When I was contacted by the author, Derrolyn Anderson, to ask me if I would like to review her book based on the idea of mermaids I didn't even hesitate to say no. How could I turn down a teen-romance about mermaids? In my opinion there aren't enough of them. If you're getting bored of sparkly vampires and sulking werewolves then this is the book for you. It's magical, romantic and set in a beautiful seaside Californian town. What more could you ask for?
Marina is sent to live in Aptos, a small town on the coast, and at first it's safe to say that she really isn't keen on the idea. But eventually she settles in with the help of her kind and welcoming relatives and it helps that there's a really hot guy who's taken a strong liking to her. Ethan is one of those gorgeous, Californian surfer types and I had to admit that I did fall for him as soon as he was introduced.
The protagonist is a strong, independent character and you'll take an instant liking to her. I enjoyed her narration and I found her story to be deeply compelling. She was a very determined girl and I really rooted for her to discover things for herself - she ignored a lot of advice from her friends which sometimes didn't always bode well, but I think if I had been in her position I'd have probably done the same thing. Her relationship with Ethan was cute and adorable and I liked that it wasn't rushed. I felt like I was being teased with Ethan's presence a little bit - one minute he was there and would maybe have one line of dialogue and the next minute he was gone. Cheeky! This was a good device used by the author to reveal snippets about Ethan without giving everything away about his character in one go. It was nice to learn about him slowly. Eventually the author had to give in though and for the last 100 pages or so his presence is pretty much constant, and the way he tried his best to protect Marina was fantastic to read. Their relationship was light, fluffy, cute and romantic. But most importantly it was believable.
The plot was overall very enjoyable and each chapter was gripping enough to get me to read on. I read this book in two sittings! It's a fast paced story which had a lot of tense bits but also some light-hearted banter too. I thought perhaps I was a little too old for it - it's maybe a slightly younger teen read (I'm almost 20) but I still enjoyed it and I would probably recommend it to my sister who is a few years younger.
The only real disappointment for me was that sometimes an event would be a little bit rushed or skimmed over and I would have loved it if there was a little bit more detail - which would have ultimately made the book a bit longer and this is definitely a good thing as I was quite sad when I got to the end! Luckily this is the first book in a series and I can't wait to read the next one to find out what's going to happen to Marina next. And I'm going to be honest, I totally can't wait to read more about Ethan's hot surfer body!
Overall, Marina's Tales is a good, quick, easy read and I would definitely recommend adding it to your Kindle before you go on your summer holiday! The story has put me in the mood for a beach holiday now!
Reviewed by Amber @ The Spine-Breaker's Club.
