The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo

"One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever."One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever."One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever."One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever."One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever."

Despite some beautiful imagery and scene settings, “The Ghost Bride” is painfully slow. Even though it has the calming zen-like presence common to most Asian historical fiction novels; the plot is halted, as well. Choo has the habit of telling Li Lan’s story versus allowing the reader to ‘live’ it which is unusual as the story is told in 1st-person narrative. Li Lan never comes alive and is one-dimensional, boring, and not available for attachment. This weakens the pace of the story and filters the characters.

“The Ghost Bride” flows too much like a young adult fictional novel as Choo simplifies and overly romanticizes the plot (in a teen lust of way) while also constantly explaining things. Meaning, Choo interrupts dialogue to explain a Chinese term or tradition or even has the characters explain these to each other in a “As you know, Bob…” style common to annoying HF novels. This is not how people think or speak to each in ‘real life’ taking away from the reality of the story. Also annoying is Choo’s overuse of foreshadowing which isn’t subtle, to say the least.

Although “The Ghost Bride” is rich in historical context in terms of the story settings; the characters act, think, and respond in a much too modern way in comparison to other Asian historical fiction novels. “The Ghost Bride” is noticeably modernized, reducing the possibility of memorable and moving characters and/or plots. The novel simply lacks that special “oomph”. 

I had to eventually put it down and didn't want to carry on so I can't comment on

how the book ends. 

Age rating 13+. Creepy ghosts. 

The City of Brass (#1) - S.A Chakraborty

"Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.

But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for..."

I really enjoyed this book. It is not without its flaws, granted, but I still found it highly engaging and a whirlwind of fun. 

Nahri, our main characters, is a twenty-year-old thief and con artist, working marks in 18th Century French-occupied Cairo. She has a gift for discerning medical maladies and treating them. She is supernaturally adept at languages and at parting the unwary from their money. Her character started out so well. She was a survivor; clever and mischievous, making decisions with her head rather than her heart, who’d do what needed to be done to make it through another day and though not all her decisions could be labelled as sound, they were necessary nonetheless. I appreciated that so much, after all, who isn’t a sucker for a survivor story?

Unfortunately as the story progressed her character seemed to become less and less important and less cohesive. Page after page she kept making one foolish decision after another which was so unlike her, as if the Nahri at the beginning of the novel transformed into a completely different character by the end.

All that pride I felt at the start was crushed. It was very disheartening and I am hoping that she becomes more like herself and, finds her power in Daevabad, in the next book. 

My favourite character is the book has to be Alizayd. I really felt for him and his struggle to find out the truth and be morally upstanding in a world that seems entirely morally grey. The confusion of his alliances because of his mixed tribe heritage was also really interesting. He felt the most realistic and complex of the characters. It was a little odd to me that in a community that is depicted as largely Muslim, Alizayd was the only character who was remotely portrayed as being so.....only he was ostracized on account of being Muslim by pretty much EVERYONE ELSE.

Ali is a pious, self-serious and kind-hearted scholar, trying to understand his own privilege and to balance exercising his own power with the love he has for his powerful family. Yet he was perceived, by everyone else, as an oddity for simply being devout – for declining his brother’s invitation to drink alcohol, for not

frequenting parties, etc. He was even called a “religious fanatic”

And last but not least of the main characters is Dara. Here’s the thing: I’m of the firm belief that a great character does not necessarily translate into a “good person”. In fact, some of the best literary figures are completely horrible people, and that's because a character’s worth should always be hinged on how interesting and complex they are, not on their morality in case they were real. But you know what? Male protagonists whose arc revolves around growth and actual personality will always be more interesting than insufferable wankers who punch everything and treat everyone around them like garbage.

Dara’s character lacks any creativity, emotion, or purpose beyond carrying on a pointless ancestral grudge. It’s impossible to sympathize with him, let alone root for him. He is shown to be incredibly prejudiced against shafits (half humans), believe his tribe is better than anyone else's and all round so supremist and exclusionary. This was never combated by the author or Nahri, merely brushed off by the fact that he is sweetly old-fashioned. Like no women he is deeply racist and insufferable. 

Now on to the plot, the book is quite long. It is definitely a set up for the rest of the trilogy, getting the stage set and the reader informed. However I didn't feel like the book dragged. I was interested and engaged the entire time. I am a sucker for fantasy politics and world building so it might be more my cup of tea than others.  Daevabad is stunningly complex and vibrant. Ancient tribal hatreds are kept at bay by a strong, fabulously morally grey and ruthless ruler. King Ghassan ibn Khader al Qahtani must contend not only with inter-tribal tensions, he must cope with a growing insurgency. (Think sundry Middle East rulers with tribally diverse populations.) 

