Beautiful world building.
Enticing characters.
Lots of sex lol.
Lots of murder.
It’s a well rounded book lol

A nice debut novel. I like the premise and found it an easy read.
The ending could have been shorter.

Thank you to the author, Liesl West, for the ARC!

This was so fun! I really enjoyed this book and it hit all the sweet spots:

- MMC gives FMC a nickname
- no miscommunication trope
- magical system that makes sense
- that spice (including a list of chapters with the spicy scenes)

*I received an ARC of this book, but my review is honest and voluntary.* **Spoiler-free.**

I have been super hyped about this book for a while now after seeing Liesl's posts and reels on Instagram, and let me tell you, this book did not disappoint! I was surprised how easily I fell into the story since it usually takes me a few chapters to get the gist of the worldbuilding and plot with fantasy books. However, even though this book has amazing worldbuilding, I adapted to it quickly and was hooked from the first chapter.

I absolutely adored Enna as an FMC. She's feisty, ruthless, and somewhat morally grey, and yet she tugs on your heartstrings with her naivety and her emotional vulnerability. I especially loved how she was portrayed in learning about the world above water for the first time. Simple things like not knowing the colour of the sun or being able to walk on hot sand are so imaginative. And it's so immersive that it makes you feel excited to be experiencing it with her.

I also loved Soren as a MMC. It was so refreshing to read a book with a genuinely good guy as the love interest rather than the stereotypical douchbag with a pretty face and shadow magic (not that those are bad qualities, it's just nice to have a change every now and then) (who am I kidding, give me all the cinnamon roll MMCs!).

Now let's get to my favourite character—Odissa. Was she the villain in this story? Yes. Did I end up hating her by the end? Yes. Did I love to hate her? Absolutely. She's up there with my top 5 villains right now (okay, maybe top 3). I'm not going to share anything else because I want people to experience her for themselves without knowing what to expect. Just know that I love her!

Overall this was a really fun, enjoyable read. It had its hilarious, sad, joyful, emotional, tense, action-packed, and, yes, steamy scenes without a single dull moment. This is a standalone book, and that's something I was happy about because I think the pacing was perfect, and the ending wrapped up nicely without the plot points being unnecessarily dragged out. This was an amazing 5-star read from Leisl West (and her debut novel, nonetheless), and I honestly can't wait to read her future books. She's now on my list of insta-buy authors.

Thanks to the author for providing me with the ARC! 3.5☆

I enjoyed it, it's an easy and fun read! The story is nice, i like the world setting and the little details. I couldn't connect to the characters on a deep level, that's what left me a bit disappointed. But I found it entertaining!
The spice is not too much - which to me it's a plus cause it leaves space for the plot to actually develop.

✨️Review✨️ Of Song and Scepter - Liesl West

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Liesl West for an early copy of the book.

This is my first mermaids/sirens book I've read and it did not disappoint! The world is very well fleshed out and vivid in its descriptions. Enna (FMC) had a rough childhood and at a young age became an assassin due to a blood oath. Her one way out of this is blood oath is to help her keeper (Odissa) pull off their biggest con yet.

Soren, (MMC) the Coral Prince, is in desperate need of a wife; specially one who is already a princess. After several failed attempts, his mother finally arranges a marriage for him. Odissa, disguised as an underwater princess, eventually arrives to seduce the prince and get him to the wedding day. Unfortunately for her, he falls hard and fast for her "handmaiden", Enna.

If you love The Little Mermaid as a child and romance novels as an adult, I think this would be a great book to add to your summer reading list! Like I said up top, this was my first book in this kind of world, and I very much enjoyed exploring it. I am very much looking forward to the next Sirens of Adria novel.

4 ⭐️ - Will recommend this, unprompted.
3