This is the first book I’ve read by Amanda Meuwissen and I’m a little surprised at how much I enjoyed this audiobook. Why am I surprised? Well, I didn’t really expect to enjoy an MM book narrated by a female as much as I did. I mainly wanted to listen to and review this book so that I could experience the author narrating her own work and I’m glad I agreed to review it.

While it was a bit disconcerting to hear a female voice narrating portions of this story, overall, it was a pretty good experience. I’m not sure I’d want to listen to a longer MM book performed by a female voice but it was fine for this length of story.

Octopi My Heart is such a sweet story with just a bit of spice. Daren is enchanted with the beautiful sea-creature, Lilo, who unexpectedly helps him fish one day. They begin meeting every day and their sweet relationship turns a bit sexier when Lilo whisks Daren away to a warm underground grotto where things heat up between them.

I loved the happy ending that these two got and the story was a solid 5 star read for me.

Reviews for Amanda Meuwissen

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Falling backwards onto the deck, Daren nearly lost the net completely. Seeing a head floating in the water was not a calming experience.

He slowly stood, wondering what poor soul had drowned out here, only to realize the eyes looking back at him were blinking.

“Are you okay?” Daren called. “Are you lost? You’re not swimming in that water?”

The head bobbed higher, revealing the tops of bare shoulders. The man was beautiful, even if Daren had to wonder about his sanity. His skin had a bluish-purple tint to it, so he had to be freezing, but he was still gorgeous, with eyes so dark, they looked black, and short black hair plastered to his forehead and around what appeared to be slightly pointed ears.

He almost looked like a pixie, or an elf, or…

Or…

“Hello?” Daren tried again before he could allow that thought to enter his mind. Maybe he’d been out here too long on his own and was starting to see things, because he couldn’t possibly be looking at a… mermaid?

Well, merman.

The beautiful head dove back under the water, and the next thought Daren had was that whether this was man or sea creature, he might be about to capsize Daren’s boat. Only, before Daren could think to react or even move, with his hands still clutching his net that was only half pulled up onto the deck, the rest of the net and all the fish in it pushed up as if by itself and spilled at his feet.

Daren blinked.

The next moment, the man’s beautiful face peered at him from over the side of the boat.

“Uh… thanks.” Daren dropped his hold on the net, unsure what to do. “You’re not… gonna drag me to a watery grave now, are you?”

The man’s—merman’s—eyes really were black with hardly any whites and no discernable pupils. His skin was bluish-purple, his ears were pointed, and when he tilted his head and smiled at Daren, his mouth was full of dangerously sharp teeth.

He disappeared beneath the water again.

Daren was being toyed with, and soon, the merman would capsize his boat. But, as he waited, once again, that didn’t happen.

A fish popped up out of the water and landed right in the boat.

Then another joined the first. And another. And another. In minutes, Daren had two-dozen more fish than what had been in his net, and he had to cry out to the water, “Stop! My boat can’t take much more! This is plenty!”

He couldn’t be sure if the merman understood him, but the head popped up again with another curious tilt.

“This is plenty,” Daren said again, gesturing at the fish, and then held out both hands in a stopping gesture.

The merman smiled like before, and though his teeth should have made it a frightening image, he was truly stunning. He didn’t want to capsize Daren. He was trying to help. Maybe he was why Daren had caught so many fish yesterday.

“Thank you,” Daren said. He had more than enough to return to shore for the day. “I’m, um…” He placed a hand on his chest. “Daren.” Then he gestured at his guest.

The merman’s brow scrunched.

Why would Daren even think a sea creature could speak, let alone understand English? He tried again anyway, patting his chest. “Daren.” Then he gestured at the merman again.

Hands came up to rest on the side of the boat, and Daren could see that the fingers were webbed. The merman used the leverage to lift out of the water enough to press one of his hands to his chest where Daren could see it.

“Liloki,” he said, and it was a strange voice, both low and higher pitched at once that Daren imagined could be understood even underwater.

“Liloki,” Daren repeated. “Kinda makes me think of Lilo and Stitch.” He chuckled.

“Lilo.” Liloki nodded, patting his chest again, as if to say Daren could call him that, or it was a nickname he was already used to.

“Lilo,” Daren said.

“Daren,” Lilo said back to him.

“Thank you for the fish,” Daren said again, pointing at the catch.

Lilo smiled wider, so Daren thought he understood.