Review: Possess by Sarah Dalton

Possess (Mary Hades, #2)
by Sarah Dalton
Self-published
Ebook (received via Xpresso Book Tours)
YA, paranormal, horror

Mary Hades is drawn back into the world of the macabre as she moves with her family into the mysterious old house, Ravenswood. The mere mention of Ravenswood induces terror among the locals, and when strange things begin to occur, Mary and Lacey decide to get to the bottom of the secret hidden in the historic house once and for all.

As a dark power gathers, Mary finds her life becomes interconnected with the disturbing events that transpired in 1847 to eleven year old Liza Blair. The more Mary is drawn into Liza’s story, the more she realises someone close to her is in grave danger from the sinister energy at Ravenswood.

Set in the backdrop of an unsettling forest, and with strange neighbour Emmaline Delacroix obsessed with death and séances, Possess will take you even deeper into the murky depths of Mary Hades’s unusual life. 

Mary Hades, the first book, was unique; a little bit scary, somewhat romantic, about friendship and overall quite wonderful read (my review is here). I expected Possess to be same, a little different journey but including all those elements that made the first book unique. I didn't get what I expected and while the story still was good, it wasn't for me.

Possess is a whole lot darker and scarier than Mary Hades was. The plot seems to focus around a house which is affecting its inhabitants, and Mary moves there with her parents. The other thing the plot focuses is the relationship Mary and her mother have. However, it wasn't satisfying. Dalton's writing style is fast paces while being detailed and I enjoyed it very much, so it's not about lacking of any kind when it comes to writing stye or even characters. The characters were intriguing: Mary continued to be strong, indepented and quite smart, and new layers were revealed about Mary's mother Susan, and Lacey was her lovely self. However, the plot and overall structure lacked in this book. It felt like spin off from series which didn't reveal new things or have major character development. It was more about story of haunted house of sorts than proper, intriguing and captivating sequel. I was disappointed especially since I had been waiting for the sequel so much.

 

The story was also scary, chilling and very much horror. I liked Mary Hads and how it wasn't too scary but Possess was a whole lot scarier (and there was lots of gore), and I couldn't enjoy the story very much when I spend most of time being afraid of shadows (yes, I am scaredy cat!)

 

The good thing was that there was no romance. Not even potential love interest! It was unique in YA so Dalton deserves a huge applaud for that.

 

I recommend Possess for those who enjoy scary, chilling stories about ghost and haunted houses. But for me it was too scary and chilling, and didn't have enough plot elements and story development. (I'm so sad that there wasn't even a mention of Neil and Lemarr, I liked them so much in the first book!)

 

2 of 5 stars.

 

Possess on Goodreads.

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Feature & Follow Friday #23

 

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by two different hosts, Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! This meme is here for bloggers to gain new blogger friends and followers.

 

This weeks topic:
 

Do you like fantasy or realistic books?

 

Both goes, mostly depending what I'm mood for. I'll tell you a little secret: when it comes to music, books and movies, almost anything goes with me as long as the story/music is great. There's only a couple of genres that I don't do, and in books it's horror (I don't watch horror movies either). Of course there's some storylines I avoid and so on, but I don't have particular preference when it comes to genres. So I like fantasy and realistic books. I might read fantasy more, mostly paranormal and stories with fantasy themes, and I haven't read high fantasy for a while. Realistic books are good, but the synopsis must be intriguing since I don't want to read twenty realistic books that revolves around the same subject (usually boy/girl romance when it comes to YA).

 

Do you have preference or are you like me and almost anything goes?

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Related Problems I Have

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

Here I present to you seven book related problems I have:

1. Choosing which edition to buy. Oh, it's hell. It's easy if I really dislike either UK or US covers so then I know. Otherwise it's hard. UK paperbacks are usually cheaper so I go for them, but I love US paperbacks because they're so much easier to read (I love the flappy paperbacks!). So yeah, it's hard. Especially if there's two to four different covers per book, then it's hellish.

 

2. Cover changes. Almost always the cover changes are not good ones. And even if they're good ones, I'm probably mad if the covers don't match. It's so frustrating. I mean, stick with the cover, would you? I also hate it when they re-print books and change to covers. I mean, we have like ten different covers for Harry Potter. I want the original UK ones but it's almost impossible to find them because they're out of print because there's these new covers (that I don't even like). So yeah. Stick with the covers!

