e-ARC, 368 pages
Release Date: July 31, 2018Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Read from: July 2018Stand-aloneSource: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from the Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: N/A
For fans of: Sparkly Covers, Re-tellings, Villain Stories, YAEveryone knows what happens in the end.
A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss.
But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends.
One feared, one royal, and one already dead.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.
A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.
The rise of Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic villainess is a heart-wrenching story of friendship, betrayal, and a girl pushed beyond her limits—to become a monster.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I have debated about reviewing this so. many. times. I do NOT want to make anyone not want to read it, but I had a lot of issues with this one. So, with that being said, take this with a grain of salt and remember that this is my opinion and many other people will like it, so still give it a try.
It wasn’t really that I had issues with it, it was more of a there’s nothing happening that made me want to keep reading, kinda thing. I am a mix between being a character driven reader and a plot driven reader. And usually if one doesn’t work for me, the other does. But with this one, I wasn’t convinced with either one! I found myself wanting to hurry and get to the “good part,” but by that time it was already after 100 pages and I was bored. And then I wasn’t really a fan of the super quiet, timid MC, so I was not connecting with her either. This one just didn’t work for me.
I even tried reading this, putting it down, and then picking it back up later, but I still could not get into it. I found that I couldn’t even remember what had happened in the book so far. And had to re-skim it. I chalked it up to being in a mood for thrillers and lots of action, but even after reading three of them, I haven’t felt the need to give it another try.
But again, I say that this is my opinion and to still give it a try if this is something that you’ll like. I have DNF’ed popular books before and been ok with being the only one who didn’t care for it. (I’m looking at you Three Dark Crowns.) I just don’t see, for the life of me, how you guys can sit through an entire book and have it only “get good” at the end. I have read many reviews of this book and alot of them say the first two thirds of this book is boring and the last third is what’s good. I can’t wait that long.
But as stated, still read it and get your own opinion. I would love to see other people’s opinion and get an idea of what the ending was like! This one may not have gelled with me, but could easily be someone else’s book of the year!
I even tried reading this, putting it down, and then picking it back up later, but I still could not get into it. I found that I couldn’t even remember what had happened in the book so far. And had to re-skim it. I chalked it up to being in a mood for thrillers and lots of action, but even after reading three of them, I haven’t felt the need to give it another try.
But again, I say that this is my opinion and to still give it a try if this is something that you’ll like. I have DNF’ed popular books before and been ok with being the only one who didn’t care for it. (I’m looking at you Three Dark Crowns.) I just don’t see, for the life of me, how you guys can sit through an entire book and have it only “get good” at the end. I have read many reviews of this book and alot of them say the first two thirds of this book is boring and the last third is what’s good. I can’t wait that long.
But as stated, still read it and get your own opinion. I would love to see other people’s opinion and get an idea of what the ending was like! This one may not have gelled with me, but could easily be someone else’s book of the year!
DNF @ page 100