Coming Up for Air

This is a new author to me and very much different from what I read. I loved it. It was a welcome change. I don't read supernatural but this one is done well. I was pulled in from the moment I started reading. It is not like normal fairytales. Thank goodness. This book has the perfect combination of feels to keep you invested. There are laughs as well as some serious things that happen. There is also friendship death and love. Like I said everything to keep you reading coming up for air and then holding your breath.

The book starts off on not such a great place for Leigh. He is struggling to live and as his life before his eyes flashed before him, he sees a man. A beautiful man and he kisses him. Tolly then wakes up at home and not remembering anything else. Along comes his savior in the form of Tolly. Reading about a merman was different. He is fully functioning and has a big heart and he just wants to fit in and be loved.

Leigh is not the guy Tolly thinks he is. He works for a not so great man and doubled crossed a man not even better. He doesn't know who he can trust and his neighborhood loves him. He is what they need and when things are broken Leigh is there to help him out the best he can, form fixing appliances to babysitting.

I liked the friendship between Tolly and Leigh and reading about it grow. There is an attraction from the beginning that I liked. It wasn't instant and it grew. He teaches Tolly and Tolly teaches him. Tolly is on a time limit as well. Can Tolly teach Leigh another way to live life and can Leigh overcome his past and move on to become more with the help of Tolly.

Overall I liked this book and would for sure read more.

Coming Up For Air by Amanda Meuwissen is the first book that I’ve read by this author, but it won’t be the last book that I read by her. The book had complex characters and an interesting plot. I was entertained from the first page to the last.

The book is based loosely on the “Little Mermaid” fairy tale. I liked that the author changed up the roles of the fairy tale and made the story her own. In this tale, we have two warring mobs fighting for each other’s territory, seedy dock workers, thieves, and many other unsavory characters. Then you have the merfolk. They aren’t like in the Little Mermaid. The merfolk have three possible forms. In their original form, they have razor sharp teeth, long sharp claws, and are deadly fighters who live to drown humans. They also have a form that looks more like a friendly merman with normal human-like features except for their tails, which are still very much a merman’s tail. Then they have their human form complete with human legs which they only get when they share a kiss with a human.

The kiss grants the human special abilities also, like the ability to breathe underwater and achieve the human-like merfolk form, although they only get that form if they bond with the merman. But bestowing a kiss on a human isn’t without its consequences. Ancient laws state that if the merman is given a vow of love by the one he kissed, the merman will be able to keep his legs. If not, he will be put to death when he returns to the water.

Tolomeo, aka Tolly, comes from a race of killers—merfolk who drown humans for fun. But Tolly is different. He was raised to be kind to humans and other creatures of the sea. When he sees a human in trouble, he offers a kiss, granting the man the ability to breathe underwater and himself the ability to walk on land, at least until the next full moon. If he isn’t able to obtain a vow of love by the one he kissed, then he will be put to death upon returning to the water.

Leigh Hurley is best friends with Mob boss Arthur Sweeney’s son, Alvin, and Leigh has been making a name for himself by being a little bit like “Robin Hood.” Trying to make a name for himself and move up in the ranks in Sweeney’s Mob, he steals payments that are supposed to be being paid to the mob run by the Moretti brothers and eventually ends up getting caught and getting weights shackled to his ankles and taking a swim in the river. But somehow he escapes certain death. The last thing he remembers before waking up on the riverbank is a beautiful face and a soft kiss. And then Tolomeo turns up naked at Leigh’s apartment. And he ends up becoming Leigh’s bodyguard/boyfriend. But even though Tolly can see and feel how much Leigh loves him, Leigh doesn’t believe in saying the words. And the ancient laws state that he has to make the vow out loud to count. What will Tolly do?

I loved both Leigh and Tolly. I loved the chemistry between them, and I was completely invested in their feelings and actions. They even made me cry a couple of times, and I love when that happens because it shows just how invested I have become in their story.

I hope that the author will write many more books about the merfolk because I can’t be the only one out there that loves reading about them. I also can’t wait to read more books by this author.

*Sighs* what a book. Where do I start? Ok, so merfolk. Perfect right? And this book had everything. Death, hope, love, angst and a lovely ending. Characters who, by all rights, shouldn’t hope for the good, but strive for better. For love and happiness and a life well lived.

