Tangled Tides - Karen Amanda Hooper

Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


On her eighteenth birthday, Treygan turns Yara into a mermaid against her will… and that's just the beginning. Tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies, Yara discovers both sides want her for her ability to fulfil a broken a promise and open the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life, but the merfolk want something far more precious...

I'm stingy with my 5 stars, I admit it, but this book certainly comes close. If I could award half stars, I would. As it is, I've got to settle on 4, but I do believe it deserves more.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It starts fast, with just enough time to introduce the main characters, before Yara is whisked away. As a new mermaid, we learn about her world along with her, the author adding information as it is pertinent to the story. I never felt as though I was being given a history lesson. The author's attention to detail, while never overstepping into the realms of the description detracting from the story, paints a stunning underwater world, with a hierarchy and a history - all the details needed to believe a place is real, including the mythology behind its creation.

Yara was very easy to like. A stubborn, compassionate girl, who wouldn't just take Treygan's word for anything in the beginning, she ultimately grew into a character who had the strength and courage to help everyone, if only she could summon it.

I loved watching Treygan change from being exasperated by Yara to letting his feelings for her grow, despite the side of her she didn't know - the side that would keep them apart.

I was also intrigued by Rownan. I think part of me expects a clean-cut villain, but I can't even describe Rownan as a villain. The author created a very rounded character, with strong motivations, that helped me understand why he acted the way he did… even when I didn't like it.

The plot kept up the pace, with moments of action interspersed with moments of learning and character development. I got to halfway and didn't want to put the book down. By the final third, the story hurtled on to a conclusion the author cleverly kept hidden from the reader, despite the first person POV.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy, some romance, and has a love for all things under the sea, real or mythological.

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Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Anna is sent by her father to the School of America in France - away from her family and friends. As well as having to adjust to a new life and a foreign language, she meets St Clair, who, with his kindness and ability to make her laugh, fast becomes her best friend. He's already got a girlfriend, so there's no way she could fall for him, is there?

A Most Improper Magick - Stephanie Burgis

A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Kat Stephenson is headstrong, forthright, and a tom boy in a time of balls, simpering misses, and convenient marriages. Rather than let her eldest sister marry a man old enough to be her father (not to mention the fact he might have murdered his first wife) in order to save the family from financial ruin, she sets out to find another way to save them, and stumbles upon her mother's magic books.

Die For Me - Amy Plum

Die for Me by Amy Plum

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Kate Mercier lost both of her parents in a car crash and, wracked with grief, goes to live with her grandparents in Paris. There, she meets Vincent - the most handsome and enigmatic boy she has ever seen.

But Vincent hides a secret - something that could break Kate and Vincent's fledgling relationship apart. Can Kate take a chance and risk her heart again when she knows what Vincent is and the destiny he can't deny?

Devil.May.Care - Jolene Ballard Gutierrez

Devil.May.Care by Jolene Ballard Gutierrez

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

At sixteen, Ana not only discovers she's an angelic spirit in human form, but falls in love with a demon, Dylan. As demons are supposed to be the bad guys, this doesn't seem to be a good idea. However, Ana soon discovers good and evil are very much in the eye of the beholder.