The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: A Pint of Peaches and Poison

Series: Enchanted Confections #7 (standalone within the series)

Author: Anabelle Raven

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Romance

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

1 Pinch of Poison.
1 Dash of Daring.
1 Fragile Alliance (and the lies that might set it on fire).
Their marriage was arranged a century ago, but she’ll do everything she can to stop it now.

Nykita spent years fighting her scheduled arranged marriage, and now that the day has finally arrived, she will take whatever measures she must to avoid binding herself to the ocean fae’s prince.

Warrick is determined to build a successful marriage with the human princess, but he did not expect to find her little kingdom on the verge of collapsing on itself.

Warrick and Nykita need to see past each others’ crisp edges and expose their own tender vulnerabilities if they hope to stop a rebellion and save the alliance between their people. It’s a good thing they have a fire chicken to help.

How will Warrick respond to life on land, reluctant rebels, and a princess who doesn’t eat sugar? What will Nykita do when she discovers she has worse enemies than the man she married? Find out in this delightful tale of magic, tension, and no-spice romantasy! – summary from Goodreads

*I received an ARC from the author, and all opinions are my own.

A Pint of Peaches and Poison is a wonderful Little Mermaid retelling with arranged marriage, enemies-to-lovers, and a rebellion.

This book was absolutely amazing and I loved it so much! This is definitely one of the best Little Mermaid retellings I have ever read and I highly recommend it!

I loved the characters so much, and Warrick definitely gave golden retriever energy! Nykita was a lovely protagonist, and her character growth was amazing. She started off so scared and angry, and by the end she was happy and at peace. Nykita also grew to be more trusting. I loved this change. I also loved how she genuinely cared for her people and wanted to protect them. Nykita also had insulin resistance, which was beautifully represented in this book.

Warrick was amazing! He was so sweet and protective. He was genuinely trying to fit into this new world, and I really enjoyed his thoughts on human culture. He was very understanding and kind towards Nykita, which was so moving. I love protective MMCs, and Warrick was so protective of Nykita, it was adorable.

The romance in this book is arranged marriage with some enemies-to-lovers. Warrick and Nykita really grew together, and Warrick was so patient with Nykita and her nervousness. They were truly adorable together, and I loved seeing their relationship grow.

There was also a rebellion in this book, which I really enjoyed! It added action and twists to this story and deepened the world. The world building was amazing as well. There were two different kingdoms with different cultures and customs, and they were not at friendly terms with each other. I believe this takes place in another Anabelle Raven world, but you don’t need to read those to love and understand this book. I also just love that a rebellion was put into the Little Mermaid story- it makes it more exciting in my mind.

The sea monster was such a unique twist on the traditional villain, and I loved the inclusion of the pain in the feet and lost voice in such a unique way.

Floreo was the animal companion in this book, who I really liked, and I loved the twist pertaining to him at the end. He was a very minor character, but I loved the small snippets with him in it.

The ending was wonderful! I loved Nykita and Warrick working together and choosing each other.

A Pint of Peaches and Poison was such a sweet, action-packed Little Mermaid retelling full of romance and rebellion.

A Pint of Peaches and Poison releases on June 19, 2026.

Quotes:

“‘Love is a choice, and I’m determined to love you.’”

“‘Kita, my love, I will pick peaches with you any time you ask. Actually, anything, really. I would consider it a privilege to do anything with you any time you’d like.’”