Follow Friday + End of Mermaid Challenge

So the Summer Mermaid Reading Challenge is officially over! Below is the last of the mermaid reviews for me! In 14 weeks I read 15 mermaid books. They are listed below along with their reviews. I had the impression that lots of mermaid books were very badly written, but either I just got lucky or that's not true. Don't get me wrong: there were a few that didn't impress me, but overall I really loved all the mermaid books I read. I got to read lots of great books and was introduced to tons of new, amazing authors! Among my favorites were Jackson Pearce's Fathomless, Jenn Reese's Above World and Anna Bank's Of Poseidon. Some I wasn't as impressed with were Elizabeth Fama's Monstrous Beauty and Brenda Pandos's Everblue.

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson -- My Review

Seven Tears Into the Sea by Terri Farley -- My Review

Forgive my Fins by Terra Lynn Childs  -- My Review

Fins are Forever by Terra Lynn Childs -- My Review

Above World by Jenn Reese -- My Review

Mirage by Jenn Reese -- My Review

Florence by Ciye Cho -- My Review

Sea Change by Amiee Friedman -- My Review

The Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson -- My Review

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce -- My Review

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler -- My Review

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama -- My Review

Madly by M. Leighton -- My Review

I didn't have quite as much participation as I'd hoped, so I won't be doling out the prizes quite as originally announced. However, I do have prizes to hand out. They are listed below! Congrats to those who get them and thanks so much to everyone who participated. I hope you all had as good a time as I did reading about mermaids and their worlds!

Prize Bundles are as follows:

Anya of On Starships and Dragonwings wins: A copy of Alice Hoffman's Aquamarine, Fairies and Princesses Quickdraw book, Splash DVD, The Little Mermaid DVD, mermaid swag.

Jackie of No Bent Spines wins: Copy of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, Splash DVD, Copy of Persistence of Vision, mermaid swag.

Katelynn of Literary Chameleon wins: Copy of Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, Faerie Tale Theater's The Little Mermaid DVD, copy of Persistence of Vision, mermaid swag.

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Everblue by Brenda Pandos

Everblue by Brenda Pandos was...Everblue by Brenda Pandos was the last mermaid read of my challenge. I really didn't have time to read it, but I decided to squeeze it in come hell or high water, because I found it free on Amazon and I thought it would be stupid not to include it. 

Overall, this book was pretty good, but not great. I wasn't disappointed, per se, but I just wasn't wowed either. 

There were two POVs in this book. They were that of the main male and female characters, who are one another's love interests. This book did the thing where both POVs are first person, but they're different people. This is a growing trend in YA, and I've especially seen it a lot in the mermaid reads. I gotta say, I'm not a fan. Even when it's done really well--and often it isn't--I just find it jarring to jump first person heads like that. It always takes me right out of the story. But, that's just me. Lots of people don't mind it.

I thought the book could have used more description, especially of the mer world. And I didn't see a lot of differentiation between the male and female voice. Not that the male was femmy or anything, but if not for doing different things in the plot, it would have been hard to tell character voices apart. It would have been stronger if they'd been more distinct.

That said, it certainly wasn't terrible. Anyone who likes mermaid reads, YA romances, etc. would probably enjoy it. And I'll admit that I kept turning pages because I genuinely wanted to know what would happen next in the plot. It wasn't an oh-my-gosh-I-just-have-to-see-what-happens-next thing, but it was good enough that I was curious.

So, nothing to rave about, but still decent. I'm glad I read it, for the challenge if nothing else. Overall, though, my review is just, meh. 

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Book selfie! Snap a picture of you and your current read! 

Yup, you guys get to see me without makeup. I should care more but...yeah I really don't.

So I'm technically not reading this yet, but it's the one I'm about to start. My sister is getting married in two days, so I'm really not going to get any reading done this weekend. But, come Monday, I have a date with Cassandra Clare. Yea!

My finger is sort of covering it, but if you can't tell, that's City of Ashes.

So, what's your current read?

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Mermaid Challenge Reviews + Follow Friday!

