It’s #Mermay! That time of year when artists start flooding Twitter and other social media with gorgeous drawings of mermaids, mermen, and merpals of all genders and even species. (Myself included this year!) So I thought, what better topic to give book recs for than merfolk? Unfortunately I haven’t read a ton of mer books, despite them being one of my favorite supernatural creatures. I’ve got a few recommendations though, so here they are!
*If you’re considering buying any of these books from Amazon US, I’d appreciate it if you use my links! It will help support this blog at no additional cost to you!*
Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
This YA book has a surprisingly gritty, dark, very unromanticized take on merfolk, or at least one particular merboy. It’s a standalone, but one that could potentially allow for more books, and I really liked it. I also love the cover!
Amazon // Goodreads // Review
Drown by Esther Dalseno
This is a retelling of the original Little Mermaid story with some small twists and a more in-depth story. It still keeps that fairy tale feel though. And talk about a gorgeous cover!
Amazon // Goodreads // Review
Tempest by Cari Z
I admittedly don’t remember this one very well since I read it over three years ago, but I know I enjoyed it at the time! It’s another one with a unique and somewhat dark take on merfolk, but it’s still a nice M/M romance.
Amazon // Goodreads // Review
Underneath by M.N. Arzu
In this book, an injured merman is discovered by humans, exposing merfolk to the world. I love the premise for this one—and the author’s take feels so realistic— but I love the story and the characters even more! These merfolk don’t spend much time in the ocean, but I adore this series nonetheless.
Amazon // Goodreads // Review
Coming Up for Air by Amanda Meuwissen
I haven’t actually read this one yet, but I’ve enjoyed this author’s other books and hope to enjoy this M/M merman book too!
Amazon // Goodreads
More Merfolk Books
Cover Characteristics: Book Covers featuring Mermaids/Mermen
All the Merfolk Books I’ve Reviewed
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Those are all new to me and I didn’t realize Teeth featured mermaids. My favorite mer book is probably Christina Henry’s…and I can’t remember the title!
Well, it’s just one merboy. Great book though! I think the Henry book is just called The Mermaid lol.
Great list! I’ve read quite a few merfolk stories but they are not on your list. I’ll have to try some of these😁
Thanks! Sounds like you’ve read more mer books than I have, I had a hard time putting this post together!
Thanks for the Merfolk recs. I’ve only read a couple of mermaid books so far but loved them both and am always on the lookout for new titles.
Merfolk are cool, we should all read more mer books lol.
Love that there are so many books about mermaids! The only ones I’ve really read, and very recently, are from Mira Grant’s series – super creepy depictions that started to give me the heeby jeebies even as I walked down a city street nowhere near any water.
I haven’t read those, but I’ve seen them around!
I remember reading your reviews for some of these books. I like the sound of Underneath, the other books you listed might be a tad too dark for me. I’ve been curious about Coming up for Air. I hope you get the chance to read that one and I would love to hear your thoughts about it.
Underneath is a great series, and possibly one that you’d like! I’m hoping to get the chance to read Coming Up for Air, but I’m behind on review copies right now, so it maybe be a while.
Well you know I like mer stories so any recs post is bound to get my eye. 🙂 I need more of these in my life. Teeth actually sounds like something I’d like, and Underneath sounds ay familiar- maybe you’ve showcased it, or I’ve seen it around somewhere? I’m surprised at myself actually that I don’t read more mer stuff.
Thanks for the recs!
I’ve reviewed a couple of the books in the Underneath series and mentioned it in my top ten list at the end of 2018 🙂 It’s really a great series! I was also surprised at how few mer books I’d read when I went to put this post together lol.
The cover for Coming up For Air is lovely! This is a diverse selection too.
I tried to get some variety!
You know, I’m not sure I’ve read anything about merfolk before. I do want to check out Teeth though.
-Lauren
Never?! You should definitely try Teeth 🙂
Thanks for the reminder about Teeth. I had that on my list last year and I even think I bought it.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
You should definitely give it a try if you have it!
I’m trying to think of the last merfolk book I read… I think it was a short story called Carniepunk by Seanan McGuire. I don’t think I’ve read a full length mermaid book in… well ever. And that makes me sad because I LOVE mermaids.
Teeth is on my TBR, but I haven’t heard of the others. They look interesting though!
Hmmm, I’m not familiar with that one. Heard a lot of great things about Seanan McGuire books though! I hope you end up liking Teeth!
I definitely feel like I haven’t read enough books about merfolk! I’ll have to check out some of your recommendations 🙂
Apparently none of us have! I hope you like them 🙂
OH MY GOODNESS DID YOU WRITE THIS POST JUST FOR ME? I love merfolk stories but there’s always so many books to read and so little time that they often fall by my wayside 🙁 I also love books with sirens, even though they are not exactly merfolk. Most of these are already on my TBR but 2 of them weren’t, so I am going to check them out more on Goodreads. Thanks for the recommendation x
Idk, authors seem to use mermaid and siren interchangeably even though, originally, they were very different creatures, so I’m not sure how that happened lol. I hope you enjoy these books!