Title: Skin of the Sea
Author: Natasha Bowen
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy 
Publishing date: 2nd November 2021
Rating: 4/5 stars

An unforgettable fantasy debut inspired by West African mythology, this is Children of Blood and Bone meets The Little Mermaid, in which a mermaid takes on the gods themselves.
A way to survive. A way to serve. A way to save.
Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata–a mermaid–collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi does the unthinkable–she saves his life, going against an ancient decree. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy it. To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But all is not as it seems. There’s the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. . . . Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she doesn’t, then she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.

Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for including me and sending me a copy to review for this Blog Tour!

Click here to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on this tour!

Book Links:

Goodreads – Amazon – B & N – BookDepository – IndieBound – Indigo

My thoughts:
Skin of the Sea is a fast-paced, romantic, magical mermaid story that I completely fell in love with from the first page. Natasha Bowen’s writing is so vivid and the world building was incredible. Even though this book was quite fast-paced, Bowen never neglected any details of the story.

This book follows Simi, a Mami Wata (mermaid), who serves the gods by collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. After she saves a boy who was destined to drown at sea, she must travel to the Supreme Creator to make amends. However, the gods are vengeful and danger is lurking at every turn.

I absolutely adored Simi’s character! She’s a feisty, fearless and strong-willed heroine who made an excellent main character. Her relationship with Kola was interesting to read about, however it did seem very quick to develop.

Kola was definitely one of my favourite characters in the story. He is a very loyal, determined, angsty character with lots of secrets to be discovered. He was for sure one of the most interesting characters I read about.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book. The story really stuck with me after turning the last page. I really hope there is a sequel in the works!

Hope you all enjoyed my review! I really enjoyed reading this one! Bye guys, happy reading! x

About the Author

Natasha Bowen is a writer, a teacher, and a mother of three children. She is of Nigerian and Welsh descent and lives in Cambridge, England, where she grew up. Natasha studied English and creative writing at Bath Spa University before moving to East London, where she taught for nearly ten years. Her debut book Skin of the Sea was inspired by her passion for mermaids and African history. She is obsessed with Japanese and German stationery and spends stupid amounts on notebooks, which she then features on her secret Instagram. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, watched over carefully by Milk and Honey, her cat and dog.

Author Links:

Website – Twitter – Instagram – Goodreads

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