The Perfect Waters: Odessa. Book One

An African American Mermaid Paranormal 1

By: LeeSha McCoy

Narrated by: Erikka Nelson

Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

A prince, a thousand-year-old blue whale, and the race against time to find the single most important thing to the waters' survival.

For the waters to be perfect, an Odessa must connect to all life within them, and if the reigning Odessa loses her life, her sorcery is always passed to her first-born daughter.

Only, the daughter the waters know of, is not the first.

Asia's mother went missing 18 years ago and since then, Asia has feared the one thing she always dreamt of working with.

The ocean.

So instead, she's been living life as a lab tech. She doesn't exactly love her job, but it pays the bills and she has money to spend on nights out with her girls. However, her most recent night out ends up with her gaining markings on her skin and losing body parts....

Prince Zale is son to Emperor Ecthelion and Empress Océane. They rule Ocêllus, also known as the Royal Waters. News quickly arrives of O'Marilla's murder and the waters become a state of panic.

Darya, the daughter of O'Marilla, arrives in Ocêllus to take her position as Odessa but unawares to anyone, she is not the first-born daughter.

A single member of royalty and Priestess Noelani are always pulled to the next Odessa, but so are the murky sea witches who use hounds to do their dirty work. So, with a woman up on land unawares to how important she is, the hunt for her begins before she gets into the wrong hands.

Who will find her first? And will Asia be able to find the one thing she needs in order to claim her sorcery so she can make the waters perfect again?

©2019 LeeSha McCoy (P)2020 LeeSha McCoy

never heard anything like it! great job!

the way the book was wrote, with the African-American twist to it you don't usually hear in fact I never heard it quite this way. I like to be able to visually experience things when I read it and this book did just that!

Awesome Story!!

This story was good from the start. It really pulls you in and brings to life the story of Asia and Zale. Looking forward to see what happens next.

solid start

This was a pleasant surprise. Leesha McCoy did a good job of creating this new world of formal marine and informal human life. The verbiage created for the characters was a mix of formal and informal /slang that was used. McCoy took her time bringing us into the world of Aisa and her Prince. I found humor in her realization when certain parts of her human anatomy retreated and her mermaid anatomy came forward. There was also murder and intrigue found in the "whodunnit" involving the previous Odessa.
As with any new series, book 1 is about creating and setting up the world in which you want your readers to become immersed and I think McCoy accomplished that for me by using the descriptive language employed to describe such beings as the murky sea witches and the Corals. A few characters stood out and among them was Calder. This is a great start to a new series and I'm happy to have discovered not only a new urban paranormal author but a new narrator to "fangirl" over in Erikah Nelson aka Batman. (Inside joke) I look forward to the audiobook for part two. The only reason this wasn't a 5 star was that if there was a bit of repetition.

WOW

What A Great Story....I want to listen to something new...this was an awesome change for me...what a really good story teller.

I absolutely loved it

I can't wait to hear book 2 & 3. As well as many more about black mermaids.

In love with Asia💙

Absolutely loved the book and the narration of it. Completely enjoyed the banter between Asia and Zale. You can feel and picture the different emotions and surroundings. Thanks for the creativity and the Zales voice... whew chile!!

Loved it!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Very well written and characters were well done. I love everything about this book. It is a must-read!

The narrator hit it out of the park. Great all around and definitely someone who I will listen to again.

Magnificent

I am truly invested. It was so good that I could see this in anime. Just the plot itself is enough to make me listen again. 15 stars. Hoping for more series such as this.

Brilliant

So, so, so we'll done. The characters are interesting and authentic (the writer's dialogue and the narrator's accent absolutely help with that). The whole thing is a sensual treat.

My only complaint is the cliffhanger is unnecessary. It feels manipulative, but it seems like every series does it these days.

Amazing Story (Cliffhanger Warning Though)

I really enjoyed this Audio Book.
What stood out most to me (and what I enjoyed most) was the sincere, believable and authentic feeling I got from the inner and outer dialog of the 2 Main Characters.
This feeling was elevated by the excellent narration.
Erikka did an amazing job all around. Emotions, intonation, character distinction, all were spot on, and I always enjoy, admire and appreciate this very very much!
I like Books written ‘in the First Person’ the most, and listening to it being written and performed in this excellent way was highly enjoyable and noteworthy.

The world building was very well done, believable and intriguing.
I love this entire world below the waters, with it’s own inhabitants, important corals, rules, laws and royals.

Some chapters give a lot of information in a quick pace, but then you switch back to a chapter with the characters Asia or Zale, and you get time to place/process all the information and feel ‘grounded’ in the story.

Both Asia and Zale are well developed characters, easy to connect with and relate to.
I loved the romance, and that it was mature. This is definitely an Audio Book for Adults (18+).

Now I have to talk about the one thing I didn’t like, namely the cliffhanger ending.
Sometimes it feels like an author writes a book and then it is cut into parts, that’s what this Audio Book felt like.
The story wasn’t done or resolved, and (to me) it doesn’t have a satisfying ending.
It felt like half a book, deliberately ending on a crucial moment, just to entice people to continue the series, and I don’t like this at all.
Writing a good, satisfying ending is an art of it’s own (and can elevate the entire book if done well), and cliffhangers often feel like the easy way out.

Despite the ending, I still highly recommend this Audio Book.
This was really something special and original, and I enjoyed it very much.

I got this Audio Book for free (thanks!). I'm voluntarily leaving this review.
Opinions and ratings are my own and not influenced by how I got the Audio Book.