Of Songs and Silence

Twisted Pages, Book 5

By: Elle Madison, Robin D. Mahle

Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Grant Cartwright

Enslaved by circumstance. Doomed by fate.

Three girls were raised by the same monster. One of them will take her down. Zaina was stolen. Aika was chosen. But Melodi was born to this fate.

With both of her sisters gone, the only thing to break Mel's endless silence is the song of the sea that is slowly driving her insane. The song, and the gorgeous Mayiman man who haunts her dreams.

Ariihau has a mission, and no part of it involves a connection with the alluring girl he was sent to capture. Now, he's bound to protect her at any cost . . . even if it means betraying the people he has worked his entire life to free.

Life in the undersea Kingdom of Mayim is even more brutal than the one Mel has lived on land. Worse, her sisters are still at the mercy of Madame while she is trapped a world away. Helpless. Ari may be her only hope, if she can get past the lies he tells and the secrets he keeps.

Meanwhile, Aika and Zaina are headed to take down the monster who raised them, but there are no good choices where Madame is concerned. They might be able to plan the perfect attack, but not without a price. After all, can you really slay a beast without becoming one yourself?

Contains mature themes.

©2023 Whiskey and Willow Publishing, LLC (P)2024 Tantor

Excellent story!

I really enjoyed this series. I loved that the female characters were so strong. Intriguing elements of fantasy combined with familiar every day ideas. It’s a good listen. Narration is soothing.

A brilliant conclusion to a wonderful book series.

This book brought together all of the previous books and answers all of the questions that had been lingering at the end of each one. Excellent.

loved the unique stories

I loved the unique stories of this series. and I loved all the unique characters.

Dark and dreamy

Like all of the books by these authors, this series did not disappoint. They were dark and not your typical retelling of a fairy tale. Sisterhood is a bond that is as old as time, blood or not.

Love it

My favorite book of the series and a great conclusion to the story. Love the narration and the story.

The Little Mermaid Fights Back

This is the end of The Twisted Pages series that presents Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid retold with dark twists, brutality, and passion. I love how these stories as fairy tales for grownups, have enough likenesses to the originals to be recognized, yet also plenty of creative flair with new details & changes. These stories are not meant for anyone who doesn’t love fantasy. But if you have a side that tires of today’s contemporary fiction about wayward teens, family secrets, divorces, lost kids, career women, cheating spouses, finding oneself, and serial killers, then any of the books by these authors are a welcome break. The only thing that gets a little repetitive is that the romances always start out as dislike/hate turning to like/love and then intense finding each other as the perfect loves of their lives. That part, while humorous and fun, is also very predictable. All of the women lead characters are strong, beautiful, charismatic, and brave, and the male leads are handsome, smart, bold, strong, and very romantic after they first spend time denying that love is developing. It’s all in fun but this is definitely part of the plot of all if their books.,
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this entire series, as well as all the other books by these authors. I can get totally lost in these story & the narration is absolutely outstanding.

This book tied it all together with some very imaginative ideas

After having read through all these books the ending was short and sweet. Anticlimatic but how much more appropriate to end the reign of terror simply.

I loved Melody & the Little Mermaid retelling best.

Overall, I loved the characters & the allegory to Beauty & The Beast and the dark retelling of The Little Mermaid. The world building was excellent.

There were times when I felt the Einar /Zaina relationship dragged out. I felt like they could have connected sooner and the back and forth between them got old to the point of annoyance.
I also felt the story arc between these characters were similar to those in the Lochlann Deception. The way Zaina left with Damian reminded me of when Galina left with ALexi, and Davin went after her.

I liked Aika and Remy, However, in book 5, their relationship fell kind of flat to me. I almost felt like he was wasn’t as invested in Aika as Ainar & Arihau were in their love interests. Being told their feelings at the end didn’t work for me.

My favorite duo was Melodi & Arihau, and I really enjoyed the underwater world that was developed.

Madam, and her father were excellent villains, and I liked how much they fueled my anger.

While the ending wasn’t bad, it felt rushed to me. I had invested my time in five books. More information about each of the kingdoms and the lives of the characters would have been more rewarding, IMHO.
For example, how did Remy get through his grief, and how did he & Aika rebuild the kingdom? How did everyone respond when Zaina showed up, resurrected from the dead, and crowned queen? How did Melodi & Arihau navigate their underwater kingdom after all was said & done? After all, she was the granddaughter of a hated king. What changes were made, how did the people receive them as a couple?

Despite the lack of reward at the end, I enjoyed these books overall and was sad when the series came to an end. Would recommend for sure.

Why are the dark characters sooooooo evil?

The stories of this series are addictive… I love the sisters ….however,
The dark/ evil characters became tedious…. And hard to listen to…. As their motivation seems unfounded ….