 

3. Lack of standalones. Seriously, when people just stop making trilogies just because of money, huh? Most of the trilogies could have been in one or two book. Some deserve trilogies but some just not. Or then there just should be more standalones - especially on dystopia, fantasy, sci-fi etc. since there is quite a lot contemporary standalones.

 

4. Finishing series. I'm bad at it. Recently I finished Janet Edwards' Earth Girl trilogy and I'm so proud of myself! But it was exceptionally good. I get stuck with series because usually I like the first book. I love the introduction to characters, world, romance etc, all of it! But usually sequels and last books in series, they tend to bring new characters (whom I usually end up disliking), love triangle (simply no), the main character makes poor choices (which is irritating) or lots of other things. So I tend to read first book, fell in love with it, buy the sequels and then I just can't read them. I fear them so much. However, I'm trying to get better and actually finish some series this year.

 

(There's also the fact that if the first book came out three to five years ago, there's a chance I'm not into that kind of genre/characters/plot etc anymore. It's just so sad.)

 

5. Forgetting books on my Kindle app. I don't have reading device but I do use Kindle app on my phone and laptop. And I always forget what I have there, or I just forget to read them. I mean, physical copies? They're on my shelves and when I choose what to read, I go for them. Review copies I read because I've more or less scheduled them. But books on my Kindle app? I read them if I have nothing else to read (which never happens) or if the book is only available as ebook and I had to have it.

 

6. When there's no blub on back of a book, but quotes of reviews. No, don't do that. I want to know synopsis, not whether some author/critiq thought about it or worse, if it's for the fans of Twilight, The Hunger Games or some other popular book. (Fact: if they recommend the book for fans of some book I didn't like, I probably won't buy it. Unless there is a blurb and it's sinfully good.)

 

7. When I run out of bookshelf space. It's especially annoying when I've organized my shelves - I have my favourites shelf that also contains my LGBT books. But it's full. So I need a whole shelf for LGBT books, another for favourites and yeah, I don't have that much space especially since school books and school files takes some shelves. (I need library.)

Review: Earth Flight by Janet Edwards

Earth Flight (Earth Girl, #3)
by Janet Edwards
Published by Harper Voyager
Paperback (purchased)
YA, sci-fi

Jarra never wanted to be a celebrity. All she ever wanted was to gain some respect for the people left on Earth: the unlucky few whose immune system prevents them from portalling to other planets.

Except now she’s the most famous Earth girl in the universe – but not everyone in the universe is happy about it, nor the fact that she has found love with a norm. Jarra’s actions have repercussions that spread further than she ever could have imagined, and political unrest threatens to tear apart the delicate balance of peace between humanity’s worlds.

On top of everything, the first alien artefact ever discovered appears to be waiting for Jarra to reveal its secrets. But to do so, she must somehow find a way to leave Earth – or else the alien artefact will be lost forever. Is there a way for Jarra to travel to another planet? Or is her destiny only to look to the stars – but never to reach them?

One week ago I reviewed Earth Star, the previous part in this trilogy, and I praised the characters there. My opinion hasn't changed a bit, altough I want to add that Rono and Keren are so utterly lovable, hilarious and adorable that I fell for them even more than before. The new face, Adonis Knight called Raven, was a perfect addition to the totally zan character cast. He was so cool and I loved the perspektive he brough with him and how it affected Jarra and Fian.

 

I don't want to spoil more than the synopsis already do, and honestly, I'm out of words. Earth Flight was perfect ending for the Earth Girl trilogy. The story continued to be as gripping, amazing, breathtaking and action packed as the first two books, and the characters stayed true to themselves while the character developement was there, making everything even better. It was rollercoaster of feelings, varieting from joy and happiness to tears, and I loved every moment of it, every twist and turn (and there's lots of them, Edwards sure knows how to tell a gripping tale). The writing is flowing, consuming, and I worship the aspect that Jarra tells the story as writing the book and honestly, the prologues were amazing - Earth Flight's prologue stabs straight to the heart (and I couldn't help but love it). There was nothing I didn't love about Earth Flight.

 

Earth Girl trilogy had everything I dared to hope for, and it had nothing I disliked. It's my favourite trilogy, and I doubt nothing can surpass it for a long, long time. I highly recommend this to anyone!

 

Go, and pick this trilogy up. It'll blow your mind.

 

5 of 5 stars.

 

Earth Flight on Goodreads.

Top Ten Tuesday: Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances In Books

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

First the dislikes because I want to end the post in positive way!

