Review: Waterfell by Amalie Howard

Title:  Waterfell

Author: Amalie Howard

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Publishing Date:  October 29th 2013

Pages: 350
Genre:  YA Contemporary Fantasy 

Series: The Aquarathi #1
Source: Audio

  

THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE QUEEN

Nerissa Marin hides among teens in her human form, waiting for the day she can claim her birthright—the undersea kingdom stolen from her the day her father was murdered. Blending in is her best weapon—until her father's betrayer confronts Nerissa and challenges her to a battle to the death on Nerissa's upcoming birthday—the day she comes of age.

Amid danger and the heartbreak of her missing mother, falling for a human boy is the last thing Nerissa should do. But Lo Seavon breaches her defenses and somehow becomes the only person she can count on to help her desperate search for her mother, a prisoner of Nerissa's mortal enemy. Is Lo the linchpin that might win Nerissa back her crown? Or will this mortal boy become the weakness that destroys her?

I can be quite the fan for mermaid books. Something about mermaids, like faeries, just bring out the girl in me or creep me out. They can be sweet or dark. I was really excited about this book. I love the cover and it sounded interesting. I was hoping for some good old mermaid magic, unfortunately that is not what I got. Even though the story was quite original that is where it ended for me. The story was slow, cliche, and I didn't connect to any of the characters. 

Nerissa is a sea creature, she came from a deep dark underwater city to live among the humans before she becomes queen of her people. After some time she learns some truths that hurt her and her chances of being queen. She must now go to battle for her crown, but before she does, she falls in love with a mortal boy, reveals herself to a human, and makes a few other pretty hefty mistakes. 

So what I liked, not a whole lot but the book did have a few good qualities. I liked the actual story. The creatures themselves, what they are, their story, and how they live. I liked the battling for the crown. I also liked some of the underlying feel good values to live by, like forgiveness frees the forgiver. It may have been pretty dang cheesy at some parts, but there were a few real good feel good moments. Those moments I enjoyed. 

What I didn't so much like was the romance, the characters, and the pacing of the story. It just wasn't up to par for me. There were moments when I felt the writing was a bit young for the age group, then other times the characters didn't feel like teenagers. I couldn't get into the story either. It seemed to of taken a very long time to get to the actual story. 

I could have handled a bit more if the characters had been likable at all. It takes me quite a bit to dislike characters and this book the main character, Nerissa,  drove me insane. She was very self centered, a bit bi polar, whiny, self pitying, and just not very nice. I thought she would change by the end and yes she did a bit. She did find that it is possible its not all about pleasing her but she still felt a bit high on herself in the end. What drove me nuts about her the most, the way she treated those she supposedly cared for. Speio, her friend from back home, she went from saying he was her oldest and closest friend to not liking him at all. This was a bit drastic for the crime of telling her what he thought about the new kid Lo and not telling her things he wasn't supposed to. Lo, the new boy, her crush, she was so mean to him and spoke about how awful he was then book, she had feelings for him and could just melt right into him. Even her best friend, Jenna, (which was the one character I did like) she was mean to at times. I just couldn't get into her. 

Jenna and Soren were the only characters that I liked. Jenna was human, Nerissa's best friend, she was pretty cool. Very loyal, even after she was treated pretty crappy. She lived with a happy vibe and I think I could of been great friends with her in school. Soren was the watcher for Nerissa, from her homeland. She was quite loving and always had pretty intelligible things to say. She was pretty cool too. 

The pacing was a bit difficult too. It wasn't until at least half the book when something started to happen. Up to that point, it was all talk. There were some pretty cool scenes with some good explanations about the sea creatures species and homeland. When things did start to happen it was a bit predictable. I was able to predict most of the end. The end by the way did have a pretty decent battle scene with Nerissa and the evil queen. That was cool. It just took forever to get there. 

One more thing, I listened to this on audio after trying to read the arc. I didn't like the narrator and I think I might of liked the book just a tad more if I had stuck to reading it. Narrators can make quite a bit of a difference. 

There are some that may really enjoy this book It just wasn't for me.