Welcome to the final week of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! This will be the last week for reviews, but I'll do a closing post next week telling who prizes are going to, etc. (Follow Friday below!)

This week, I read two mermaid books. They were Of Poseidon by Anna Banks and Everblue by Brenda Pandos. (Of Poseidon is reviewed below but I didn't quite get through Everblue. I'll probably post it next week in the closing Mermaid Challenge post.)

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So I'd heard lots of good things about Of Poseidon and was excited to read it. I found it on sale on Amazon and got it for cheap and totally did a nerdy little dance about it. Once I started reading it, I was almost immediately disappointed for one reason and one reason only: The POV is split fairly evenly between Galen and Emma. Emma's POV is written in the first person--pretty standard for YA and, as I've learned, mermaid reads especially--but Galen's POV is weird. It's still written in first person but it's written in this bizarre, present tense. That may not seem weird but when you read it...well, let's just say it takes some getting used to. And you do. Get used to it. But at first, I found it very jarring. It just pulled me right out of the story and I had to concentrate to figure out what exactly was being said. I was sure I'd give the book a negative review because of it. 

But...I kept reading and...guess what? I really liked the book. The story was very well-conceptualized, the characters were swoon-worthy and Emma--even though she sometimes came across as a whiny teenager--you just had to admire her spunk. She kept me laughing. And of course you get caught up in the romance and just have to root for the main characters. (It even has great sidekicks in Galen's sister and his meremate, as it were. The ending throws a wild (and delightful) curve ball, and now of course I can't wait to get my hands on book 2, Of Triton. 

So, if you like a great summer read with lots of romance, comedy, and spunk, this is the book for you! I totally loved it. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the weird POV thing. :D

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Share something you've learned about book blogging or just blogging in general in the last month.  

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Not sure if this qualifies, but it's all I could think of. Maybe we could say I've known this for awhile, but I've recently learned more about it. In many of my posts, I use colored boxes to put around questions or quotes. I discovered how to do them some time ago--a year or more--through another blogger who'd post an HTML how-to. I always just copied and pasted, changing the color code as I wanted. Unfortunately, the post I've been using was recently taken down, so I had to learn and memorize the actual code. But, here it is:

<blockquote style="background-color: lightblue; border: 2px solid #666; padding: 10px;">

You put that line of HTML before the content you want in the box. At the end of the content you want in the box, you type </blockquote>. If you want a list of color codes, they are HERE.

It ends up looking like this! :D

Anyway, like I said, I've done this for a long time, but I've recently had to learn to type the code rather than just copy and paste. 

So, what have you learned about blogging lately?

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Follow Friday + Mermaid Challenge Reviews

Welcome to Week 13 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

Only two more weeks of mermaid challenge to go! It ends on August 15th!

This week, I read two mermaid books, though one of them was so short as to be considered a short story, or perhaps a novella. They were Sea Change by Aimee Friedman and Madly by M. Leighton. (See my other blog for the Madly book review.)

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Mermaid Book Reviews, Week 12 + Follow Friday

Welcome to Week 12 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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For this week's review, I read Fins are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs. I read the first book in this series, Forgive my Fins, a few weeks ago and loved it! So I couldn't wait to pick up the sequel.

Childs has a writing style that's just delightful. There's plenty of angst still going on in Lily Sanderson's life, but it's all so hysterical that you just can't stop turning the pages.

*Spoiler for book 1* She and Quince are together now, *end of spoiler, but that doesn't mean life's going to get any easier. Lily plans to renounce her claim to the throne of Thalassinia in order to live on land with Quince, but she hasn't actually told him that being with him means she'll lose her position in the merekingdom.

In addition, she never planned on a future on land, which means she hasn't paid much attention to grades. Now, if she wants to help her kingdom from above--her idea is to become a marine biologist--she needs a decent SAT score and to get into a good college. Stress!

To make things worse, her horrible, bratty cousin shows up needing help. Apparently Dossinia has done something that's made Lily's father, the sea King, banish her from the kingdom, and as her last duty as royal daughter, he wants Lily to help Doe grow a conscience and sense of responsibility. Not like that'll be hard or anything.

