An epic saga of heart-stopping romance, devastating secrets, and dark magic . . . a world where everything you love can be washed away. The first book in the new series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen series
Never, ever cry. . . . Eureka Boudreaux's mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn't, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before.
But Ander doesn't know Eureka's darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance—a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one understands. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea. Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth . . . and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined.
The mythology is arguably the coolest thing about TEARDROP, but it's also the only cool thing about TEARDROP. The first 100 pages or so is pretty lackluster as all the main characters trot in and out and Eureka (who is called Reka which never stopped conjuring 'stink' in my mind every time I read it) moped through her admittedly unpleasant life in the months following her mother's death. After that the Atlantis twist started to be revealed via an ancient Atlantean diary. Unfortunately, the legend of Atlantis and the new mythology Lauren Kate created wasn't enough to keep the characters and plot afloat.
The characters were probably the anchor that sank TEARDROP. They just weren't interesting despite a few of them having potentially interesting lives. And the three characters involved in the love triangle (Reka, Briggs, and Ander) are plagued by insta-love, destiny love, and a lot of other cliche tropes. Reka was frustratingly indecisive and swept away by appearances when she should have been freaked out. Ander was as captain cardboard as they come and his complete puppy dog devotion bordered on creepy. Briggs was the long time best friend who was not-so-secretly in love with Reka (although she was oblivious) and relied way too much on the back story of their relationship instead of any meaningful interaction in the book to win me over.
There were a few semi interesting twists towards the end, and the Atlantis mythology became more prominent which was nice, but TEARDROP isn't anything more than a pretty cover and a story that doesn't come close to living up to it's subject matter.
