Brenda Pandos

As two friends are getting ready to go away to college, one disappears with a family secret.

Everblue

She wanted her life to change... he wanted his to stay the same. Best friends share everything with each other. Or do they? Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Frances Lanski is tired of her boring, single life. Spending time with her best friend Tatiana, dreaming about kissing Tatiana's twin brother Fin, and swimming competitively are her only sanctuary. The girls plan to leave their drab lakeside town far behind for college. But when Tatchi fails to return home after a family emergency, and no one knows where the family has gone, Ash chooses to do something drastic to find them. Ashlyn is about to discover what she'd thought to be true her whole life, wasn't, and the truth, too fantastical to imagine.

Eleanor Luhar

Ah, who doesn't love a good mermaid story?

I started reading this a while ago, but never got to the end. This time I actually finished it, and am about to start the sequel, Evergreen.

Basically, Ashlyn's best friend, Tatiana, is a mermaid. Her whole family are mer, including her twin brother Finley, Ash's long-term crush. Their father guards the Lake Tahoe gate to Natatoria, the underwater land of the mer.

When their dad is requested for a mission, the twins and their mother are stuck in Natatoria. Meanwhile, Ash is getting close to the most popular guy at school, while worrying herself to death about her friends' disappearance.

Fin sneaks out of the gate without permission, witnessing Ashlyn falling off a boat and injuring herself. The only way to save her would require the life-long joining of their souls. As punishment, Fin is thrown in an underwater prison, until Tatchi breaks him out and the pair escape Natatoria together. Again, they are captured - only this time, their punishment is to be promised. For mer, a promising is more powerful than marriage. But Fin is already promised to Ash, and he refuses to allow Tatch to be promised to someone she loathes so much.

Their father returns to break them out of Natatoria for good, but for Tatch he's too late. The family flees without her, blocking up the gate in Tahoe. For a while, Fin and Ash finally get to be together, until the family receives word of mermen heading their way.

I'm really not a romance person, especially not cheesy romance. I do love a good mermaid book, and the way this is about a human girl and a merman (as opposed to the other way round) is refreshing. But it's just a bit too lovey-dovey for me, and rather predictable.

Ashlyn herself seems to overreact rather a lot, and a lot of her "serious" problems are pretty, well, stupid. To be fair, I know of a few teens that would react in a similar manner, but they are not the kind of people I want to be around. So basically, Ash got on my nerves a bit throughout this book.

Natatoria is nicely developed, and the story behind the king and his son's love for Tatch is a good detail. It's not an ordinary mermaid book, but still has a nice hint of magic and mystery.

It's a relatively easy read, but a bit too cheesy for my taste. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. 3 stars for Everblue.

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Renee Delcourt

In love

No seriously. I am in love with this book and series already. It did take me a little bit to get into it. 
The book follows Ashlyn, Finley, and Tatiana. Finley and Tatiana are twins with a secret. Ashlyn is best friends with Tatiana and has had a long standing crush on Finley. When the twins leave suddenly Ash starts to think something bad must have happened to them since she and Tatchie had been planning to go to Florida for college together. From then on things just get weird. Some guy named Collin is breaking into Finley's car and she can't shake the feeling that something is wrong.

The story takes place at Lake Tahoe as well as a fictional realm of merpeople. 

This book was packed with a little bit of action and a lot of fantasy. I loved it. It's a different take on the myths surrounding mermaids. It's definitely unique and beautifully written. The story switches off between Ash and Finley. It's definitely a romance, but it almost doesn't seem like that at first since most of the story Fin and Ash aren't anywhere near each other.

I would suggest this book to anyone who loves fantasy or romance. I will be buying the rest of the books.

Cortnie

3.5 Stars

So this book left me with a mix of emotions and I was never really sure which way to rate it. At some points I'd be cringing because it was so cheesy, but it still kept me reading, as it was interesting and at some points, had a lot of tension.

I really enjoyed the story from the beginning, the concept behind the Mers and the world of Natatoria, but some things about the book left me feeling... strange? I'm not sure that's the word I'm looking for, but that's the closest I can think of at the moment.

It moved along at a pretty good pace, but I do have some complaints. Like how Callahan never came back up after Lucy asking about Ashlyn's boyfriend. Maybe that'll be addressed in the next book (which I'm tempted to read), but it was kind of left hanging. And through all of this whirlwind, where Ash and Fin are reunited, no one else from school cropped back up- again, I'm guessing this might be addressed in the next book (or so I hope).

One of the most worrisome things for me was the Promise. I liked the concept of a kiss typing two people together, incredibly close. But I think the madness of their absence could have been handled with a little more finesse? I understand the concept, but it still left things a little weird and a bit too unbelievable. I don't know, that could be me just being picky.

However, I did enjoy this book! I liked the characters- Tatchi being one of my favorites, hands down- and I do love this concept for mermaids. I would be interested in picking up the next book just to see where the adventure could continue.

Also, I did enjoy the fact that it was a clean book, because you so rarely find those these days. I wouldn't mind letting a younger family member read this book at all- and I rarely feel well enough about anything like that to allow the kiddos I surround myself to read, lol!

Jessica Nottingham

What would you do if you found out your best friend, and coincidentally the boy you were crushing on, happened to be mermaids? Full fledged, tail possessing, swimming, mermaids. I don't know what I'd do personally, but Brenda Pandos takes us through Ashlyn's story as she discovers this world in Everblue. I'm pleased to say that this is a mermaid book that I honestly did love. Pandos takes a lore that we all know, and puts her own delicious spin on it. Hold on, you're in for a ride.

I have to confess that Tatiana and Fin are officially my new favorite brother/sister duo. Their sweet banter, the love they have for one another, and the way they take care of each other, is just wonderful. I knew I'd love Fin from the moment he walked into Ashlyn's view and she described him. He's a gorgeous, kind hearted boy. Who doesn't love those? Then we learn more about Tatiana and her spitfire attitude, and I was just smitten. The two of them scream sibling bond. Which, and I won't spoil anything big, makes the ending that much more difficult. (Insert dramatic music here.)

Ashlyn was a great character too, although I didn't fall in love with her as much as I would have liked to. I admired her ability to adapt and to fight for what she wanted. However there were times when she just felt slightly flat to me. Sometimes it felt as though she was going through the motions just to do things while she was waiting for something more important to happen. Compared to Fin, I just didn't feel she was as developed. As the story progressed, she definitely grew into her own though. By the time the ending came I appreciated her much more than the beginning. I know that in the second book I'll be right on board with her!

The relationship between Fin and Ashlyn is downright adorable. I'll tell you that right now! Again, no spoilers. Basically it's just too cute for words anyway. What I will say is that even though you hear a lot about Tatiana in the blurb, you won't really see too much of her in the story. It's not a bad thing, just letting you know. Everblue very much focuses on Fin and Ashlyn, even going so far as to alternate between their points of view in each chapter. Truth be told, I loved that. Seeing the story from both sides made it all the more engrossing and wonderful.

If you're a fan of worldbuilding in your stories, you'll love Everblue. As I mentioned above, Pandos takes what we know about mermaids (and mermen) and adds her own amazing spin to it. These aren't your run of the mill merpeople. They are so much more than that. The story that is built around them and their rich history is really what blew me away. When the ending came, with that darn cliffhanger, I was so ready for more. I cannot wait to see what happens next! I'm hoping for more Fin, more Ashlyn, and more romance.

Long story short? Get a copy of Everblue. Mermaids, romance, twists, it's all there. This book is well worth your time.

Everblue

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