Genre: Teen/YA Paranormal
Romance
Publication
Date: June 29, 2012
Pages: 278
Published By:
Obsidian
Mountain Publishing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brendapandos
My Review Copy: E-copy purchased from the
author. (First day it was released, by the way!)
Where To Get:
Blurb:
A kingdom on the brink of
war.
A king on the fringes of insanity.
A family running for their lives.
Ash and Fin’s only desire is to be together and dive into their happily ever
after, though their conflicting worlds work to pull them apart. Neither is
ready to convert to the other’s life: become a human or a mer. Little do they
know that somewhere in Natatoria a secret holds the fine fabric of everyone’s lives together. If the truth is discovered, Ash and Fin will no longer have the
luxury of waiting. They’ll be forced to choose. But will it be for loyalty or
love? Or will someone else make the choice for them if they can’t decide?
Enter the watery world of treachery, greed, and the binding mer kiss as the
story continues with Evergreen, book two of Mer Tales.
Quotes:
“Which world would be most
supportive of our relationship? Which was worthy of our sacrifice? I wanted
parts of both.”
“Lucy’s pathetic rendition
of Kelly Clarkson’s What Doesn’t Kill You filtered
through the walls, killing me softly.”
“With her eyes, I saw pain
mirrored from my own soul. Did she long for someone too? Or was she trying
desperately to fit into a world that would never accept her, at least not as
she was - a mermaid.”
“Cold wind dusted over the
frigid water and sent a familiar chill over my skin… She tempted me with her
calming and elusive waves, promising if I were to dive in everything would be
okay.”
“My life was no longer my
own and like Tatchi, I had no way to escape.”
“You’re a catfish with your
nine lives.”
“My reflection in the
mirror stopped me. With my stringy hair sticking out from my head in a spastic
wild fire and Georgia’s stretched-out black dress poorly covering my body, I resembled
a piece of lit dynamite.”
My Thoughts:
I discovered Brenda
Pandos’s first book, Everblue, by
seeing the cover online. If you haven’t read it yet, I HIGHLY recommend it! The
book is even better than the cover, and introduces the reader to the Mer world,
and a family of mermaids living right next to the main (human) character
Ashlyn, or Ash. Evergreen continues
that story, and Brenda does not skimp on the action!
Evergreen picks up right where the first
book leaves off, with Fin having to leave Ash in a hurry to avoid serious
trouble with other mers from the underwater homeland of Natatoria. This is
heartbreaking for Ash and Fin, and the end of Everblue and the much of Evergreen
is an emotionally-tense time for them. We don’t hear much from Tatchi, Fin’s
sister and Ash’s best friend in this book, as she is still in Natatoria.
While
Everblue slowly picks up speed and
builds toward a dizzying climax, Evergreen
is filled from start to finish with action and drama and a healthy dose of
dramatic irony. It reminds me of Shakespeare, both comedies and tragedies, in
that there is SO much miscommunication and assumption between the characters
that gets everyone into trouble. Almost the entire book, I was yelling in my
head things like: “No!” “Talk to each other!” “Tell them the truth!” “What are
you doing?!” I think this story underscores the most important part of any
happy, successful, and lasting relationship - communication! Honest and open
communication could have prevented many of the problems in the book, but then
we wouldn’t have as much of a story, and definitely not one so suspenseful!
This
story is not just an action story that sets up a terrible cliffhanger (fie on you Brenda Pandos!) at the end in
preparation for the third and final novel in this thrilling trilogy; it is also
at the core a love story, and one that explores what it means to love, what it
means to love someone who is different than you, and how to reconcile that love
with societal expectations. I feel that even though the book deals with Ash and
Fin being split between the human world and Mer world, that parallels can
easily be made for couples from different cultures, religions, races, etc.
Now,
lest you think this story is all action and tension and suspense, Brenda also
throws in some great elements to lighten the mood. She has cute words that are
sea- and water-related, like the quote above about catfish having nine lives.
She also includes wonderful descriptions of both physical and emotional aspects
of the story, and of the characters themselves (see the quote about Ash above,
where she describes herself as looking like a “piece of lit dynamite”).
Finally, she has moments of humor that add surprising depth to the story and
makes it more realistic. These moments sneak up on you when you’re
unsuspecting, making them all the more potent, like the quote above about
Lucy’s singing.
I
thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend this book, and the entire
series (Everblue for now, and the
last book Everlost when Brenda finishes
it) to anyone looking for a fun, beachy read about a secret world of mermaids
and the girl who falls in love with one. I know I’ll be in line, anxiously
waiting to return to Natatoria and see how Ash and Fin’s story ends.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
