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.
Finally read Anna Banks' Of Poseidon and I can only say I am glad I waited, because the ending to this one was so shocking, although I did suspect it. But now I have Of Triton at the ready, so no waiting involved, yay!
This was definitely an interesting Syrena story--"mermaid" is a word that's frowned upon because it's too gender oriented where Syrena is like saying "human". Galen has heard about a human who is able to talk to fish and when he goes to seek her out, she literally runs right into him. The book literally starts with a SMACK! From there, the story was pretty fast paced and engaging. It did have its moments where I thought things were slowing down a bit, but not so much as dragging! It was a delightful tale all in all!
Emma's point of view was told in first person and Galen's in third, I guess to make it easier to tell who's talking. The chapters alternate precisely going back and forth between Galen and Emma, making it all the more fun really. Right away, you know that these two are going to fall in love with one another, it just takes time and I loved that as I am not a fan of insta-love. But there pretty much is insta-attraction involved, which is no problem!
We kind of have to get a bit of Syrena lore 101, there's two clans those of Poseidon and those of Triton. It's really hard to get into everything about it, but basically there was friction between the two and every so often there's an arranged marriage between the two clans. Galen's of Triton and his brother Grom is set to rule and must marry one of Poseidon. And naturally, it's suspected that Emma is of Poseidon and with her talent of talking to fish, she's definitely someone who would be an asset to the kingdom. Which makes things difficult for Galen, because he's falling in love with her and she might end up being his brother's wife.
Like I said, there's a lot of back-story and history that must be known to fully grasp the predicament that Galen and Emma find themselves in. It's told to us very well and not at all wordy or preachy like, I just struggle trying to sum it up without getting into spoiler territory!
Emma was a very likable character. She's spunky and sassy and just what I love in a YA heroine! She knows what she wants out of life as well, in the vague sense and does not want love to rule her decisions--facts she brings up in her thoughts. Galen was likable as well; he's protective of those he cares for but not totally versed in the ways of humans despite being an ambassador between humans and Syrena. Seeing him try to adjust and know some random vocabulary terms is pretty funny.
Galen's sister Rayna is a wild one! At first, she's not very likable because she doesn't like Emma at all. She doesn't like anyone really other than her brother. Toraf, Rayna's destined mate, though is pretty hilarious! He's definitely the comic relief. Rayna, not happy at all with the arranged marriage that is destined to happen chooses to make his life difficult, but it never deters him. He's very persistent in his pursuit of Rayna. I did warm up to Rayna though. Once she and Emma have a good ol' brawl, they managed to work things out and form a friendship of sorts.
Overall this was a very enjoyable read! Love the spin to Syrena lore and all that it pertains. The history behind the stories the Syrena have are enjoyable as well and play a very critical role in the present time as well. Things are definitely about to get a lot more complicated for Galen and Emma and their friends. I sooo cannot wait to see what happens next!
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars
I actually had an ebook copy of this book, but for some reason it keeps on getting this error when I want to read it, so I can never actually read this book! It sounds really great though! Glad you enjoyed it! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those books that I've been meaning to pick up but always find something else to buy at the bookstore. I'm eager to see what you think about the sequel. Is this going to be a trilogy?
ReplyDeleteOooo, so glad to hear it was a good one! I want it. :D Thank you.
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