murder is committed at the castle, and Alara becomes tangled in a mystery she never asked for.
As the body count rises, so do the stakes, and she’s running out of ways to ignore her growing feelings for the prince.
With the full moon looming, and a killer closing in, will this fairy tale end with more than just a broken heart?
Slow-burn romance, mermaid princess, hidden identity, magic, fake seduction, he falls first, found family, witches bargain, cursed kingdom, murder mystery.
My Review
I generally avoid fairytale reimaginings because I find it difficult to separate them from the original story, but I was intrigued by the premise of this book and I’m so glad I gave it a chance.
I love The Little Mermaid and while the similarities were easy to spot, there were enough unique elements to keep me interested.
The story follows Alara, who makes a bargain with a witch in order to save her cursed kingdom. As a result, she finds herself in the mortal world, forced to hide her true identity while navigating the royal court. Her mission? To make the prince fall in love with her, but with every move watched and a murder mystery unfolding around her, her task becomes far more complicated.
This book was beautifully written. The author has an immersive writing style that really draws you in. While I did find the pacing a bit slow through the middle, the slow-burn tension between Alara and Tarben was EVERYTHING and left me wanting more.
With witches, curses, mermaids, magic, princes, betrayal and a plot twist I didn’t see coming, this story delivered a captivating twist on a classic tale. I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for us in book 2.
She’s wrong. You’re wrong about yourself. You are not broken. You are not to blame for your mother’s death. And you don’t have to prove yourself to be deserving of love. You are extraordinary.
Happy reading x
Thank you to the author for providing me with a digital copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.