January Mermaids #4: Forbidden Sea

*MAY CONATINS SPOILERS*

Goodreads: When Adrianne comes face-to-face with the mermaid of Windwaithe Island, of whom she has heard terrible stories all her life, she is convinced the mermaid means to take her younger sister. Adrianne, fierce-willed and courageous, is determined to protect her sister from the mermaid, and her family from starvation. However, the mermaid continues to haunt Adrianne in her dreams and with her song.

Yet, when the islanders find out about Adrianne's encounters with the mermaid she is scorned, for this small and superstitious community believes the mermaid will bring devastation to the island if Adrianne does not give herself to the sea.

A powerful and lyrical story of one girl who must choose between having everything and having those she loves.

Review: Okay, first, I want to say, this book was AMAZING! The book is defined as paranormal, YA, mermaids, but in a way, it's Contemporary combined with Paranormal. In some YAs, the background of the main character is a sad one or it borderlines contemporary.

SPOILER: In this book, Adrianne was once a rich girl with a love of horses. Then one day, while out riding with her dad, her dad's horse bucked him off and he died. Then, because her mom was too depressed to keep running the house, Adrianne had too and since she didn't know what to do, she wasted all the money on the servant's wages and the food. Then they became poor and their mean aunt came to live with them and her aunt hated her and loved her spoiled little sister. And then the other kids made fun of her and the guy she liked drooled over another girl. In the beginning.....well, for most of the book, she was teased and degrated for everything she did no matter what it was. I love characters like this. Why? Because they always come out on top. END OF SPOILER

The plot of this book is very creative. The Legend of Lady Lauretta is unique on it's own, and it's not even the plot of the book! The mermaid was more of a siren in my option, but that's only because she kept trying to lure Adri to the sea.

Characters:

• Adrianne: Brave, caring, puts other above herself, loving. Determined. All these characteristics and more are what drew the mermaid to her. Though she was the main character, I felt she was the underdog since she felt sad and depressed most of the book. Besides her feelings, she stayed strong and kept up her chores and did whatever she could to make sure her family still had a house over her head. No matter what, she still thought of others first. SPOILER: Even when she went with the mermaid she thought of how her family would be better without her since the whole village hated her. The only problem with her was that she couldn't see her inner beauty beneath what was on the surface. I hate people with low self-esteem.
• Denn: LOVE HIM! Kind, loyal, funny. Sure, in the beginning when he still fawned over Cora Lynn, but as the book went on, he started to use his brain and realized he really liked her. When she went with the mermaid, he searched for her, and when he couldn't find her, he stayed on the beach because he couldn't face her family. And when she came back, he was so happy! Love this guy.
• Jendayi, the Sea Queen of the Caribbean Sea (a.k.a., the mermaid): For most part of the book, Jendayi was just know as the mermaid to Adrianne and kids her age. To adults, the Devil's creation. According to the Legend, she stole Lady Lauretta and caused chaos on the island. And she did, but only to get the humans to let Lady Lauretta go. SPOILER: Jendayi has a unique ability. She can see through to a person soul and their inner person. She says that's how she chose Adri to be the bride for the youngest Sea Prince. She saw beneath all the dirt and the hurt to a person strong and caring.
• Cecily: Though she is the younger sister to Adri, she's a spoiled brat. Went she doesn't get her way, tantrum. I believe it's because of her aunt Minnah, who favors her over Adri. Though Cecily wants to be like Adri, I don't believe she will ever be. She's too spoiled and tempered to.
• Aunt Minnah: For most of the book, I hated her. I wanted to rip her head off and toss it to the dogs. Then later on I found out why she was so horrible to Adri. SPOILER: she was the older child out of her brother, Adri's dad, and she wasn't liked as well as he was. Especially when he got her grandmother's locket. So, she's projecting her feelings of neglet and saddness onto Adri. Still hate her. I'm happy she left them. She was no help, like Cecily.
• Giselle (a.k.a, Mama): I didn't like her. No, I mean, I liked her, but I just wish she could've stood up to Aunt Minnah. Ever since her husband died, she's this depresses, submissive woman working hard to make sure her girls are feed. SPOILER: I hated it when she gave the locket to Cecily since she knew that if she didn't and gave it to Adri taht Cecily would have caused a fit. I just wish she had a back bone.
• Others: The other characters were okay. Most of the kids in the village picked on Adri because she was poor. Lady Lauretta appeared at the end with her husband and she appeared to be very happy.

Future: Just a stand alone. SPOILER: But in the book, it hinted that Adri and Denn got married and had daughters and maybe a son. Cecily married Trey and lived a rich life. That's about it.

Quotes:

• "Why not?" Jendayi, page 293
• "'You're not that much of an idiot. Cora Lynn is awfully beautiful.' (Adri). 'So are you. I don't know why I couldn't see it before" Denn, page 294

Read this book!

Rating:

The Big Kahona goes to this lovely book because it moved me so much (the contemporary side of it) and because I could hardly put it down. :D

Cover:

The design for Jendayi is amazing!

Ending:

A happy ending.

I got this book from the author because of a giveaway she was holding. Review was not required.

Before I end, I want to tell you guys that this was the last book in my January Mermaids. Yeah I know, there were only 4 books, but that's all I had that I hadn't read. :D Hopefully more will come.

Keep On Reading

Up Next:

Like the button? Thanks. I made it myself. :D I'm getting pretty good at it.

So, for February, the month of Love, I'm going to try to reall all of my contemporary novels. I'll probably get through 25% of them because there's so many!

And first on the list is........

I love the cover. Barefoot is the best way to go.