This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
The Little Mermaid acts as a launching point for something beautiful and strange in Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, the debut novella from prolific short story author Aimee Ogden.
Years ago, Atuale, the daughter of a Sea-Clan lord, turned her back on her people to take a husband on land with the help of technology from Yanja, her former lover, also known as the World-Witch. Now a plague has struck the land-dwellers, and the only way to save her husband is for Atuale to turn again to the World-Witch, whose black-market connections may help to find a cure off-world.
Slim but rich, this novella has its heart in the relationship between Atuale and Yanja. Atuale is a refreshingly uncynical depiction of the fairy tale princess grown up: still brave and longing for adventure, still in love with her husband, disappointed only that they have had no children together. Yet Yanja was the lover of her youth, and those ties remain strong even if they parted when Yanja's assistance in adapting Atuale for life on land led to a war among the sea lords. Yanja makes for a pleasing counterweight: mercenary, acerbic, but perhaps with more loyalty than one might think at first glance. As the two fight against time and bureaucracy, Atuale also examines the decisions she made in the past and what she wants for her future. This novella will leave readers eager for more from Ogden. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: An enchanting science fiction fairy tale epilogue considers the choices made for love.

This review was originally published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
In the sixth entry in Kelley Armstrong's suspenseful Rockton series (after Alone in the Wild), Detective Casey Duncan and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, confront attacks in the Canadian wilderness and dark secrets concealed by their town's founders.
Rockton is an off-the-grid settlement where victims of crimes and criminals alike can disappear for two to five years, for a price. It's not a place open to outsiders, but when Casey and Eric stumble upon a hiker suffering from apparent stab wounds, they must bring her there. The victim speaks only Danish, but with the interpreting services of a new resident, they determine that her attacker seems to be one of the hostiles, people who live outside of Rockton who have reverted to a primal state. But some evidence suggests a different answer, and a possible connection to Casey's theory about the origin of the hostiles.
Although the Rockton series is set in the contemporary, real world, the town's isolation and limited access to technology creates an atmosphere similar to a historical western or post-apocalyptic science fiction. Fantasy fans who appreciate the level of detail required to bring an invented world to life may also enjoy that this intricately twisted mystery comes with equal attention to how such a community could function. New readers will quickly be brought up to speed, and series fans will eagerly consume new answers about questions at the core of Rockton's history. All will hotly anticipate the next installment. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Another thrilling investigation by Detective Casey Duncan reveals long-hidden truths about an isolated community.