What I dislike:

1. Love triangles.

I hate them. I don't want to read them. And it feels like they're everywhere. Especially on fantasy/dystopia genre. I get it, it happens and you can have feelings for two people at the same time but seriously, love triangles never end well. It's not just that one gets hurt, everyone gets hurt. I especially don't like love triangles when they come up on sequels. Like the first book is all about girl meeting boy and they fall in love, and usually I ship them. Then comes the sequel and oh, there's another boy who is after the girl. Shock. And of course the girl have some kind of feelings for him too and she just can't decide. Usually the girl ends up with the boy she first met and the whole love triangle just was pointless.

 

I'm sorry about the rant but love triangles are just one thing that ruins books for me. Many could have been awesome but eventually I resent them because the love triangle.

(I was actually super excited about Throne of Glass but then I heard there's love triangle. Now I'm not sure if I want to dive in, which is so sad.)

 

2. Insta love.

Oh yes. The Insta Love. It's basically bullshit. I mean, if you claim to fall in love at first sight, it basically means you find the other person hot and you fall for their looks. Not personality. You can't see anyone's personality on the outside and fall in love with them. I mean, why can't they just say in books they find the other person attractive? But of course no, they just have to fall in love. I believe one can have a crush at first sight but love? It takes more than one glance.

 

Thank goodness the insta love has lost it's majority (or then I've been lucky and avoided them).

3. Pining best friend.
I'm not sure how to explain this, but I don't like the situation when someone has pined for someone (usually their best friend) for years but never said anything. Then, for some reason, they end up together. What? It doesn't feel like genuine love, especially since the girl has had bad relationships and then she realizes the best friend is love of her life and been there forever. I repeat, what? It doesn't feel like all winning, and it's just not for me. Friends-to-lovers is okay as long as it's genuine and mutual, not other pining for years and the other runs after other guys/girls.

4. Too independent heroine.
Yes, there is such thing as too independent. I'm not huge fan of helpless heroines but honestly, I take helpless over too independent any given day. What's too much, you ask? Well, you know, when the heroine doesn't let the guy do anything for her without her ranting about how she's independent woman and knows how to tie her shoelaces (especially when the thing is so simple like paying for dinner or something really small and gentlemanly like holding the door open for her). Being independent is good but taking it to extreme and claiming it's basic feminism irks me so much (and usually ruins the story).

5. Changing for love.
No. You don't have to change yourself for love or it's not love. That's how I see it. If the other demands you to change, dump the person (usually there's a bad boy and good girl, and the girl demands the boy to change). It's not genuine, unconditional love if the other has to change. Then it's conditional love, and I don't like it. It's so sad, especially since it seems that every other books has this situation: usually the girl demands change of some kind and the boy changes and then people swoon. However, I'm not having it. I'm not against change, but the change must be because the person grows or wants to change for themselves. Not for someone else.

So yeah. This change thing is probably the biggest turn off in romance for me.


What I like:

1. LGBT+
Firstly, we need more same sex relationships (especially in YA and NA but in mainstream adult romances too). Then we need the whole rainbow of different kind of persons with different types of love/sexual interest. I'm honest so, if it's LGBT then I'm more likely to pick up the romance book (I'm quite bored with all the hetero romance books because there's practically nothing new there).

(There's just one tiny aspect I need to be wary about LGBT+ romances. BDSM. It seems every other books in MM romances has it. And it's not my thing, so.)

2. Bad boys.
Well, yeah. Gentlemans are good but I just need bad boys in my life. However, with the bad boy there's bound to be the changing for love aspect, so I've become quite wary with the books that promises bad boy in the summary.

(Pretty please, can I have bad boy LGBT book? I'd die for it.)

3. Slow burn with witty and sarcastic banter.
Quite spesific, don't you think? I know what I like. Slow burn or hate-to-love, that's how I roll. Throw in the mix a little bit witty and sarcastic banter, and I'm gone for.

4. Happy endings (or happy for now)
When I was a teenager, I hated happy endings. I yearned for bittersweet and shatters-your-heart endings but nowadays I like the happy endings. Life is hard enough itself so I like books to show something different. Especially if I'm picking up a romance to cheer myself, then I really don't want to end up crying because the ending is so sad/bittersweet/horrible.

(There's always exceptions because Brokeback Mountain, A Walk to Remember and various other my favourites don't end up happily but yeah. Generally I like the happy endings.)

5. Unique story or twists.
Let's face it, when it comes to pure romance stories, there's so many cliches and so used storylines. When there's something new-ish or some twist, I'm so much more invested to the story. (Hint: just making it LGBT+ instead of M/F makes miracles to the story.) So yeah, mix something unique or rare there, and it's so much better!

