Review Detail

(Source: I won a digital copy of this book.)
17-year-old Emma gets more than she bargained for when she goes on holiday with her best friend Chloe, when they are attacked by a shark and Chloe is killed.

Unbeknown to Emma though, she attracted more than a shark that day at the beach when she bumped into Galen (literally), who recognised her as a Syrenka (mermaid), just like himself.

Following her across the country, Galen is determined to find out everything he can about Emma, and her heritage, as well as the strange gift she has which marks her as a descendent of Poseidon.
Why is Emma unaware of what she is? Why is she hiding on land? And can Galen stop his heart from getting in the way of his duty as Prince and brother to the King?


This was turned out to be an okay mermaid story in the end, but the beginning was really rocky.

For me the first 30% of this book was pretty cringe-worthy. I really could not believe what I was reading. First there was the shark attack, which was just totally unbelievable for me, then there was the immaturity of Emma, and let’s face it, most of the other characters too (who liked to beat each other up for fun, or splash water at each other), not to mention Emma’s mom, who kinda needs a paragraph all of her own.
Emma’s mom went totally over-the-top over some story about Galen carrying Emma to the nurse’s office at school, and starts asking about a hidden relationship, which Emma denies, then starts asking if they broke up because she wouldn’t sleep with him, to which Emma responds no, so her mother jumps to ‘you aren’t dating him, but you slept with him?’ – What the fudge is she on? This was then followed up by her questioning Galen as to why he isn’t sleeping with her daughter? ‘Is there something wrong with her?’ How do you even answer that? I mean seriously – that woman is seriously on the crazy juice.

Anyway, I did think that a lot of the characters in this book were quite immature, although this did improve a bit as the book went on. Emma was actually pretty accepting about the whole Syrenka thing once she was forced to acknowledge it, and Galen seemed pretty normal considering that he was supposed to have lived under the sea for most of his life.

Galen did come out with what was my favourite line in this book though, after Emma explained that her mother had been concerned that they were already sleeping together; ‘She thinks we're more than dating.' Galen comments 'Then the least she could do is give us some privacy.’ which was definitely the best line in the whole book for me.

In terms of storyline this was okay, after the initial awkwardness and unbelievability (I think I might have made that word up), the book found its feet, and the second half was pretty good. That first 1/3 could have been a real deal-breaker though. There were a couple of things that happened that I hadn’t predicted though, and I did get used to the slightly strange writing style too.
I did like this book in the end, and I will be reading the sequel, especially seeing as this one does end with a cliff-hanger, I’m just hoping the second doesn’t start with that same awkwardness.
Overall; an okay mermaid story, if you can forgive the rocky start.
7 out of 10.