As disaster piles upon disaster, hilarity ensues and Lily thinks she might just go crazy. Or, you know, at least miss her college interview. I totally loved this book. According to goodreads, there's a third book. I was thinking it wasn't out yet, but it is. I don't know if my library has it, but I'm about to check! You all know I'm not huge on YA or high school drama, and that's exactly what these books are. But for me, they're the exception. Totally love them. Would recommend them to anyone who wants a light, fun, hysterical but also very romantic read. You can't go wrong with Tera Lynn Childs! :D

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

How do you handle a book you don't like? Do you DNF or do you power through? 

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It really depends with me. I have DNF'd before, but I have a bit of a finishing complex, so unless I'm really crunched for time or I really, really, REALLY hate it, I usually power through. Of course, there are always exceptions.

The really, really REALLY hatred is rare because I generally don't pick up a book unless I'm reasonable sure I'll enjoy it. For example, I might DNF a cheesy erotica, but I wouldn't pick one of those up in the first place, so the chances are low that I would hate a book enough to DNF it.

How about you? Do you DNF?

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Follow Friday

Welcome to Week 11 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Once again, I don't have a review this week. As much as I'm loving these mermaid reads, the challenge is almost over (just a couple weeks to go) and I'll be kind of relieved when it is. The end of summer is proving ridiculously busy (mostly because I have a sister who's getting married next month) and I'm just not getting my normal amount of reading done. I got about half-way through this week's mermaid read, and am loving it, but will have to wait until next week to review it. So, the mermaid reviews will return next week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up below and be sure to visit any others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. 

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

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What do you do with your books when you are done reading them?

With me, it depends on the book. Of course anything on my kindle just sort of sits there. For my print books, I sometimes do giveaways. Often, if I find a book I know would appeal to a friend or family member, I  keep it for the next birthday or Christmas. (Shopping for presents in advance. :D) There are plenty I can't stand to part with, though, and they sit on my bookshelf until I get around to picking them up again.

What do YOU do with your books after you read them?

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Follow Friday + Week 10 Mermaid Challenge Reviews

Welcome to Week 10 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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Follow Friday + Week 8 Mermaid Challenge Reviews

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day! To view Patriotic stories I've been posting all week, view earlier posts on both my blogs!

Welcome to Week 8 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

This week, I read Mirage by Jenn Reese. I read Above World a few weeks ago and so when I saw that my library had the sequel, I jumped at the chance to read it. :D


First of all, I should note that this really isn't much of a mermaid book. The kids in it are merekids, but in book 1 they got the chance to come Above World (get it?) and have an adventure on land. Mirage continues that adventure, but there's really no part of it that takes place under the ocean.

The only real mermaid element we deal with is the fact that Aluna *mild spoilers from book 1* swallowed a seed that perpetuates the growing of her mermaid tail fin and is trying to keep it from slowing her down the entire novel. *end of spoilers*

That said, it's still a great read! It continues the adventures of Hoki and Aluna, but we get to see a lot of Dash's homeland while the kids try to get their three peoples (Merepeople, Fliers, and Equians) to forge an alliance.

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Follow Friday + Week 7 of Mermaid Challenge Reviews

Welcome to Week 7 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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For the challenge this week, I read The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler.

I chose this one this week, at least in part, because I knew I was going to have a busy week and this was a quick, light read.

It's actually the kind of book I usually don't enjoy because it's very juvenile. The stakes aren't high, the problems aren't adult, etc. But, that said, for a middle-grade book, I actually did enjoy it. I found it to be funny and a very touching story.

Emily is twelve-years old and never knew her father. Her mother is deathly afraid of the water and they live on a houseboat that doesn't have a bathtub, so Emily has never been fully submerged in water. Finally she talks her mother into letting her take swimming lessons. To her horror, when she gets into the pool, her legs stick together and become a fin! Learning about her mer-heritage may be not only the key to who her father was, but who she may become.