The City of Brass is both smart and very entertaining.

 The richness of the world we see here gives added heft to a wonderful story. The world Chakraborty has created hums with humanity, well, whatever the djinn equivalent might be for humanity (djinnity?).The writing is really well done.

You will smell the incense, want to keep a damp cloth at hand to wipe the dust and sand from your face, and a cool drink nearby to help with the heat. It is also wonderful to learn more about a culture that is not my own. This is a wonderful, engaging, and fun read. Will certainly stick around for the second one. 

Age rating 14 +. There is quite a brutal scene where a man is crushed to death, people are burnt alive in molten metal and there are many concubines however nothing is explicitly sexual. 

Old Magic - Marianne Curley

"The moment the new guy walks into the room, Kate senses something strange and intense about him. Something supernatural. Her instincts are proven correct a few minutes later when, bullied by his classmates, Jarrod unknowingly conjures up a freak thunderstorm "inside" their classroom.

Jarrod doesn't believe in the paranormal. When Kate tries to convince him that he has extraordinary powers that need to be harnessed, he only puts up with her "hocus pocus" notions because he finds her captivating. However, the dangerous, uncontrolled strengthening of his gift finally convinces Jarrod that he must take Kate's theories seriously. Together, they embark on a remarkable journey -- one which will unravel the mystery that has haunted Jarrod's family for generations and pit the teens against immense forces in a battle to undo the past and reshape the future."

Okay so this reads like a very long creative writing project a teenage girl writes in High School. First of all I think I am way to old for the demographic this book was aimed at. Rather than an 18 year old I think this would go down better with 13 year olds. 

It seems to cram every possible YA trope possible into it. The boy with the obscenely powerful  magical abilities he has no idea about, the loner girl, the awful bully and characterless clique, the characterless villain that is about as scary as a grumpy emo. By which I mean he literally wears all black and lives in the creepy dark castle on the hill surrounded by swirling storm clouds. I am not exaggerating. He is just missing the moustache twirl.  

Kate, one of the two main characters, is "not like other girls" to the extreme, in the way that she's an outcast at her school and seems to put herself above other people. This book, like many others, seems to have an issue with typical femininity, and that shows through Kate's treatment of Tasha. There's also the later line of "These poor peasants don't have the skills to procure a curse" which is a whole problem in its own right. She keeps this attitude up until the middle to end of the book, at which point she starts getting attacked, harassed, and kidnapped at every turn and loses all her own agency in favour of Jarrod's own development. She is also so bloody dumb. Kate and Jarrod are always spouting how smart and clever she is when I had to sit there and read her be like “there’s no way the evil villain won’t keep his promise to Jarrod that’s ImPoSsIbLe” and then of course she was proven wrong two seconds later. 

LIKE KATE HE LIVES IN THE MOST STEREOTYPICAL EVIL CASTLE. BLACK CLOUDS, CREEPY BUILDING, CALLED BLACKLANDS, HAS CROWS EVERYWHERE.
HOW DID YOU NOT NOTICE. And she was surprised and two seconds later she complains about not being able to beat Rhauk’s logic.

“Of course you do. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” His eyes narrow, assessing me. “But I will have to do something to stop you from interfering.”
“Noooo!” God, he’s one step ahead of me every time. How can anyone beat this logic?

By using your brain for a grand total of two seconds.Just so so unoriginal. There was also some random time travel thrown in there as well for a really flimsy reason and I really, really don't like time travel. There are way to many variable and people always do it so clumsily. There was no exception here. I kept of thinking, these people are Australian. They have Australian accents. The English noblemen they meet don't have any problem with this and never mention it?? 

Unfortunately the writing was also terribly subpar. Just childish, lacking any subtlety or nuance. We are always being told that Kate is being terribly bullied but the dude literally bullied her twice in the whole book and called her “Scary Face”. I mean come on. Seriously, they’re in high school. High schoolers can insult people way better than that. Give us some credit, okay? My biggest issue with this writing style is how much it just tells me or shoehorns stuff in. So much telling not showing. For an example of the former, Jarrod spends three weeks training and it starts like a page before the chapter ends and part of a two page chapter, and I get nothing except “I GOTTA TRAIN FOR KATE” and suddenly he becomes incredibly despite only being able to teach himself magic????

