Wrecked by Anna Davies

After her parents accident on their home island, Miranda and her brother Teddy have stayed with their grandmother on Whym Island for the last ten years.

There is a legend, a curse, on Whym Island that is you say the sea witch's name while on a boat in the ocean that she will get revenge and take the souls on the boat.

When Miranda and 7 of her friends were on Miranda's boat, one of the passengers said Sephie and before the night was out, 4 of her friends died in a boating accident and 3 were severely injured before the life rescue came.

But Miranda was miraculously saved. She got caught in the cable underwater and she remembers someone saving her, carrying her out of the water and onto shore. She should have died with her best friends and boyfriend, but for some reason someone saved her.

Life on Whym Island wasn't easy before the boating accident, but now that she was one of the survivors and it was her boat that caught on fire, she is even more outcasted than before. Miranda has no friends now, she can't talk to her grandmother or Teddy because they are getting the social outcast stare, so Miranda is just keeping her thoughts to herself.

That is, until she met Christian, who just happened to be the one who saved her from the accident.

And Christian has a secret that he's keeping from Miranda: he's a betwixted, part human, part merman. When he saved Miranda, he took a soul from Sephie and now she wants revenge.

Either Christian takes Miranda's soul to make up for her mistake or Sephie will take Christian's soul. One way or another Sephie will have her soul to add to the many souls in the ocean.

But when Christian meets Miranda and starts talking to her, he realizes that he is getting feelings for her.

Can Christian do what he is supposed to do, or will he disobey Sephie? And can Miranda trust Christian with all of his secrets, or will the secrecy tear them apart? Read Wrecked by Anna Davies to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
This book was...eh. I did finish it, which was a plus because there were a few times where I just wanted to call it quits. But I stuck through it to know the ending, since I don't think it's part of a series.

I don't know. The writing, for one, was not my style. There would be two lines of dialogue and then half a page of narration, of observance and I'm more of an action and dialogue reader than a ponderer.

Plus Miranda was ready to run away from everything because it wasn't going her way. There were a few moments where she talked back and fought against someone, which I liked, but being docile and timid is not a quality that I like in my lead characters.

Christian was alright as well. He was confused being on the surface rather than in the water, so I'll give him a leeway because of that but he didn't fight very hard overall.

I'm going to have to say that this book is not for me. I was intrigued by the synopsis, but overall it turned out to be a good that I enjoyed at all.

And the ending is something else. I won't say that it was horrible, because it wasn't. It was just different than most endings that might cause it to be hated by many readers.

So yeah, I didn't really like this book. There were some parts that peaked my interest enough to read a full two pages in a row, but otherwise it was a snooze fest.

But anyone who wants to read a twist on merpeople, you might enjoy this novel. It's also in alternative viewpoints between Miranda and Christian, though Christian doesn't have many pages of narration.

It is also the author's debut novel, so maybe for her next one I'll pick it up and see if she changes her style.

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

This is the first book in the Of Poseidon series by Anna Banks.

Going on a trip to FL with her best friend Chloe, Emma was enjoying her time before starting senior year in high school.

But after a horrible accident where a shark attacked Chloe and killed her, Emma no longer wants anything to do with the water or the ocean, even though she lives in Jersey and is very close to the shore. And despite the fact that she met the most gorgeous guy in FL, who seems to be living in Jersey now? It seems he is since she runs into him at school. And has all of her classes with him...

While he may be gorgeous, Galen kind of scares Emma. He reminds her of that day in FL and he is also a little bit strange. He says things in an awkward manner and doesn't know the term "boundaries".

Then Emma finds out she's not who she thought she was. It turns out that Galen and his sister are the Royals of Syrena, also known as merpeople who have fins and live in the ocean. And it seems that Emma might be one of them as well. She has the violet colored eyes, strong skin, a temper - some of the signs that she's one of them.

Only she has white hair and pale skin. All Syrena are olived tone skin and raven black haired.

