Title: Everblue
(Mer Tales #1)
Author: Brenda Pandos
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
First published: July 29th 2011
Finished reading: July 30th 2015
Pages: 304
“Stars pebbled the heavens and I vowed to never take the beauty for granted once we were back home, guarding the gate like it should be.”
I have to be honest and say I wasn’t really sure this novel would be for me back when I downloaded it at Amazon. But since I could get it for free and the cover intrigued me, I decided to give Everblue a go anyway. Unfortunately, my instinct was more than right. I came really close to actually DNF this read, and that doesn’t happen often. The main characters were seriously frustrating; especially Ash; she goes from wanting Fin to Callahan to even Collin… Up to the point that I wish I could have slapped her and say: ‘make up your mind already‘! A lot of YA authors seem to feel their novels need a love triangle and Brenda Pandos is not an exception. The worst part: there are actually various love triangles in Everblue! I wasn’t a big fan of the prose either and I felt the story dragged at some points. I guess this story might have worked better as a novella… But even then I wouldn’t recommend reading it.
Ashlyn and Tatiana are best friends, but Tatiana has a secret. Ash thinks she just has very strict parents, but there is actually a whole different reason why Tatchi and her brother Fin can’t go outside at night. It turns out they aren’t exactly human; they have to hide their secret and tails so humans don’t find out. When Tatchi and Fin suddenly disappear, Ash is more than worried. She just lost her best friend and she actually has a huge crush on Fin… But she doesn’t know what to do to find them. Will she be able to find them again? And what about the secret?
Everblue is about mermaids, which is quite interesting since these creatures are mostly ignored in YA literature. I liked the descriptions of Natatoria, but that was about it. The prose was actually quite annoying at points and the characters bland and irritating. Still, I think the worst part of this novel is the fact that it has various (unnecessary) love triangles. The romance scenes are cheesy and it seems that Ash changes who she wants to be with with every single heartbeart. Irritating and not exactly believable. In other words, I would definitely not recommend reading this one.
Hmmmmmm. I’d like to write a YA mermaid novel at some point, so this book is on my TBR list. But I’ve heard iffy things about it, and your review confirms some of that “iffyness,” so… eh, I should probably still read it for “market research,” but I’m not sure how much I’ll like it.
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Mermaids are definitely interesting creatures to write about if done in the right way… YA mermaid novels are not as common as for example vampires or zombies, so definitely more original. Like I said above, I liked the descriptions of the mermaid world Natatoria, but the rest of Everblue was a huge disappointment…
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Sorry to hear this wasn’t such an enjoyable read! I find mermaid books are quite rare, and am always on the lookout for them. Great review though! ❤
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Thanks! I know; there aren’t a lot of mermaid books out there… But this one is definitely not interesting to read. 😉
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