What do you like or dislike about romances in books? Do we share some likes/dislikes? Write your choices in the comments or link your top ten post so I can make a visit! :)

Quest Post: How My Characters Get Their Names by Saruuh Kelsey

I'm really glad to host Saruuh Kelsey, and so thankful that she agreed to do a quest post! You can find her on various places such as her blog, Syntax Reviews, her website, Twitter, and Goodreads. Saruuh's Lux Guardian series is free, and first two books (The Forgotten, The Wandering) has been released. She has also published fairy tale anthalogy, Love In The Gilded Age, and first book of the The Legend Mirror series, The Beast of Callaire.

Now, let's hear what she has to say about naming characters!

How My Characters Get Their Names
by Saruuh Kelsey
 

First, many thanks to Henna for featuring me on her blog. I’m delighted to write a post for Howling For Books.
 

Naming characters is one of the most important elements of building a novel. Without the right name, a book can fall short. When we remember books, or certainly when I do, I recall the characters before anything else. There have been times when remembering a book that I can’t for the life of me think of a character’s name. Because I don’t want my readers to forget the characters of my books, I aim to make their names memorable and unique—and as important to the book as its own title.
 

I’m drawn to things that are uncommon, unused and obsolete, be that a name or the meaning of a name. I like names that are a little different because they allow a reader to imagine someone entirely new, without associations to friends or family or sworn mortal enemies. Because of this I find the majority of my names on the internet, where my desired weird names exist on a bunch of different websites, just waiting for me to find them.
 

That being said, unusual names only work for a certain kind of story. High fantasy and uncommon names go hand in hand—Celaena Sardothien of Throne of Glass for example—and dystopias tend to have unique names too. My own dystopian series, The Lux Guardians, follows that trend, with names like Honour and Alba and Yosiah (a name that doesn’t even exist outside of my books, as far as I’m aware). But having too many unusual names can sometimes overload a book or its readers with alien words and names, which is why the books are also peppered with ordinary names—Miya (Mia), Timofei (Timothy), Hele (Hayley). It’s a curious balance, and one I struggle to find, between the normal and extraordinary. Too much normal and your characters aren’t memorable, too much unusual and your characters are too difficult to recall.
 

My process is not terribly exciting—just a naming website and a little common sense—but I hope you enjoyed this little insight into how my characters got their names.

Review: Earth Star by Janet Edwards

Earth Star (Earth Girl, #2)
by Janet Edwards
Published by Harper Voyager
Paperback (purchased)
YA, sci-fi

18-year-old Jarra has a lot to prove. After being awarded one of the military’s highest honours for her role in a daring rescue attempt, Jarra finds herself – and her Ape status – in the spotlight. Jarra is one of the unlucky few born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Derided as an ‘ape’ – a ‘throwback’ – by the rest of the universe, Jarra is on a mission to prove that Earth Girls are just as good as anyone else.

Except now the planet she loves is under threat by what could be humanity’s first ever alien contact. Jarra’s bravery – and specialist knowledge – will once again be at the centre of the maelstrom, but will the rest of the universe consider Earth worth fighting for?

Earth Girl is one of my favourite books and naturally, I had high expectations for Earth Star. Honestly, I was a little bit afraid to read it because I didn't want to be disappointed. All my doubts were silly. Earth Star made me love it almost as much as Earth Girl, and it exceeded all my expectations.

 

Earth Star starts where the previous one ended, and it gets fast exciting as the class moves to Eden Dig Side to Earth Africa. However, it doesn't take long until the Military calls Jarra and Fian to assist them with their knowledge, because it seems humanity has faced intelligent alien contact - in Earth. It sure was exciting and a little bit terrifying as I was afraid for Jarra's and Earth's behalf. However, I was so glad there still was lots of history, archaelogy, and all the other things I loved in the first book. Some ways, Edwards exceeded herself and the writing was so flowing, fast paced, and I couldn't help but devour the story! I especially love all the history stuff, both familiar with history I study and all the things that have happened between twenty first century and year 2788 where Jarra lives. It's so perfect world-building and what many YA books set in future doesn't have.

