R-r-read

1. The merpeople.  The twists on mermaid legends
   were the best parts of this book. Merpeople don’t eat humans, they
   siphon emotions off of humans. Merpeople can also see auras, helping
   them to decide whether a particular human is appetizing or not. The only
   confusing aspect of the twisted legend was the selective telepathy.
   Apparently merpeople can communicate telepathically and read the
   thoughts of animals and those within their family, so long as the family
   members are underwater.
2. The darkness.  I love The Little Mermaid. It’s my
   favorite Disney movie, but it was refreshing to see bloodthirsty,
   cold-hearted mermaids as they were originally depicted in mermaid
   legends. Mermaids do not want to sing to you about their
   thing-a-ma-bobs. They do not swim around with their crab friends looking
   for adventure. They are predators. They will kill you.
3. The romance.  The romance developed slowly and felt
   as natural as a stalker-turned-boyfriend relationship can. I liked that
   aspect of it, even if it did feel like a mermaid version of Stephanie
   Meyer’s Twilight.

1. The flat characters and writing.  I was really
   excited to get my hands on this book, but unfortunately the writing and
   the character development just didn’t live up to expectations.
2. The slow pace.  I liked the plot well enough and
   the book itself was a quick read, but there were times when I felt like
   things just crawled to a stop. I wanted to yell at Calder to get his
   butt in gear and DO something already!

This book was quick read with a fairly interesting plot and
refreshing twists on mermaid legends. Unfortunately, the lack of
character development and flat writing kept it from reaching its full
potential.