ARC Book Review: Of Poseidon

Author: Anna Banks
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Pages: 352
Source: ARC received from the publisher

Summary: Emma and her friend Chloe are spending vacation in Florida. When Emma (literally) runs into a hot guy named Galen on the beach, little does she know he’s a prince of the Syrena. Galen and Emma both feel something strange – is it attraction? – and Galen suspects that Emma might well be the girl he’s heard of – a human who can communicate with fish.

What follows is a deadly scene with a shark in which Galen witnesses Emma’s gifts. He must know more about her, and follows her back to New Jersey, and high school, to find out for sure if she’s the key to saving his kingdom. Soon, Emma can’t deny her feelings for him, but can’t explain them, either – and both she and Galen must learn more about where she comes from and what her powers are before they can trust one another and their feelings.

LC's Take:

"Ohmysweetgoodness!" I loved loved loved this book!

I think what I liked the most about Of Poseidon was how the author took a genre that has already been done many times before and created a new version all her own. Instead of calling the characters "mermaids," they are called "Syrena." Their fins aren't scaly and slippery, but velvety. They're able to change into human form when they need to. I loved discovering all the little details about the Syrena and what made them different from any other paranormal creatures I've read about before-- it made the story very unique!

The main character Emma was awesome-- independent, feisty, and snarky to the point of making me giggle throughout the entire book, I loved her! As the story begins, Emma has just faced a horrible tragedy involving a shark attack. Around the same time, a mysterious (and gorgeous) guy named Galen starts following her around. Before long, Emma is starting to realize that something is very different about her since the attack... and Galen knows something about her that she doesn't!

The story itself was super cute and full of mystery and intrigue. Who exactly is Emma-- or maybe more to the point, what is she? And will Galen be able to figure out the secret in time to save the underwater world of the Syrena? Also, the love story that unfolds between Emma and Galen was too adorable. I was pretty much dying laughing from the very first chapter when our heroine smacks her head into the model-esque chest of her soon to be merman love interest-- talk about embarrassing! And it was beyond entertaining to listen to their love-squabbles and friendly jabs at each other throughout the book. I especially liked their relationship because it didn't happen all at once, but took time to develop. This built up my interest much more than by throwing an unbelievable romance in my face.

The other characters were so much fun-- Galen was incredibly dreamy, and I was definitely rooting for him the entire time. I also liked that the book was split in half between Emma and Galen's POVs so we could see both their sides of the story. Galen's sister Rayna was a real spit-fire, who you hate at first but then come around to liking. She had me cracking up every time she rejected Toraf's romantic advances on her, and I couldn't believe how Toraf gets back at her for playing hard to get! 

Oh, and the ending!! Seriously, it knocked me for a total loop. It was such an unexpected cliff hanger and I am just dying to get my hands on the next book now to see what is going to happen! Altogether, this was a great, original story that had the perfect mix of romance, mystery and humor. I was really impressed and would definitely recommend it, because this is one 2012 release that you are not going to want to miss!

~Cover Talk~

I just love the cover for this book, it is so graceful and beautiful! I also like the fact that it's not super literal-- like, hey here's a book about mermaids, let's slap a picture of a mermaid on the cover! Instead, it's much more suggestive of what the story is actually about (which I won't give away, you'll just have to read it!) The flowing white dress also really stands out against the dark water background. So pretty!

LC's Rating:

This book was, in the words of Emma, fan-flipping-tastic. Awesome characters, can't-put-it-down story, intriguing romance, and one crazy cliff-hanger made this a book one that I could not put down!