 

The characters were all zan, as previously. Jarra is the star of them all, I love and adore her so much. She's just so human with her flaws. I mean, she's pretty badass and really smart but she has hard time expressing her feelings and talking about them which causes problems but she owns them up. And what's maybe the best, it the fact that Fian is there for her. Fian sees through Jarra's bullshit and he calls her up and makes her talk when she tries to avoid it. Fian is stubborn and just so adorable, and I love how they fit together. It's not easy as Jarra is a Handicap and Fian is a norm but they make it work because they love each other, and fit together. I ship them maybe more than any other pairing.

The secondary characters were amaz (as they would say), too. Playdon is good, solid adult and I love how much he cares about his students and fights for them. Jarra's dig team, Amalie, Krath and Dalmora, was around a lot and I was happy to get to know them better. Drago was a new a acquaintance and I fell so hard. First of all, I loved how we get to know gorgeous, smart, badass male character and still, there was so love triangle. Drago was there and he was amazing, and yes, maybe the biggest flirt but no love triangle. It's fresh and I was so happy about it.

 

I have nothing but praises for Earth Star. It exceeded all my expectations, made me devour it and love all the characters even more than before (how it was even possible?). Incredible story and I will start the final book of the trilogy, Earth Flight, right away. I highly recommend everyone to read Earth Girl, and if you like it, then you must read Earth Star!

 

Definitely worth of time!

 

5 of 5 stars.

 

Earth Star on Goodreads.

Feature & Follow Friday #22

 

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by two different hosts, Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! This meme is here for bloggers to gain new blogger friends and followers.

 

This weeks topic:

 

Do you read more than 1 book at a time, and if so, how, like a certain amount of pages per book before moving on to the next one in the queue?

 

Yes, I do. I usually have two books I read at a time, mostly one physical and one ebook. Sometimes I got bored with some book and start another and then I read the one first whom keeps my attention and finish the other later. I don't have any methocal way reading multiple books. Usually I just keep reading the one that makes me turn the page and the others sit there until I'm finished. So yeah. At this moment, I'm reading four books: one that I've almost finished because I can't put it down, one is a re-read and I'm savouring it, and two others are a little bit on hold because I'm stuck with the other and the other is so emotional I can't read it every day.

 

And here's the books I'm currently reading: Earth Star by Janet Edwards, Escape From Hell! by Hal Duncan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, and Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.

 

 

The Coffee Shop Book Tag

I love coffee and I love books so this is perfect tag for me. Originally created by Gio Navas on booktube (here's her tag video).

 

Iced Coffee - Your favorite horror novel.

Darn. I don't read horror. I don't like to be scared and lose my sleep, so yeah. I guess Lord of the Flies by William Golding is closest to horror novel I've read. It's dystopian more but it really scared me because it was gruesome and I had hard time reading it (not because it was bad but because the subject was kind of hard).

Hot Panino - The most frustrating sexual tension between two characters.
This one is hard because honestly, I don't know. I mean, YA doesn't really have sexual tension, NA covers it pretty quickly, same with adult novels. So it's either non-existent or right there in books I've read. Although, Katy and Daemon from the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout have quite frustrating sexual tension (mostly it's frustrating because Katy can't make up her mind and she plays hot and cold so yeah).

Arnold Palmer - Your favorite collaboration.

Now that I think about it, I haven't read many collaborations. I'm going with Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. It was funny and made me laugh but there was also some serious matters, and I just really like the story.

 

(But what the hell is Arnold Palmer? I've never heard about coffee called that.)

Fizzy Juice - A book with a cool premise that fell kind of flat.

I have to say Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. The premise was so cool and I even liked some things (Warner, Kenji, the world-building) but I guess I expected more from Juliette. I expected some badassery, okay. And all I got was whining. And blah romance with Adam. So yeah, it felt kind of flat.

 

I'm still giving chance this series. Mostly because of Warner and Kenji. (And I hope Juliette will stop whining.)

Frappucino - A book you do not understand the hype about.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Susanne Collins. Okay, I kind of get it. It's great dystopian world and there's some serious aspect it deals with and it's awesome. I just don't get the hype Katniss gets. Or Katniss/Peeta ship gets. So yeah.

 

(Can we get a book from Finnick or Haymitch point of view? That would have been great. And maybe then I'd get the hype.)

Vanilla Latte - A sweet book that makes you smile.

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. This will be released on April and let me just say, it's perfect. I have review coming on sometime in March! This just, it's so perfect, and I smiled so much my cheeks hurt.
 

 

Banana Nut Muffin - A nutty character that makes you laugh.
Simon from Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Simon is hilarious and I had so much fun reading from his point of view.

