***** 4 Stars ***** 
 Can be read as a standalone. 
 I really enjoyed this modern retelling of The Little Mermaid. It's a unique version with clever twists and touching moments. 
 The first half of the book is about Laire and Erik's romance as a young couple. Laire is from a small island that is extremely conservative. In her community, it's completely normal to get married and start having children right after high school. But she has big dreams to go into fashion and see the world. 
 Erik's world flips upside down when he meets a fisherman's daughter. She makes the time at his family's summer home bearable. As the governor's son, his parents have his future mapped out. And he knows that dating Laire will come with disapproval. 
 The two make their own rules and try to figure out how they could be together. But things get ugly and they just have too many things going against them. 
 I'm torn about this book. The first half of the book is extremely tiring because it's so long. The couple have lengthy conversations about kissing and sex since Laire is from a place that is so conservation. I don't mind that she's inexperienced, but to me it felt it was dragging a little bit. 
 But the last half of the book.... I LOVED IT. It brought me to tears, and I had an ugly cry face that lasted to the end. I'm a sucker for second chance romances, and this hit me hard.