Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Publisher: Macmillan: Feiwel & Friends

Series: Of Poseidon (bk. 1)

Genera: Paranormal Romance

Subjects: Mermaids, supernatural, magic, fish, New Jersey

Length: 324 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

Summary/ product description: “Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .
Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.”

My Rating: êêêê1/2

My Review: Another great mermaid book! Yay! Loving the merfolk stories this summer…of course Galen does not appreciate being called a mermaid. They’re called Syrena. I love this very unique take on the mermaid folklore. The Poseidon and Triton were brother Syrena generals rather than a God and his son. That all Triton descendants have dark hair, olive skin and violet eyes, while the Poseidons have lighter coloring. I’m not really spoiling anything, just clarifying any info dumps about appearances (it’s better to know how the characters look ahead time).

I thought that Emma’s ability to talk to fish and sea creatures/swimming creatures was pretty funny at times. It doesn’t seem like a very useful ability (Aquaman…ehhem….). But apparently it comes in handy if your drowning, being attacked by a shark or in need of sea food….yeah, I’d say the holding your breath for a very long time seems much more useful. But how cool would it be to talk to dolphins and penguins, and have them understand you? I’d be able to take some amazing photos…

I really did like Galen. He sounded very hot, even though he had a lot to learn about how to act human. He wasn’t up with the lingo we use. It was pretty funny. And Rayna, the feisty, girly Syrena sis of Galen. Her and Emma hated each other so much at the beginning. The relationship really changed later on. And Toraf, Rayna’s mate, he seemed like a nice guy.

I recommend this book if you enjoy mermaid books, or even paranormal romance. This book has a great (forbidden) romance. Also good if you liked Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed series.

Cover Art Review: The cover looks greener in person. It looks blue on the computer screen. I love the image of the girl floating upwards, and the title typeface. The typeface looks art-deco, but a more modern, girly kind. I really like the cover. Teal and pink always look amazing together, because they’re almost complementary (but really would be a triad if yellow was added. Very well done cover.

~Haley G

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: The Covenant Series (bk. 1, the sequel will be Pure)

Genera: Paranormal Romance

Subjects: Greek mythology, forbidden love, gods and goddesses, boarding schools, warriors

Length: 281 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

Note: This is a self published book by Spencer Hill Press.

Summary/ product description: “The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi—pure-bloods—have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals—well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:

Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.

Unfortunately, she’s crushing hard on the pure-blooded Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn’t her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.”

My Rating: ê ê ê ê

My Review: I swear, the author must be a die-hard fan of the Vampire Academy series because it has so much in common, that she practically was copying the plot at the beginning. Thankfully, it’s also very different. It’s more like a cross between Vampire Academy and the Percy Jackson series. The Half-Bloods are basically the dhampirs, and the Hematoi Pures are the Moroi (but don’t drink blood or anything, but they can control certain elements, but Spirit is not one of them) and the Daimons are the Strigoi. And the Covenant is like St. Vladimir’s, only it’s on an island in the south instead. So Alex is basically Rose, and Aiden is sort of like Dimitri, but not really because he’s American instead. This is not a vampire book, so I can’t say they’re the same, but I can say that the parallels made it more interesting because I liked comparing it. And there is no Lissa-like character, or royal families. This makes a big difference to the story’s overall plot. The Apollyon idea is very unique. I won’t spoil what it is. You will find out when you read it. There was a forbidden love theme between Pures and Halfs. I liked Alex and Aiden’s chemistry. Alex was sarcastic and Aiden “didn’t know how to have fun.” The dialogue was funny, and awesome in parts. I wish I owned a copy just to under line the quotes.

I recommend this book if you love mythology, the Vampire Academy series, or Percy Jackson series. This is probably the best self published book I’ll ever read, but it was the first, so who knows if I’ll find a better one.

Cover Art Review: It’s a purple hibiscus made of fire! Awesome!!! I wish I could make art like this. Firey flowers and other stuff… I just wish this was hardcover.

~Haley G