Trying to find a way out of this life of crime is nearly impossible. It definitely is now that Leigh is on his way down to his death with cement bricks. But out of nowhere, he sees a face and soon is on the beach, alive. He goes home to crash, hoping he’s safe for the night, since no one expects him to be alive. The next day brings a surprise. A beautiful man named Tolly. The one who saved him. The one he has a bond with now and a secret or two. Surely, mermaids are real, right? But Leigh sees Tolly in the flesh. Tolly becomes Leigh’s bodyguard, friend and lover and hopes one day soon Leigh will love him and seal the pact. But Leigh is caught in the middle of some mob wars, and everyone seems to want him dead. Leigh also doesn’t believe much in love, at least not the words. Between people trying to kill them, and Leigh’s fears, Tolly may not get the love he desires and needs. And if he doesn’t, he will never be able to stay. Time is running out and it’s going to be a toss up what will become the winner.

Maaaaannnnn. Could this be anymore heartbreaking??? Tolly finally having a chance at the love he desires with someone he has grown to love deeply himself. But fear keeps it from coming true. Hoping every day the actions he sees, will become the words he needs to here. Knowing each day is closer and closer to him going away for good. He can’t say anything for several reasons, so what does he do? Oh gah, I wanted to hug him so hard.

But I understood Leigh’s view of things, too. Growing up being constantly told love is no good, seeing the constant backstabbing and hatred and the life of crime everywhere, tends to leave someone cynical and skeptical. He doesn’t know how to let go of the fear to fully love someone. Or so he thought.

It’s amazing how quickly our fears can dissolve when we are losing the one thing that matters more than anything. It’s so hard to let go when it’s staring us in the face. But if we want to keep it, we have to grow and move forward, no matter how hard it may be. These guys, with their backgrounds, had every reason to scoff and say forget it. But together they found something in each other that they never found anywhere else. Even at the scary times. It’s a tearjerker and angsty, but it’s beautiful as well. It’s a good story and one I think you all will love.

Reviewed by Sammy for Diverse Reader

Leigh Hurley is trapped in a life of petty crime running small jobs for two different mob bosses and he’s finally been caught by one of them skimming money off the proceeds of leaning on small business owners for “protection” fees. Now with weights strapped to his ankles he is facing a long cold watery death. Perhaps it’s the lack of oxygen or perhaps it’s hysteria but as Leigh runs out of precious air he sees an angel in the water—an angel who kisses him and saves him…and then appears naked at his apartment door.


Tolly is one of the merfolk who dreams of being a man with two legs one day. When he spots Leigh in the water, Tolly is drawn to his goodness and sees a way to use the magic of the merfolk to achieve his dream. Now he has till the next full moon to convince Leigh that he loves him. But Tolly has a secret—one that he keeps hidden from Leigh for to reveal his true self spells disaster for his dream. All Leigh has to do is say the words but Leigh has been told for so long that love is a farce and vows never to say those three little words again.


Author Amanda Meuwissen has released an epic romantic fantasy titled, Coming Up for Air and I absolutely love it! Not only is Leigh that good-hearted bad guy who is trapped in poverty and a way of life that he desperately wants to get out from under but he has never really understood what it is to love another. His abusive, drunken father had repeatedly broken Leigh down, telling him he would never be loved and that all love is a sham. Enter sweet, naïve Tolly—a merman who has learned everything he knows about mankind from the rom-com movies he loves to watch from his perch in the sea. Oh Tolly—I wanted to bundle him up and take him home with me. Kind, sweet—a creature harboring a secret that shames him and yet still he dreams that somehow he can get Leigh to love him and all will be well—they will live happily ever after.


With an incredible side cast of characters and some nail-biting action, this novel was just a delight from beginning to end. Nothing was easy for poor Leigh and you could understand why he felt that he would never be good enough for Tolly who oozed goodness from every pore. The two of them danced around the edge of commitment and had me hanging on to the very end hoping against all hope that Leigh would say those magical three words. The final chapters of this novel takes you on an emotional roller coaster and every heart-stopping moment is worth it to get the ending the author gives us.


Amanda Meuwissen is a new author for me but I will say that I have every intention of checking out her other works—she is a consummate story teller with a brilliant imagination. I adored Coming Up For Air and I highly recommend it to you.

made in a long time.
Coming up for Air is gripping, suspenseful, charming, sexy and purely delightful.
I absolutely loved Tolly. I loved all of the characters and loved the storyline.
It is original with shady characters ( mafia men and thieves), unsavory characters, twists, suspense, and romance. Then toss in a sexy, sweet merman that is trying to keep his legs and the man he loves and you have a great nail-biting, page-turning read.
If you like any of that and looking for something different in the fantasy realm this is for you... oh yeah there is some violence, but that is expected from the mob world setting.