As I said, the book was pretty good, even if it was in an after-school-special kind of way. I would recommend it to anyone who likes mermaids, middle-grade, family-centered mysteries, or just wants a light, fun beach read. 

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What is your preferred reading format? Hardcover, eBooks, paperback etc?

I don't think I have a preferred format. I've always loved books, but reading in e-book format is super convenient, and because e-readers have lighting behind them, it's more easily done in the dark than with regular books. So, I do a mixture of both print books and e-books. I definitely am not a fan of hard-covers, though. They are more difficult to keep open while reading and more difficult to cart around. So I guess my answer is that I read a mix of e-reads and paperbacks, unless it's a library book or something. :D (Sorry. Total spaz over here. :D)

So, which format do YOU prefer?

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Mermaid Challenge Reviews, Week 6 + Follow Friday

I've added Bloglovin' to those who prefer it. Also remember, there's a free copy of my short story, The Hatching, to anyone who follows via email!
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Welcome to Week 5 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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This week's mermaid-themed book was Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs. It was fabulous!

It's kind of funny because, in terms of genre, this book is everything I generally say I don't like in a book. The characters are teenagers, it's based around high school and boyfriend drama, and the stakes are, well, love, which is big, but not exactly life and death. Especially not when it's of the teenaged variety. 

That said, the protagonist in this book, Lily, is great! She manages to be a teenager, but extremely likable. She's hysterical! Totally self-centered, whiny, doesn't see the hot, sweet guy that's right in front of her, but you totally want to root for her anyway. She says things like:

"I mean, he has a special gifft for pushing my buttons. Too bad it's not a marketable skill." (pg. 148) and "Lord love a lobster, he has a beautiful chest. He's not body builder muscular, but clearly he's built enough to life whatever comes along." (pg. 82)

She uses a lot of fish/ocean/mere lingo. It would be over-the-top, except that it's so completely, endearingly incorporated into the character, that it works. In fact, it's charming. 

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a story of great originality and depth. It's really not much of a spoiler to say that this is a girl-likes-boy-that's-wrong-for-her-while-the-right-guy-fights-to-get-noticed-by-her story. Just one of those. A fun read that kept me turning pages and smiling the whole time.

If I had one complaint it's that it takes her sooooo long to clue into reality over the whole situation. I was fifty pages from the end and she was still sure she'd end up with the shallow guy she'd been crushing on for three years. And as far as reality goes, any sane girl would have left guy#1 for guy#2 after like, chapter 3. (I guess that was kind of two complaints, wasn't. it? Oh well.)

Overall, I really loved this book and want to read the sequel. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a light, fun, delightfully romantic summer read. It's all kinds of fishy fun. 

Has anyone else read Forgive My Fins? What did you think?

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Share your favorite literary quote! (There are too many great quotes from books to choose just one, so I went with one about literacy instead. I was lazy and used the same one on both my blogs, FYI)

Literacy is vital to democracy. For if the governed can neither understand their leaders nor distinguish truth from lies, then a democracy descends into oligarchy, a government by and for the elite few. --John Stauffer 

What's your favorite literary quote? 

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Follow Friday + Week 5 of Mermaid Summer Reading Challenge

Welcome to Week 5 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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The mermaid book I read this week is called Fathomless by Jackson Pearce. This is the first book I've ever read by Pearce, though I have her other two fairy tale retellings on my TBR list. 

And I gotta say, I LOVED this book!

I've been so impressed with the mermaid books I've read lately. So far they've all been creative, well-written takes on the legend. I've also been impressed at how well the authors incorporate aspects of the true mermaid legend that those who are only familiar with the Disney version wouldn't know, like that mermaids are supposed to get a human man to fall in love with them in order to win themselves a soul.

Well, this book went above and beyond. Pearce has a style of writing that is full of emotion. She hooks you right around the heart and makes you feel for the characters. More than any of the other mermaid books I've read, I was so invested in this story! Once I got to 2/3 of the way through it, I simply couldn't stop reading, and my heart really hurt for the characters.

