A Tale of Cursed Tides Summary: A Merfolk Romantasy
What Happens When a Cursed Mer Princess Must Break a Mortal Heart?
For twenty-two years, the twelve-island kingdom of Vantillios has been sealed behind an enchanted barrier. No ship enters, no citizen leaves, and no one knows why the curse holds.
Princess Alara Eldoris learns the answer on her twenty-second birthday, when a witch called The Crow offers her a way out with a price attached.
A Tale of Cursed Tides by T.R. Sherring follows Alara from her ocean kingdom to a cold mortal castle, where a deadline, a disguise, and a murderer all wait for her.
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TL;DR: The Short Version
Alara has until the next full moon to make Prince Tarben of Solvardunn fall in love with her, then break his heart. Fail, and her kingdom stays cursed forever.
- The setup: A witch’s bargain sends a Mer princess into the mortal realm in human form.
- The complication: The seduction becomes real, and a killer is hunting inside Cliffcrest Castle.
- The stakes: Alara’s daily potion, her secret identity, and her freedom all hang on a single sip at the same time each day.
- Core themes: duty versus personal freedom, deception and trust, grief, and sacrifice.
Characters in This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Princess Alara Eldoris | Mer princess of Vantillios who enters a bargain with The Crow to break her kingdom’s curse. |
| Prince Tarben Borealis | Heir to the throne of Solvardunn and the target of Alara’s mission. |
| The Crow | Ancient witch who cursed Vantillios and sets the terms of Alara’s bargain. |
| Lady Livia Hywell | Court noblewoman who carries out a series of ritual murders at Cliffcrest Castle. |
| Prince Hugo Borealis | Tarben’s younger brother, who suspects Alara of witchcraft and later aids her. |
| Princess Amalie Borealis | Twelve-year-old sister of Tarben and Hugo, rescued from drowning by Alara. |
| Queen Callianassa | Ruler of Vantillios and Alara’s grandmother. |
| Lord Magnus | Nobleman and Tarben’s childhood friend who assists Livia’s plot. |
| Captain Filip | Royal Guard officer and personal defender of Prince Hugo. |
| Runa | Castle maid assigned to Alara who becomes her confidante. |
| King Rikard III | King of Solvardunn and father to Tarben, Hugo, and Amalie. |
| Lord Hywell | High-ranking noble and Livia’s husband. |
| Lady Oriane Valtteri | Court noblewoman seeking a betrothal to Tarben. |
| Basia | Reclusive witch living in Solvardunn’s pine forest. |
| Doran | Alara’s Velcarin scholar and tutor in Vantillios. |
| Mae | Palace cook at Vellamere Palace and a mother figure to Alara. |
| Captain Hansen | Captain of the Royal Guard who interrogates Alara. |
| Lord Helvig | Royal advisor to King Rikard. |
| Anders | Castle dogkeeper who discovers Lord Hywell’s body. |
| Marta & Ingrid | Castle healer and matron of Cliffcrest Castle. |
A Tale of Cursed Tides Summary: The Full Story
Spoilers ahead. This section recounts the novel’s main events from beginning to end.
Orradon is split between Amaros, the northern continent of immortal Velcarin, and Anerdor, the southern mortal realm. Vantillios sits in Amaros, ringed by the coral reef called Vell’s Crown and locked behind an enchanted barrier for twenty-two years.
The Mer are Velcarin, created by four goddesses. They live on land, but their legs turn into golden-scaled tails after twenty-four hours away from the ocean.
Daily contact with the sea keeps them alive. Twenty-two years before the story, Alara’s mother, Princess Sarina, bargained with a witch to live on land with a mortal man.
When Sarina refused to pay the witch’s price, The Crow cursed all of Vantillios. On the eve of her twenty-second birthday, Alara attends her Ascension Ball expecting to manifest elevated magic.
Midnight passes and nothing happens. A spirit projection of The Crow then crashes the ceremony and offers a bargain.
Alara must travel to Solvardunn, make Prince Tarben Borealis declare his love before the next full moon, and break his heart. The Crow supplies a fennel-scented potion that holds Alara’s human legs on land.
She must drink one sip at the same time every day and stay out of the sea. Alara leaps through a whirlpool portal and lands off the coast of Solvardunn during a violent storm.
Spotting the wreck of the warship The Queen Astrid, she uses elementary light magic to pull a drowning girl from the water. A fisherman named Anders finds them on a rocky beach near Barvik.
The girl is Princess Amalie, Tarben’s younger sister. Alara adopts the alias Alara Veradis and claims to be an educated commoner from Ranstein.
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At Cliffcrest Castle she meets King Rikard III, the analytical Prince Hugo, and the chivalrous, golden-haired Prince Tarben. Tarben is drawn to her immediately.
Alara hides her potion vial in an armoire boot and navigates court life. She clashes with the condescending Lady Oriane Valtteri and befriends Lady Livia Hywell.
Time with Tarben in the hedge maze, at a cliffside cove, and through the port of Barvik builds a genuine spark. Dark events interrupt the courtship.
A seal is found brutalized and skinned near the cove. At a masquerade ball, Tarben and Alara share an intimate dance.
That same night, Lord Hywell is found murdered on the castle grounds, his fingers severed and a witchcraft symbol carved into his flesh. Alara then receives an anonymous blackmail note bearing the same symbol.
The note threatens to kill Tarben if she flees the castle. Hugo searches her bedchamber and finds the hidden potion vial.