Characterisation just wasn't existent and nobody had any interesting or original motives. Jarrod's ancestors act like bloody idiots personally. For a family in an area know for religious fanaticism and witch hunting, they where awful chill with Jarrod's very obvious witch craft. Something that was also really weird was how much Kate was referred to as "exotic" by Jarrod. Like yes dude, she is half Asian no need to get a weird exotic fetishization complex on. 

Age Rating 13+. Just a terrible book. I don't think there was any redeeming features. Sorry. 

Sapiens: A Breif History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

"100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.



How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?



In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, palaeontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?"



Okay so I loved this book.



I like how easy to digest the author makes all of the vast quantities of information. Something he does equally well in Homo Deus.  I have a lot of respect for authors who can present something complex in simple terms. I've always liked the quote attributed to Einstein “If You Can’t Explain it to a Six Year Old, You Don’t Understand it Yourself”. Anyone with a thesaurus can make something seem more dense and complicated than it is; it's much harder to explain something long and complicated in a way that everyone can enjoy.



The book does read like a really exciting and fascinating novel. Harari takes us through the history of human development and migration, through the Cognitive Revolution and Agricultural Revolution. He looks at how currency and coinage developed, the creation of religions, the arrival of imperialism and capitalism, and the history of inequalities and injustices.



I especially like how he presents a relatively unbiased view of events. He focuses on what we know, and is quick to say when something remains a mystery to biologists and anthropologists. When there are conflicting theories, he outlines all the main ones. The only agenda Harari seems driven by is a desire to present the most accurate view of humanity's history.



This book filled me with a sense of wonder. Wonder at how far we've come in just a few millennia; wonder at all the twisting roads of history; wonder at where we could possibly end up. Very informative and easily accessible to many.



Age Rating 15+.

The Black Tattoo - Sam Enthoven

"Jack’s best friend, Charlie, is in serious trouble, possessed by an ancient demon called the Scourge who plans to use Charlie to bring about its evil ends—which, unfortunately, involve the destruction of the entire universe. Now Jack and the butt-kicking, sword-wielding Esme must contend with floating sharks, intelligent jelly, oversized centipedes, gladiator pits, and vomiting bats, all for the sake of saving Charlie from the Scourge.

And, hopefully, saving the universe from total and utter annihilation."

Well wow.. that was not what I was expecting. 

Now I must be honest this book is just a whole bunch of clichés wrapped together with gore and wire. But to be honest I loved it. It was such a guilty pleasure. It was weird and bizarre and gross. I felt like I was reading every video game, action movie and horror all mixed up and narrated by a fabulously sassy narrator. 

The Scourge, (sound's like a nasty illness or a cleaning product, doesn't it?) is a demon and our big bad. He's your typical liquid darkness, I'm-so-evil-I-want-to-destroy-the-universe kinda guy. He has long evil monologues and evil cackles, is patronizing to mortals and has absolutely no motivation. 

The characters are also complete stereotypes of different archetypes but they still all felt real, likable and relatable. The writing was good, vivid and visceral. The fight scene where brilliantly written and where really engaging. 

Eventually the story rises to the climactic massive 'good vs. evil' showdown, sacrifices are made, puppy love blooms, lives are lost, and--spoiler alert--good triumphs all. There are unfortunately some points about it which make for a occasionally tedious read. For instance, a third or so into the book, a second secret society, the Sons of the Scorpion Flail, is introduced, for no apparent reason other than to give the protagonists a few more obstacles to overcome on their way to hell. Never mind the convolutions and contortions the story occasionally goes through as well, again with no other purpose, it seems, other than to drag the story out. I think had the story been written a bit tighter, it would've truly been a rip-roaring tale.

Overall really really worth a read despite the overlong plot. It had me cackling on my bed at times by the silly hijinks going on. It was a nice break from the usual deeply taut YA where everyone has hidden agendas and motivations. It was just a really good bang bang shoot-em up with no plinking of heartstrings. 

Age Rating 14+. Gross and gory but in such an unrealistic way that many younger readers will love it. It won't genuinely make feel uncomfortable. 

The Seven Sisters (#1) - Lucinda Riley

"Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.

Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again."

I was recommended this book by my Grandmother. If that doesn't tell my enough about this book already... 

To be honest while I was reading this, it didn't feel that terrible. I was reading very quickly however, and in a bit of a pain fog. Only when I finally put the book down and thought about the plot did I realise it had some significant problems. 