This is written in a unique way as well. We get POVs from three characters, though its really only two people. I'm not gonna tell you why. It's a unique take on the mermaid legend that I couldn't even begin to explain, but whatever you're thinking from what I just said, I guarantee its more complicated than that.

And the climax of the story was so epic! Not only was plot and the action and the emotion at a high point, but there was a hurricane happening. The wind was blowing, people were shouting to be heard, there were monsters. It was fabulous! 

Anyway, can't wait to get my hands on Pearce's other novels now because if they're all as good as this one, she may just be my new favorite author of fairy tale retellings.

Has anyone else read Pearce? What do you think of her? (Remember to link up below if you have a mermaid review this week. :D)

***Hey Everyone, I have a new email form for those who would like to follow via email. Those who follow via email will get my short story, The Hatching, which usually sells on Amazon for $0.99 for FREE! If you are currently following via GFC, will you follow via Linky, Networked Blogs or email anyway? Thanks a ton! Happy Friday!*** 

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs! 

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Q: Activity: Spine Poetry. Create a line of poetry with your book spines (take a picture). Not feeling creative? Tell us about your favorite poem.

Fun question! These are some print books I've had stacked on my shelf for months (save the two mermaid titles which are relatively new) but haven't gotten to yet. So here's my poem (Disclaimer: I've never claimed talent in poetry!)

The name of the wind,

The fatal shore,

The first king of Shannara.

Insurgent, fathomless mirage.

Blood meridian?

Only time will tell.

How did everyone else do with their poems?

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Follow Friday + Mermaid Challenge Review, Week 4

***Hey Everyone, I have a new email form for those who would like to follow via email. Those who follow via email will get my short story, The Hatching, which usually sells on Amazon for $0.99 for FREE! If you are currently following via GFC, will you follow via Linky, Networked Blogs or email anyway? Thanks a ton! Happy Friday!*** 

Welcome to Week 4 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)

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This week I read The Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Neilson. And once again, I am simply floored by how well-written a lot of these books are! I LOVED Forbidden Sea! It was delightful! 

So Adrianne is a fourteen-year-old girl who pretty much supports her entire, destitute family. Her father was killed several years ago in a tragic accident, and ever since then, she's been running the household. She looks after her broken soul of a mother, her sweet--if a bit spoiled at times--younger sister, and her mean-tempered Auntie who she can never seem to please.

Meanwhile, she's crushing hard on the boy who's been her best friend since they were both teeny-boppers, but who sees her as a friend and sister. At the beginning, her younger sister Cecily, after learning that the family can no longer afford to feed their dog and must sell the animal, runs away to the sea to cry and gets herself caught on some dangerous rocks in a storm. Adrianne is the only one who knows her sister well enough to find her, and when she does, she is attacked by a beautiful mermaid that leaves a scar on Adrianne's wrist. 

The rest of the novel is her hearing the mermaid call to her from the sea and avoiding her fate with terror. Something similar happened to a young woman of legend a hundred years before, and she was never seen again. Adrianne has no plan to share that woman's fate. Meanwhile, she's picked on by the rich of the island who look down on her for her poverty, all while fighting to feed her family and keep her Auntie's constant ire from coming down on her. Denn, her crush, often stands up to her, but never in a way that spells romance.

I found this story to be refreshing. It totally kept my attention. I empathized so much with Adrianne. Hers is the plight of any young woman struggling to shoulder a burden too heavy for her shoulders, all while feeling worse than invisible--like the ugly duckling that people can't help but notice. In a bad way. Meanwhile, her young girl heart still dreams of the boy she likes. And now she's got a mermaid after her! 

I pretty much read this in one sitting. I started reading it one day, but only got about twenty pages through it. The next day, I sat down to read...and finished it. Just totally loved this book. It was so touching and well-written that I even got misty-eyed a few times. It's especially surprising that I connected with the main character so much because generally I prefer adult characters to YA ones, but I loved this girl! 

Overall, I totally loved this book. I would recommend it absolutely anyone who is looking for a great read.

*Remember to put your URL in the linky if you did a mermaid review this week!

