Ashlyn can’t wait to finish high school and go to college in Florida with her best friend Tatiana, but fate has another plan for her. Tatiana isn’t who Ashlyn thinks she is, and Ashlyn isn’t who she thinks she is either.
Secrets lurk beneath the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, and what Ashlyn discovers will change her life forever. If you enjoy high‑school stories with a dash of romance and a pinch of mer‑kingdom conflict, this series is for you.
Title: Mer Tales
Author: Brenda Pandos
Genres: Fantasy > Paranormal > Mermaids
Read Format: Kindle Edition
Total Pages: 1,312
Reading Date: 05th February 2026 – 20th February 2026
The reading order – How to Read Mer Tales Series by Brenda Pandos
- 1 Everblue
- 2 Evergreen
- 3 Everlost
- 4 Evermore
Everblue
Best friends share everything with each other. Or do they? Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Frances Lanski is tired of her boring, single life. Spending time with her best friend Tatiana, dreaming about kissing Tatiana’s twin brother Fin, and swimming competitively are her only sanctuaries.
The girls plan to leave their drab lakeside town far behind for college. But when Tatchi fails to return home after a family emergency, and no one knows where the family has gone, Ash chooses to do something drastic to find them.
Ashlyn is about to discover that what she’d thought to be true her whole life wasn’t, and the truth is too fantastical to imagine. Secrets lurk beneath the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, secrets that will change Ashlyn’s life forever.
My thoughts…
I came to this book already familiar with many of Mermaid’s stories, so I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, the main characters felt flat, and the plot did not offer anything extra special. On the plus side, the story is told in first person, a format I enjoy, and it alternates between Ash and Fin, which keeps the perspective varied.
Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Frances Lanski, known as Ash, is in her senior year and a captain of the swim team at South Tahoe High School. Her life revolves around school, swim practice, occasionally helping at her family’s shop on the Lake Tahoe pier, and hanging out with her best friend Tatiana. Outside of those routines, she has little social life, and her point of view and dramas revolve around those places.
Almost eighteen-year-old Finley Samuel Helton, known as Fin, is homeschooled with his twin sister Tatiana. He hopes to take over his father’s sailing business, which includes guarding Tahoe Gate, the gateway to the mer city of Natatoria. Fin’s chapters take us to a more interesting and fascinating world as he introduces the mer hierarchy, politics, and the villain. His storyline is far less boring than Ash’s.
Perhaps I wanted more from both main characters. Ash. Instead of constant whining, I wished she had a stronger arc or a surprising lineage. I also hoped Fin would grow a backbone and stop relying on his father to fix things. That said, they are both young and immature, so their behaviour is believable.
Overall, this is not the best book I have read, but it is not the worst either. There is a clear conflict and a rescue to be done next that keeps the plot moving, and I am curious enough to continue to the next book. If you are looking for a light, cheesy read, this will fit the bill😉.
Evergreen
A kingdom on the brink of war.
A king on the fringes of insanity.
A family running for their lives.
Ash and Fin’s only desire is to be together and dive into their happily ever after, though their conflicting worlds work to pull them apart. Neither is ready to convert to the other’s life: become a human or a mer. Little do they know that somewhere in Natatoria, a secret holds the fine fabric of everyone’s lives together.
If the truth is discovered, Ash and Fin will no longer have the luxury of waiting. They’ll be forced to choose. But will it be for loyalty or love? Or will someone else make the choice for them if they can’t decide?
Enter the watery world of treachery, greed, and the binding mer kiss.
My thoughts…
Evergreen covers events in Ash and Fin’s lives from April 11 through Ash’s birthday on April 22. In the first book, we learn that Fin and Tatiana’s eighteenth birthdays are in May, so this volume clears up my earlier confusion about Ash’s age. I had assumed she was a year younger than Fin, but she is actually a few days older.
The opening chapters are slow, but the last 40 per cent delivers the important stuff: action, revelations, and a twist that genuinely surprises me. I had a hunch when Galadriel appeared, but the reveal still lands well.
Galadriel is annoying at first, especially when she keeps pestering Fin. With so little known about her motives and her flirtatious behaviour, I found her worrying. Once she gets what she wants, though, she becomes a very different “Merson”, from spoiled princess to someone responsible and more mature.
I have a good feeling about the next book. An adventure in Natatoria sounds like exactly the kind of setting that will keep me hooked, provided I get to read from Tatiana’s point of view, because I have had enough of Ash’s mundane life chapters.😆
Fin’s chapters already bring the story to life with mer politics. Tatiana’s voice could add emotional depth, and it would be fascinating to see what happens to her after that stolen kiss and how she reacts to everything that is unfolding.
