Publisher: Felwel and Friends (Raincoast Books)
Pages: 324
From Goodreads: "Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he’s heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma’s gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .
Told from both Emma and Galen’s points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance."
I don't think that I can eloquently sum up my feelings for this and do it justice in a review because in all honesty all I want to do is fan-girl sequel until y'all run out and pre-order yourselves a copy of this book. This book was such a pleasure to read and it is one of the best books I have read this year (it is in my top 5 books of 2012 amongst "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer, "Dearly, Departed" by Lia Habel, "The Pledge" by Kimberly Derting, and "The Selection" by Kiera Cass).
Galen is very well on his way to becoming the new Daemon Black (RE: Jennifer Armentrout's "Lux" series). How so? I expect that after this book is released and everyone gets their preorders in their hot little hands he will develop a cult following not unlike Daemon- due to not only being utterly swoon-worthy and sarcastic, but even more- kind, caring, and sweet. Additionally, Emma was such a strong heroine, I very much appreciated the fact that she wasn't one of *those* girls- those girls being the one who completely falls head over heels for said swoon-worthy boy as soon as she sets her eyes upon him/ completely looses herself as their relationship comes into being- she was truly Galen's equal and could stand toe-to-toe with him (and out-snark him) any day of the week.
Not only did I enjoy Galen and Emma, I also LOVED the secondary characters, Rayna and Toraf. I thought that they brought so much humor to the book- from Rayna continuously rejecting Toraf/ threatening him at every turn, to Rayna and Emma's girl fight, to Toraf bringing out the green-eyed monster in Rayna so as to get his way.
The only complaint I have of this book is that I wish that the chapters in Galen's POV had actually been from his POV- they were actually told in third person rather than first person (like Emma's chapters were). I personally ADORE reading from male characters POVs, from Cassie Clare's various rewrites of "The Mortal Instruments" in Jace's POV, to Jennifer Armentrout's rewrite of "Obsidian" from Daemon's POV, to even Stephanie Meyer's rewrite of "Twilight" ("Midnight Sun") in Edward's POV.
Criticism aside, this is a STUNNING debut from Anna- she is truly an author to keep our eyes on. As becomes evident I cannot say enough good things about this book- from the flawlessly woven and totally unexpected mystery to the amazingly developed and complex characters to the unique storyline. I
Rating: 10/10
I received this book from the publisher to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.
Wow! You made this book sound awesome!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI also really love male POV's!
OOoh nice!! Reading lots of good reviews on this one! Thinking I will have to add yet another fabulous read to the teetering TBR mountains that decorate my room! Great review Avery!
ReplyDeleteI'm just starting this one and I'm excited. So glad to hear that you liked the characters and the story. YaY!
ReplyDeleteHey Avery! Popping back to answer your question from my Random Thursday post, Outside In didn't really end on a cliffhanger, but there's still things left unanswered. Nothing momentously killer--although it is to me!--just things left unsaid. Sort of a "where do we go from here?" kind of thing. Which is still tragic.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know series can be [temporarily] canceled. Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie's Wicked series is an example. That was canceled in 03, then brought back in 08 or 09, so there's always hope if sales do good!