And Emma is even more unique than the Syrena: she can talk to aquatic animals. That is the gift of the Poseidon, the enemy of the Syrena's.

So now Emma is trying to figure out how to grow her own fin, while also fighting off the attraction she's starting to feel toward Galen.

On the other hand, Galen knows exactly who Emma is after seeing her order the shark away from her after Chloe was attacked. No one but the Poseidon can order aquatic animals and since the bloodline died away with a missing daughter, Galen is shocked to see Emma do something so rare.

Now, even though he feels the pulse between the two of them, meaning that they might be mates and attracted to her, he has to teach her how to get her fin and prepare her for his world, because once he can get her ready, he is going to have to hand her over to his older brother Grom. They need to mate and connect the two groups together to stop the war between Syrena and Poseidon.

Only he's finding that the thought of Grom, or any other male, touching Emma sets him in a rage to physically hurt someone. And there are some complications with Emma's transformation...

Can Emma figure out how to get her own fin? Will Emma and Galen resist the temptation to be together, when Galen knows that can never happen? Or will they have to be forced apart so Grom can mate with her? Read Of Poseidon by Anna Banks to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Merpeople! I haven't really gotten into this genre too much, maybe because I don't know how to swim so it sort of frightens me. But I really enjoyed this book and find that merpeople aren't so scary :)

I think, under the circumstances, that Emma took the news of being non-human very well. And the fight scene with Rayna, Galen's twin sister, was very intense since they are stronger than humans and had to work to injure the other person.

It was very entertaining to read about how the merpeople were transitioning into the human world. There were phrases and slang terms that they needed explained and their opinions of our culture were similar to other cultures around the world, so it made me chuckle a few times.

Galen was very determined to stay with Emma on land and teach her everything about his world. Even though he is a Royal and is the merman to work with human problems, he sort of became a human himself when it came to Emma. He certainly had the possession trait figured out!

I do have to say, though, that I did call the ending. There is a plot line where an unknown Syrena is tracking Emma; Galen can sense an unknown presence near Emma's house and footprints are seen in the sand going to her door. I figured out who it was about halfway through the novel, so I thought it was very predictable.

However, Banks left us on a cliffhanger!! Which is no surprise, but ahh!! And now I have to wait until May 2013 to read it...boo.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read about merpeople and about secrets, about forbidden love and about a kick a$$ girl who doesn't listen to a guy claiming to be a prince. It was a very good story and I will be anticipating the sequel when it comes out!

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

New Yorker, 16-year-old, Miranda Merchant is going to be a scientist. She even has an internship with the Museum of Natarual History for the summer to gain more experience with science topics.

Before she can start her internship, though, Miranda goes to Selkie Island to meet up with her mother. Her grandmother just passed away and both Miranda and her mother are getting the family house ready to sell since no one visits the island anymore.

Miranda is a level-headed girl, so when she hears the island stories about the kraken, sea monsters, and merfolk, she obviously thinks that they are just stories to bring in tourists.

After looking through the family house, reading a "historie" book about Selkie Island, and meeting a local boy, Leo, Miranda's not so sure if the stories are true or false anymore.

Being logical all of her life is making this trip on Selkie Island more confusing for Miranda. She's unsure why she feels the strong connection with Leo, but in the end she realizes that chemistry is more than a science experiment - it can be just a connection that ties two opposite people together.

Does the enchantment of the island keep Miranda's logical attention or will she want to go home to New York for her internship after her trip is finished? Read Sea Change to find out!

I really liked this novel. It has a little bit of science fiction, but enough contemporary issues to capture a wide variety of readers. The struggle that Miranda goes through with herself to determine if a legend is happening or if science is right and everyone on the island is just making up stories is amazing to see.

It's also very realistic when Miranda has to decide if the attraction between her and Leo is "for real" or just a rebellious streak she is having against her mother. I think a lot of teenage girls would like this storyline and the inner struggle Miranda has with her logical self vs. her romantic self.