Has anyone else read The Forbidden Sea? What did you think of it? What other mermaid novels have you read lately?

Follow Friday

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs! 

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Q: Have you broken up with a series? If so which one and why.

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You know, I can't think of one. I know when I was in high school and got really into high fantasy, I picked up a few off the shelf, and didn't even finish them because they turned out to be thinly disguised porn. But I don't remember what they were.

Other than that, I don't think I have. Not lately, anyway. I have a bit of a completion complex. If I like the first book in a series enough to finish it, I'll probably end up reading the entire series sooner or later. Neurotic? Yeah, probably. But it's okay. I don't mind. :D

(After writing the above, I thought of one. I'm not sure it counts just because I actually read the entire trilogy, but I freaking hated the Millenium trilogy (i.e. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). I enjoyed the whodunit of book 1, and read the 2nd and 3rd books hoping it would get better. I was immensely disappointed in the end of book 3. I felt like the author set us up for something and then changed his mind twenty pages before the end. So, if you can break up with a series after having read the whole thing, I'd go with that one. (Yet another example of my completion complex.) :D

How about you? What series have YOU broken up with lately?

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Mermaid Lit Summer Challenge Week 3 + Follow Friday

Here's to two weeks of mermaid lit! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week!

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This week I read Above World by Jenn Reese. I'd heard great things about this book, but I confess the beginning was a bit slow for me. It took me a while to figure out why. First and foremost, I think it was just me. The book was well-written, the characters and setting are great, the stakes of the major conflict were high enough. The main characters are only about thirteen--a bit younger than I prefer--but even that didn't really bother me. In short, there was no reason for me not to like it. But I had just come off vacation. I was trying to catch up on everything plus trying to get back in the swing of things. On top of that, I'm still recovering from a head cold, which just makes me sleepy all the time. I think I just had a hard time getting into the book. But that would have been the case with anything I picked up this week.

The other thing that would have helped draw me in quicker, but given the structure of the story, really couldn't be helped, was the fact that, while the conflict was introduced at an appropriate time in the story, and, for the characters, it was really important, they didn't know the full extent of that conflict. This is a quest story, at it's core, and as they went along, they discovered that the problem went higher and higher and became bigger and bigger. While the stakes were definitely high enough for the characters at the beginning, I don't think they were high enough for me to care. By the end, they were huge and I really  cared. Believe me! But had there been more of hint at the beginning what the end game would be, I think I would have been drawn in much more.

Once I got going, though, and got more into the my regular momentum, I really enjoyed the book. By the end, I couldn't put it down. The action really picked up the last third of the book. Oh, and this book has one of the best villains I've come across in a long time! Totally loved him! If there's a second book (and I think there will be) I'll definitely be reading it!

Aluna and Hoki are very well-drawn characters, and many things--such as their relationships with their respective love interests) have been left open-ended, so this will be a fun series to follow. It's a quick, easy read, with lots of fun and adventure. The world-building is quite unique as well. The world itself is almost post-apocalyptic, but to overcome the apocalypse, the human race took charge of itself, giving itself either mermaid tales, wings, or an array of other animal parts so they could survive. It feels almost stone-aged, except that they have electronic gadgets--called "Tek" to survive. Sounds weird, I know, and it's the kind of thing that's hard to pull off, but Reese does it just...ahem, swimmingly.

 I'd recommend Above World to lovers of YA and middle-grade alike (though it really is a YA) and anyone who likes adventures, both on land and under sea, kids who are wiser than their elders, fierce heroins, sweet heroes, awesome villains, and fun hybrid species. This is definitely a fun summer read!

Click on the icons below to add to goodreads or check it out from Amazon or B&N! :D Happy Friday!

 

Follow Friday Blog Hop

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs! 

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Q: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

Hmm. Such a hard question! There are so many I'd love to meet in person. I think, though, I'd like to meet Julie Luek. She's one of my most loyal followers/interacters (I follow her too) and we chat all the time. She has a lovely blog over at A Thought Grows and is simply delightful! Hi Julie! ;D

How about you? Which blogger would you like to meet the most?

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