Everblue by Brenda Pandos

Everblue (Mer Tales, #1)

by Brenda Pandos

She wanted her life to change ... he wanted his to stay the same.

Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Lanski is tired of her boring, single life. Swimming and spending time with Tatiana, her best friend, are her only sanctuary. The girls plan to leave their drab lakeside town far behind for college, and Ash hopes to finally ditch her longtime crush for Finley, Tatiana's twin brother. But when Tatiana and her family fail to return home after a family emergency, Ashlyn makes an irrational decision to deal with her loss of them.

Finley Helton and his family are good at blending in with humans as they run their sailing charter business in Lake Tahoe. The truth is they guard an ancient secret. When a not so routine meeting forces Finley, Tatiana and their mother to return to their underwater home of Natatoria, they learn Fin's father will lead a dangerous mission. They must stay in Natatoria and wait for his return, but Fin can't stay caged up for long.

Secrets lurk beneath the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, and a simple lifesaving kiss will change their lives forever.

Reviewed by Raven on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally posted at arielavalon.com

Ashlyn and Tatchi have been best friends for years. Together they are planning to go to a college in Florida away from their families since both want to start fresh in their lives. A family emergency takes Tatchi away along with her twin brother Fin, who Ash has a crush on. But as time passes and Tatchi still hasn't returned and no one seems to know where the family went, Ash gets worried. She is about to learn the secret Tatchi's family hides, and it will change her life forever.

This is pretty much your typical mermaid story. Girl meets boy, boy is a merman, girl and boy fall in love. Only change here really was that the boy, Fin wasn't waiting around for the perfect time to confess his feelings, he was trying to bury them down because he didn't want to bring Ash into his world. In what they label as a family emergency to keep suspicions down, they family returns to their merworld where things are not at all alright. The King has it out for Fin and Tatchi's father and is set on enforcing various rules on his family as payback.

The characters were nice. There was a lot less Tatchi in the story than I thought there would be, which is sad because I liked her. Ashlyn wasn't an annoying type, so she was nice to read about for the most part. She did get a little annoying after her accident, which I know is the bond's fault, but it felt a little over done. Sure, she didn't know the bond existed, but it was the only time in the book where she was annoying me. I feel bad for Callahan, because he really is a sweet guy.

Because this is a YA novel, you know from the start that Ash and Fin will end up together, so the fact that they are so separated throughout the story feels a little wrong. It is all wrapped up nicely, but it still felt wrong going through it.

Despite some of the predictability about things, I really did enjoy the story quite a bit and would recommend it to everyone.

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  • Started reading
  • 22 June, 2012: Finished reading
  • 22 June, 2012: Reviewed