Firstly lets talk about the writing. It was poor, trite and awfully sentimental. The characters spoke to one another as if they barely knew one another, despite being a family. Then Maia talks to another character, an actual stranger like she has known him all her life. I know this is not impossible but who wants to read it? The characters themselves are limp and unlikable and the stilted writing for the characterisation didn't help. Our heroine was wet, self-pitying, unexplainable dowdy and thoroughly unrelatable. Izabela was boring and lacked any personality other than pining. 
The plot itself was strange and improbable. Pa Salt collecting baby girls from around the world to be brought up in, I kid you not, "Atlantis." I mean... if that doesn't raise alarm bells.

The plot also set out several false trails that were never developed or explained. The mystery of Pa Salt is started but never again hinted or delved into. How did Pa Salt know about the secret romance? What happened to the young boy Izabela rescued? Why did Pa Salt adopt Maia if he knew her grandparents wanted to adopt her? However, if you think I am going to read 5 more books of bad romance and historical fiction to find out, you are sorely mistaken. 

Romance plays a large role in this story, way more than I was expecting, but I unfortunately found the romances of the past and the present to be weak. Izabela and Laurent told me they were in love, rather than allow me to feel much of anything. I don't know why or how they are in love and they never act like they are in love other than having sex. Maia and Floriano have the most stilted conversations, I never saw what made him appeal to her at all or vice versa. It was also very much insta-love, after only know each other for 3 weeks you want to live together? The love story of the past was also something that I had read numerous times before, absolutely no originality or anything even remotely new. 

I did like the setting of 1920's Rio however as it is something I know nothing about. The settings felt rich, fully fleshed out and was actually a redeeming aspect. 

Overall, this book is overly sentimental and trite. The writing was okay in description, terrible in emotion and characterisation. The plot was obscure and unoriginal, the characters bland and weak. 

Age Rating 16+ Izabela is raped by her husband repeatedly. Sex is described and heavily alluded to.

Sea witch - Sarah Henning

"Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain."

Okay, first of all can we just look at the cover for a moment. Isn't it beautiful? Ahhh sigh. 

Well anyway. I just need to say one thing: this book is probably not what you are expecting. It's really a question of how much patience you have, and how easily you can sit through maritime chapters without falling asleep. It's a very slowly-paced book, especially during the first two thirds of the story. Any exciting witchy The Little Mermaid goodness you might be expecting happens in the later chapters, and even then it's pretty subdued.

Though, in many ways, Sea Witch is much smarter than I expected for a YA The Little Mermaid retelling. The story is set in 19th Century Denmark, Andersen's country of birth, and is woven with hundreds of years of Danish history. The Danes, especially under King Christian IV, put many "witches" to death in the 16th and 17th centuries. Henning combines this real fear of witches on land with the story of the sea witch we all know from the Andersen tale (and the Disney remake). I really loved this historical grounding and I found myself googling quite a lot of extra info, especially about the Lithasblot Festival. 

Most of the novel has a small-town atmosphere, the main characters of Evelyn, the witch, and Nik, the prince, were sweet but very typical YA. There wasn't any originality to their characters but they where by no means bad. Much of the story is focused on Evelyn's struggle with her low birth and her friendship with the prince Nik. However this didn't really hit the emotional mark as it was all told, never shown. Not once are the people really shown to be mean to Evelyn so I am left feeling that she is really overthinking it. 

My main disappointment was the plot. I am all for a slow burn book if exectuted well with an original plot but...I was really looking forward to an original story but the story largely unfold the same way as the original tale: a mermaid saves a prince, then goes on to land to try to win his heart in four days. If she fails, she'll be turned to sea form. Evelyn narrates the novel, with third-person chapters recounting the past. The mermaid Annamette bears a striking resemblance to Evelyn's best friend who drowned four years ago and she naturally wants to persevere Annamette's life. However Annemette being evil was pretty obvious and didn't serve as much of a plot twist, certainly not enough to save the lack lustre plot. 

One of the main reasons I loved reading these origin stories for villains is to watch their slow decline onto madness. What events make them, usually innocent and kind, become cruel and sadistic? But that is never explored. Evelyn becomes the Sea Witch but isn't shown to be evil or cruel, just a little disillusioned. Which makes a pretty boring villain origin story. 

Overall an promising take that falls a little short of the mark. However a good typical YA, definitely not going to waste your time if you read it. 

Age Rating 11+.