Early Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Of Poseidon
by Anna Banks

Expected publication: May 22nd 2012 by Feiwel & Friends

Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he’s a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange – is it attraction? – and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he’s heard of – a human who can communicate with fish. 

What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma’s gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she’s the key to saving his kingdom. Soon, Emma can’t deny her feelings for him, but can’t explain them, either – and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: May 22nd 2012

Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends

Format: eARC, 324 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My Review:

Emma McIntosh was spending her last vacation before college in Florida, along with her childhood friend Chloe, when she ran into the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. But what really captures her attention is that, against all odds, both him and his sister have purple eyes, just like hers. A color said to be so rare some people even believe is nonexistent.

Galen is very surprised when he sees the eyes of the girl who just tottered into him. Those are the eyes of the Syrenas, most commonly known as merpeople. And even if her skin and hair coloring are all wrong, the tingling sensation he feels when he touches her just make his suspicions that she's one of them grow. Even if his sister, Rayna, doesn't believe him. Any doubts he might have had disappear when he sees her talking to a shark... and the shark actually obeying her. That ability alone proves that she's one Of Poseidon, and she just might be the key to uniting two kingdoms.

Emma is absolutely crushed when her best friend is killed by a shark during their vacation together, and that she couldn't save her, but life must go on. On her first day back to school she can't believe her eyes when she sees Galen, the guy she met on the beach, again. That very, very handsome guy, whom every girl suddeenly wants. Turns out he's in ALL of her classes. And he seems to ALWAYS be around her. Not to mention that he seems to really enjoy annoying her. They just can't stop arguing. But their chemistry is amazing.

Galen starts to feel more and more attracted to Emma, even knowing that if she is of Poseidon, than she should be mated to his older brother, Grom, as their tradition demands. He can't be so selfish as to want her for himself when the other option is uniting and bringing prosperity to two kingdoms.

I thought the story of Of Poseidon was very creative. I liked the characters immensely (even if Emma fainted way too many times for my taste), found a lot of quotes to be absolutely hilarious and many situations very amusing. What I just couldn't take was how long it took them to find out Emma was a freaking half-blood! I mean, seriously? The girl had been living her whole life at the surface, had no idea she could hold her breath for so long, can't grow a fin to save her life, had never even heard of the Syrena people, looks nothing like them (with the exception of her eye color), and they kept thinking she was a full-blooded mermaid all along? Jeez, talk about being blind. Oh, and about her mother? Please. That was a bit too obvious from the very start.

So I wasn't surprised when the ending turned out to be predictable, but I was startled by the abruptness of the way it ended. For a moment I even thought maybe my advanced copy had missing pages. I'm sure the author was trying to build tension and make things more mysterious for the next books, (and I actually really want to know what happens next), but I think the ending for this first volume could have been more, well, complete. I did like the book as a whole, though. I usually don't care much about secondary characters, but they were all so charming and funny! I'm hoping we'll see more of Toraf (horrible name, great guy), Rayna and Rachel. And it was too bad Chloe had to die so soon! She could have made things even more interesting. :(

If you like your fantasy YA with hot mermen, funny heroines and super interesting secondary characters, you'll really dig Of Poseidon.

* I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Review: Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton

Everneath (Everneath #1)

by Brodi Ashton

Expected publication: January 24th 2012 by Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. 

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. 

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen. 

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

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My Review

Nikki Beckett has lost her mother to a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Her father hardly speaks to her, he's so busy with his political campaign. Her best friend, Jack Caputo, finally became her boyfriend, and everything was peachy... until she caught a half-dressed girl coming out of his room at camp. Many sad and stressful events started to pile up until she couldn't take it anymore. She wanted the pain to stop, or, even better, to stop feeling. And Cole Stockton was the guy to help her.

Cole is an Everliving. He's been alive for many, many years, but every 100 years he needs to Feed, or he'll die. He feeds on human emotions and energy. Nikki has fed him for a whole century at the Everneath, but after she woke up still remembering her past life, she decided to Return to the surface, where only 6 months had passed since she 'disappeared'. 

Nikki feels completely empty of feelings, but still she wants to fix things with her family and loved ones, who assumed she got involved with drugs and all kinds of bad things when she went missing so suddenly. All she wants is to say good-bye properly, and use those last six months she has to make amends. But she isn't ready to feel again. And that's what happens when she sees Jack after so long.

Jack slowly starts to approach her, to try and understand what caused her strange behavior of 6 months ago and to know what exactly happened to her during the time she went missing. Nikki tries to push him away, but she can't. She still loves him. And he, her. But Nikki only has 6 months on Earth. After this time is over, she'll have to go to the Tunnels, where she'll end stuck in a nightmare, paying back her 'debt'. 

However, Cole offers her another option. He was so surprised when she woke up from the Feed still looking like herself and with most of her memories intact, that he asks her to become an Everliving like him. He tries to convince her to become his queen. The Queen of the Everneath. But Nikki wants nothign from him. She con't stand the thought of Feeding on innocents to survive like she's been Fed on. She plans to use her time to the fullest and then go to the Tunnels like she has to.

I wasn't sure what to say about Everneath. It gave me very mixed feelings. I didn't care for lots of things about it, but I was really interested in others.

It took me a while to get into the book, but eventually I got used to it, especially the confusing alternating timelines (the narrative kept count of the time the main character still had on Earth/The Surface, and kept going back and forth to past events in order to explain things). 

I did like the story, with all the mythological mentions and touches to it, but I just couldn't feel the heroine. Sure, I understood her thoughts and actions, but she always came around a bit empty to me. Unfeeling. And I don't mean literally, like in the book, but as a human. Just didn't really leave a mark at all. I guess what I mean to say is that she didn't feel like a heroine to me. Maybe more like a secondary character? >.<'

I liked the cover more than I liked the heroine.

On the other hand, I was crazy about Cole and I certainly went nuts over Jack. They were strong. Very strong characters. They had energy, they had intense, firm, almost palpable feelings. Doubt, fear, anger, irritation, despair, love... They felt real to me. I just wanted to read more and more about them, when, in fact, I felt like I should be caring more about Nikki. 

Most of the time I found myself cheering for both boys. I wanted them both to end up happy. Looks like I can never pick sides. LOL.

Oh, and I thought the 'ability' to taste feelings thing was quite interesting. Wanted to have seen more of that.

The ending wasn't very surprising, that's for sure. But, nonetheless, still very aggravating. And not much was explained. Almost nothing at all. Book 2, come quickly. I'm not especially excited, but I sure am curious. Does that make sense? O.o  Man, I really wish this one was a stand-alone...

If you like young adult paranormal books with a flavoring of mythology and romance, this is your book.

*I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*