Anger. Betrayal. Exile. Isla always knew she would be queen. One day. But after the death of her mother, matriarch of the Southern Pacific merfolk kingdom, that day grew much closer than she was prepared for. Worse, to become a mermaid queen, she must marry. It is the only way to protect her kingdom. Forcibly betrothed to her childhood friend and father’s fiercest warrior, Isla is desperate for an escape—no matter the cost. But until she marries, her father is filled with a power his body cannot handle, and his control is steadily slipping. After an explosive fight with her father, Isla flees to the surface, only to find herself in the middle of a violent storm with two choices: swim to safety or save the human man she sees drowning in the tumultuous waves. Her decision will change her life, as well as her kingdom, forever.

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Isla Emerged is loosely based on The Little Mermaid.

And there will probably be tons of spoilers ahead.

Isla is 17 and the only daughter of King Ezekiel. Her mother recently passed away, and all her powers were transferred to the King. Because of this shift in powers, the King is forcing Isla’s hand and betrothed her to his fiercest warrior and her best friend, who happens to be in love with someone else, to propel Isla into being Queen.

One of her attempts at escape, she found a ship wreck and a man who was left behind, slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean… Baron. Naturally, Isla saved him, and was seen by Baron in the process.

Oh no.

King Ezekiel finds out about Isla’s outing, puts her on house arrest, and moves up the wedding. Isla is super not happy with this and plots away.

Isla escapes and runs into Baron again. Where she just feels oh so comfortable with him and tells him everything about the mer-people! Because he’s such a nice guy.

As you can probably guess, this does not end well. Long story short, she is betrayed.

Now, Isla isn’t necessarily spoiled, but she is a bit selfish and definitely isn’t thinking about her kingdom. And all this leads to her kingdoms destruction and her eventual banishment.

Once banished, she meets two woman, Anita and Kaya, and they help her find her mermaid citizens, that were taken… by Baron.

They eventually help her help them escape, before they can be experimented on.

Isla has so much character growth in such a small amount of time, it’s great. I love books with bad-ass female leads, and this one does not disappoint.

The action scenes, while they were kind of short, they were actually pretty descriptive. It was great compared to most books out there.

I did feel it was a bit obvious that Alistair was in love with someone else. Maybe it was supposed to be? I do hope Isla finds her HEA, and that he isn’t anything like Baron.

Baron was a skeevy jerk, and honestly I wasn’t too fond of the King. He sort of redeemed himself at the end, and I’m glad he out aside his issues to help Isla out. It was a tad bit sad.

The epilogue was unnecessary in my opinion, it didn’t really tell me anything I needed to know, or didn’t already know.

That being said, Isla Emerged could easily be read as a standalone if you weren’t that into it. I’m still looking forward to reading the next couple books in the series. I have no doubt in my mind that Isla will make a magnificent queen.

I rated the book four stars. ☆☆☆☆

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