The Kiss That Killed Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy #1)

The Kiss That Killed Me is the first in Kristy Nicolle’s Tidal Kiss trilogy. It follows Callie Pierce, a normal teenage human as she is murdered and turned mermaid by a group of psirens, enemies to the Mer. As a mermaid, she’s united with her soulmate, Orion, a merman who is the son of the ruler, Atlas. Apparently all mermen have soulmates, human women who possess half of their soul and whom they are destined to be with forever. Callie learns there is a prophesy, given by Atargatis, the creator of the Mer people that she must die in order to save the Mer race. Book one follows this storyline, ending after her death by psirens, where she is given the choice to either return to the Mer, or become a goddess herself. This is where the story ends and book two begins.

Giving this 4 out of 5 stars- it was well written, but personally I hate the insta-love trope. I don’t mind fated mates, but insta-love gives me the ick, especially when the FMC has never had another relationship to compare it to. I do love the fact that Callie is no-nonsense and not about to let Orion boss her around even though he’s 500 years old and of the opinion that it’s his job to protect her and cosset her. Well done, and I’m looking forward to the rest of this trilogy.

I’m also looking forward to seeing how it plays into the 10th and final book.

Edit: now that I have read this entire saga, including the 10th and final- I’ve got to update my rating to 3.5, down to 3 because GR doesn’t allow half stars. This trilogy of the set of 3 is definitely my least favorite. It’s not a writing issue, KN is a great author, very skilled. I just hate the characters in this trilogy. Basically all of them except for Azure and Vex. Callie is insufferable (she’s barely 18, so no life experience… insufferable is expected, but still, as a 40 year old it’s hard to read it- and she doesn’t get any better in the final novel.) Orion is just a controlling asshole- Like I’d drop him faster than molten glass. I feel like I can fairly say this now, because I enjoyed the second and third trilogies so much- it just reinforced how much I disliked this one. Even in the final tie in novel I found myself hating even reading Callie’s or Orion’s name because I knew they were going to do some cringey stuff. No disrespect to the author intended- this trilogy just didn’t vibe with me— but the other 2 I loved.