He identifies the elixir as witchcraft and orders her to leave Solvardunn or face the gallows. Alara slips into the dungeons to retrieve her vial.
She finds Hugo lying near death in a cell, ambushed by an unseen attacker who shattered the vial against his skull. Guard Captain Hansen finds Alara holding Hugo’s bloodied sword, and she is placed under guard.
Without her potion, her body begins to transform. She uses an animal bone to summon The Crow.
The witch brings a replacement vial but adds a new wager. If Alara fails to win Tarben’s confession before the full moon, she becomes the Crow’s servant forever.
The Crow also reveals that a local witch named Basia holds secrets about the kingdom’s wards. Amalie convinces the King of Alara’s innocence, and Alara is released from house arrest.
She teams up with Captain Filip to find Basia. They reach the witch’s decrepit cottage and find her decapitated and pierced with silver yew arrows.
They recover a blank enchanted notebook that serves as a hidden grimoire. On the return journey, skeletal demon hounds called maglocunos ambush them.
When a beast drags Alara into a stream, her elevated power awakens. She manipulates the water into a destructive maelstrom vortex, kills the monster, and saves Filip.
Back at court, her maid Runa is found tortured and murdered in the same dungeon cell where Hugo was attacked. Tarben returns from border skirmishes and announces his betrothal to Lady Oriane.
Alara, Hugo, and Magnus discover that Oriane is under a spell cast by a magical ruby love amulet. Lady Livia gave her the amulet.
Before the spell can be undone, Livia kidnaps Princess Amalie and demands the grimoire at Basia’s cottage before sunset. Alara chooses Amalie’s life over her own escape and rides out.
At the cottage, Livia reveals she is a selkie whose skin was burned years ago by a mortal noble. The burning trapped her on land.
Livia orchestrated the murders of Hywell, Basia, and Runa and attacked Hugo to complete an ancient blood ritual. The ritual’s ingredients include the skin of her kin, the bone of her enemy, the blood of an innocent, the tongue of a lover, the essence of her body, and the heart of her desire.
The potion would let her steal Alara’s physical form and return to the sea. Her accomplice Lord Magnus ambushes Alara with silver yew manacles that neutralize her magic.
Livia stabs Alara in the chest with a silver blade. Before Livia can cut out her heart, Tarben, Hugo, and Filip charge into the clearing.
Tarben kills Livia and revives Amalie with an antidote. With the manacles removed, Alara’s Velcarin magic heals the chest wound almost instantly, exposing her as a Mer princess.
The Crow then materializes in physical form to claim her. She demands that Alara dissolve Solvardunn’s protective wards.
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Using her elevated power over enchantments, Alara unbinds the wards everywhere except inside Basia’s cottage. Queen Callianassa and her Vanoran warriors burst through the shattered barrier.
The Crow retreats into the cottage and is instantly consumed by jade magic fire. With the twenty-two-year curse broken, Alara confesses the deceptive premise of her original bargain to Tarben.
Hurt by her lies, Tarben admits his love was real but asks for time to process. In the epilogue, Alara dives into the ocean cove before Tarben and Amalie, her golden tail shimmering as she returns to the water.
From the cliffs, a mysterious raven vows to steal her hard-won victory in the blood yet to be spilled.
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Books Like A Tale of Cursed Tides
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo: A lethal siren princess is forced into human form under a witch’s mandate to steal a human prince’s heart.
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer: A fairytale retelling built on breaking an urgent kingdom curse through court proximity and emotional manipulation.
The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen: A warrior princess infiltrates a rival kingdom to seduce its ruler under false pretenses amid heavy court intrigue.
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller: A witty heroine works undercover on a secret mission while sparring with a captivating male lead.
These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan: A dark romantasy featuring magical court bargains, hidden identities, and high-stakes romantic betrayal.
Memorable Quotes from A Tale of Cursed Tides
“The female’s lip curled as she mocked the monster who’d ensnared her. The raven didn’t know if it was incredibly impressive or exceedingly foolish. Either way, it would not change the outcome.”
“Make him fall in love with you, then break his heart.”
“I know how the expectations of others can be like a parasite to a sunflower. Once they’ve latched on to you, it can be difficult to thrive.”
“You know what they say: the only good Velcarin is a dead Velcarin.”
“My mind used to be quiet, but now it’s full of you. I’ve spent my life running from anything that could bind me, but I’m ready to be your willing captive.”
“I always knew this would end in hurt, I just never imagined it would be my own.”
Book Details at a Glance
- Genre & Subgenre: Romantic Fantasy (Romantasy) / New Adult Fantasy; Merfolk Fantasy, Court Intrigue Mystery, Fairytale Retelling
- Core Narrative Tropes: Secret bargain with a witch, mermaid in disguise, fake seduction turned real love, court whodunit, forced proximity
- Tone & Atmosphere: Atmospheric, romantic, suspenseful, and witty, blending coastal ocean magic with gothic castle mystery
- Primary Conflict: Alara must win a love confession within a 22-day deadline while stopping a ritual murderer at court
- Pacing Style: Fast-paced and chronologically tight, built around a ticking-clock countdown to the full moon
- ISBN: 978-1067122201 (ISBN-10: 1067122206)
- Pages: 392
- Book Structure: 52 chapters plus a prologue, epilogue, author’s note, map, acknowledgements, and about the author section
- Series: Book 1 of 2 in The Lore of Orradon