Peppermint Mocha - A bittersweet ending to a book or series.
Definitely Made of Stars by Kelley York had a bittersweet ending. I wanted to cry so much but I was kind of happy, and just so full of feelings. So yeah, it was my kind of bittersweet.

Chocolate covered nuts - A plot twist that got you.
The final plot twist in I Am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff. I can't say much about it because I don't want to spoil anyome. I sure didn't expect that end result, quite the opposite. But I was so glad Zadoff made it, for various reasons I can't say (because it would spoil you!)

Black Coffee - A book that made your soul feel just as black; a book that made you cry.
There's so many that I've hard time deciding. I'm going with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. I cried so often during that book and not because it was sad (it wasn't) but every freaking emotion there is. I cried of joy, hurt, angry, love, sadness... Everything. The story is awesome. It's incredible.

 

 

Espresso - An intense book that kept you on your toes, or, awake.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I mean, how could it not? I just had to read it and pray Thomas, Newt and Minho would make it. It was so good.

Lemon Square - A sour scene that made you cringe from second hand embarrassment.
Whole Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins. I really should stay away from angel books just because I want to avoid this kind of 'only good and innocent girls are worth saving and your time' shit. And all those embarrassing moments. Like really? Yes, you're innocent and virgin and reader gets it but do you need to be so damn obvious, too? I try not to rant but I just didn't like this book at all.

(I want to read good angel books because I like the aspect of it but please, can we leave the religious stuff out of it? Is there any good angel books?)

Americano - Your favorite classic.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. It has everything I hold dear: intriguing setting, well developed and multilayered characters, plot twists, romance (that's pretty much doomed), revenge, and basically everything there is in this book. It never gets old, no matter how many times I've read it.

New Flavor - An awesome book you have yet to discuss on booktube/blog.
Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Okay, I kind of cheated because I mentioned the book before in this tag but technically I haven't discussed about it because my review is not up yet. It's just so incredible! I loved the characters, storyline, and everything! I will buy physical copy of this as soon as it's available because I need to hold and hug it and place it on my favourite book shelf.

I don't tag anyone but I encourage everyone do it who wants to. (And leave a link behind, I'd love to read your picks! I just love tags.)

Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Of Poseidon (The Syrena Legacy, #1)

by Anna Banks

Published by Square Fish

Paperback (purchased)

YA, paranormal, romance

 

The day Emma meets Galen on the beach is the day her life changes forever. Galen is the prince of the Syrena sent to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. When Emma runs into him—literally, ouch!—their connection is immediate and powerful. Could this be the girl? After several encounters, Galen is convinced Emma is the one. But how can he convince her of her gift? And how can he make his feelings for her disappear? She's the key to his kingdom, she can't be the key to his heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If there's merfolk, I'm probably going to love it. Of Poseidon, oh boy, did I love it! It had so many elements that I enjoy, and most of all, I clicked with the characters right away. Emma was sassy, stubborn, funny and so damn fine. Galen was sassy, stubborn and funny, too, but he also was adorable, smart and yeah, Syrena Royal (he's a prince I can swoon for). There where so many secondary characters who I couldn't help but either love or respect. Galen's sister Rayna might have been rude and outspoken but I admired her passion and strong shelf worth, and Galen's brother Grom I just felt for so much and I need to know more about his character! Rachel and Emma's mother were quite intriguing and headstrong, and I hope the sequels have more stored for them. I basically loved everyone, okay? Especially Emma and Galen, and I ship them so much. Usually I have problems with leading females in YA books but Emma was fine character and she didn't whine about things which was so fresh and nice.

 

Besides awesome characters Of Poseidon had wonderful world-building. The whole Syrena mythology, laws and even the scientific aspect (like how Syrena's body differs from humans on DNA level, I loved how it was explained how they live longer than humans). It's awesome! The writing was fast-paced and I devoured the whole story in one day which is unusual for me. Of Poseidon is one of those books you can't put down until it's over, and then you yearn for more (I do, I need the sequel!)

 

The only downside is the fact that I guessed the big plot twist at the beginning. However, I still had emotional rollercoaster with the characters. Especially when Galen and Emma took their time forever. Although it was nice and fresh from all the fast romances, because they had the attraction but actions and big feelings didn't came with snap of fingers and it was so good.

 

I'm not the most eloquent even though I finished reading Of Poseidon a couple of days ago. I still feel it all and yearn for the sequel, because I need to learn more about Syrena and what happens with Emma and Galen.

 

Definitely and highly recommend. Go read this awesome book!

 

5 of 5 stars.

 

Of Poseidon on Goodreads.