Everlost
All she ever dreamt of was to be human.
With one kiss, Tatiana has discovered a love for a man she’d hated—the prince of Natatoria. Through the botched rescue attempt by her father against this union, an army of rebels has revealed their identity and intentions—treason. When the King is fatally injured, Azor takes things into his own hands and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants: to be king. Including killing Tatiana’s father.
Jacob had always been loyal to the crown, that was until his brother‘s banishment to die on Bone Island without an explanation. Invited to help on a mission with Jack, leader of the underground army, Jacob learns the truth about the kingdom and of Jack’s daughter, a girl with beautiful blue eyes and a heart of gold. Falling for her—a promised princess—wasn’t supposed to happen.
Caught between the bond and her family, Tatiana, the future Queen, must overcome the promise to fight for what’s right and uncover the truths of the past or all will become Everlost.
My thoughts…
Everlost, the third book in the series, is by far my favourite. The story picks up the moment Tatiana is separated from Fin and her parents after the promise ceremony. That means no more mundane day‑to‑day scenes, just politics, danger, and the wonder of the underwater world, which is a refreshing change after books one and two. Much to my dismay, though, the writing shifts from first person to third person. 😢
This book throws us straight into the shark’s mouth, literally. There are sharks everywhere, and Tatiana is surrounded by danger almost constantly. The only difference is whether she’s still under Azor’s influence or not.
More than once, I felt like clubbing Tatiana over the head with Jacob’s trident to snap her out of the promise spell. Like Jacob, I couldn’t wait to see the version of her we met in book one: full of life, energy, and her own opinions.
Jacob, on the other hand, is a mystery. His name is mentioned only twice in the first book, and that’s it. It’s fun to finally learn more about him here, but even so, we still don’t get much about his personality or backstory.
Overall, I enjoyed Tatiana’s journey, and I’m satisfied with how the story connects back to book two. Everything seems to have aligned into the same timeline again, and the major problem has been dealt with.
As for the next book, Evermore, I have no idea what direction it will take. College life in Florida? Something about the mysterious Ferdinand? Or maybe Alastar and Colin’s story? Or how Jack managed to bring Merric and assemble the team for the rescue mission? Whatever it is, I’m curious.
Evermore
Mother knows best. The underwater world of Natatoria is enjoying a long-awaited period of peace – and with it, the merpeople’s very first chance to visit human civilisation. Ash and Fin’s wedding marks the perfect opportunity for the mers to celebrate their newfound freedom. But when they return home to Tahoe to prepare, Ash’s absence from the human world has raised more than a few questions about where she’s been.
When blaming fingers point to Ash and Fin as the culprits who burned down Fin’s home, even his mind-jacking mojo hasn’t stopped the authorities from issuing the happy couple an early wedding gift—a matching pair of arrest warrants. Instead of bringing their families together, Ash and Fin’s upcoming wedding drives a wedge between the very cultures they’re trying to bridge. And when their reality takes an unexpected twist, Ash realises her dual existence comes with a hefty price.
Neither her human nor her mer family understand the sacrifices they’re asking of her, and as much as she wants to please both her mer and human mothers, she knows she’s one misstep away from breaking two maternal hearts. But with humans becoming aware of the mer, Ash and Fin must scramble to save their families, their societies . . . and their love. The only thing they know for sure is that when it comes to Natatorians, old habits die hard. And a royal should never get too comfortable.
My thoughts…
Evermore is, for now, likely the final book in the Mer Tales. Although the author once asked whether readers wanted another instalment, but more than a decade has passed since publication, so it seems this will remain the last entry.
The narration returns to first person, alternating between Ash and Fin, and the focus shifts more to life on land than to the Mer kingdom. There are twists and turns, but none that surprised me, at least, not personally.
Tension builds gradually, moving from wedding preparations and safety concerns to a full‑blown power grab. Toward the end, the pace becomes chaotic and fast, with a lot thrown into the finale.
My favourite remains the third book, and the reason this series doesn’t earn more than three stars for me is simple: I disliked the characters. They come across as childish, especially Ash, whose behaviour in this book was too much for me to handle.
Overall, the series feels best suited to younger readers: the characters often think and act immaturely, and many problems are resolved easily, sometimes by luck, rather than through complex solutions. I’m hoping the author’s other series, Talisman, which I’m about to read next, will offer more satisfying character development and deeper plotting. 🤞
