The Siren and the Scholar by J. M. Stengl Review

 After reading The Rose and the Briar I was very excited to read more of J. M. Stengl’s Faraway Castle books. And man, it did not disappoint. This Little Mermaid retelling was fabulous. It tells the story of a siren named Kamoana who is suddenly changed into a human with some of her memories erased. Kamoana soon learns her mother is testing her, for if she can get a true loves kiss from the man, she loves then she can be with him. However, he doesn’t have any memories of her either, which is a big problem. How is Kamoana going to accomplish this in so short a time? And it doesn’t help that a prince named Mike keeps hitting on her when she has zero interest in him. At first Kamoana considers giving up and agreeing to whatever her mother wishes. But she also knows that since she agreed to the test then whoever the man is must mean a lot to her. She soon meets new friends as well as a scholar named Tor who might just be the man she’s been looking for. However, Tor seems cold and distant from her despite his friends' remarks of him crying when Kamoana had to leave after saving him from drowning. Tor must be the man she's looking for but how can she get him to kiss her before the deadline is up? 

This was such a fun read! I was totally invested in the romance the whole time. It made me sad for Kamoana when she started recalling some of her memories through dreams while Tor still doesn’t remember her. I found Prince Mike to be really annoying but by the end he grew on me a little bit. Also, I adored the young princess Eddi and her maid Beatrice and look forward to reading more about them in Eddi’s own book The Mirror and the Curse a Snow-White retelling. The deceptive villains are not revealed until later in the book but there are enough hints that made me suspect them. What I was totally blown away with was the shocking reveal of another character’s secret identity. Although it seemed kind of obvious when I thought about it afterwards, I still did not see it coming in a million years. It also had another character who seemed to be a reference to Hans Christian Andersons Little Mermaid. She had come to land searching for her love but had not gotten what she desired.  

The book isn’t one hundred percent clear about her backstory, but you can kind of guess the details. The book’s world was very just as interesting as it was in The Rose and the Briar. Faraway castle resort is such a cool idea and introducing the underwater world was just as amazing. And the idea of Kamoana having a sea monster for a giant pet was one that grew on me pretty quickly.  

Overall, this book was very good. I really liked its spin on a sad story. By taking away the turning into sea foam bit the stakes are not as high for no one's going to die but if Kamoana fails then she will be losing the only man she has ever truly loved, and their memories would also be erased making them forget of the love they once had. The book is truly a wonderful story and one that I plan on rereading when I begin the series from start to finish. 

I give this book 4.5 stars.