Author: Callie Kingston
Book Summary:
“While she sleeps
beside a log on the wild Oregon
coast, a rogue wave pulls Marissa into the sea. Now she dreams each night of a merman who
rescues her. Obsessed with returning to
this beautiful creature, she again risks her life in the frigid ocean.
Will Marissa remain
lost forever in the eddies of her mind, or can real love save her from the
abyss? Sometimes, the dangers which lie
within are the deadliest.”
Marissa has a problem--- several
actually, most importantly is that her boyfriend breaks up with her. Well, really, she catches the lying, cheating
jerk talking with another girl, flips out, and leaves. Then, Marissa goes to the beach to calm down
and drifts off to sleep. The next thing
she knows, she’s waking up in a hospital: confused and afraid. Everyone keeps telling her that she should
have drowned, but the only thing Marissa knows for sure is she can’t get the
merman who saved her out of her head…
When I first read the premise, I am
excited. Undertow sounds like it has great promise and will definitely be
something I enjoy. Who doesn’t like
stories about mermen? I haven’t read a
good sea creature love story for a while, so Undertow is just in time! Or
not…
Undertow
is NOT about a merman and a land dweller that live happily ever after despite
their differences (as the book synopsis suggests). Instead, it is about a girl who has serious
mental issues and has to try to deal with her growing problems. Throughout the story, I see her slowly slip
further away from reality until she is almost unrecognizable to the character that
I meet in the beginning.
Right off the bat, I am not
thrilled with Marissa. In the opening
scene, I think that she blows things WAY out of proportion. Yes, her boyfriend is cheating on her. Yes, he admits it later. No, the “proof” she has is not good enough to
support her accusation. I understand
that she’s upset because she thinks
he’s cheating on her… but, really, just because a boyfriend talks to another
girl does not automatically mean that he is cheating. Throughout the rest of the novel, I find
myself easily irritated by things that Marissa does and says.
Though it is
hard for me to connect with Marissa, I still really like how Kingston shows the progression (or rather
digression) into insanity. I can
definitely see someone in Marissa’s shoes being frustrated and irritable after
everything that she goes through. The
hard road Marissa has to face is evident, and it makes me want to know
more. One thing that I like is that
towards the end of the book I learn more about why things are so strained
between everyone in Marissa’s family… it’s not pleasant, but it makes sense. The major problem with this is that by the
time I find out why Marissa acts the way she does I already don’t like her and
don’t care. I don’t have any sort of
bond with her, which makes her problems, and past issues seem flat and unimportant. My lack of empathy with Marissa coupled with
the misleading summary drastically takes away from this book for me.
Undertow definitely
has many great elements, the story just doesn’t click with me. If your looking for a paranormal merman story
this is not the book for you, but I would definitely recommend Undertow to people who like reading
about psychological challenges and self discovery.
The Cover:
I really like this cover; it drew
me in from the start! I did think that
it was more symbolism for the merman and human plotline, but I can see why it
would be fitting for this type of story as well. Very intriguing cover!
I give Undertow 3 out of 5 hearts: Worth Reading
To buy Undertow go here:
ebook paper
Hm it sounds like it's a strange book. I don't know if I'll try this one.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! :)
Jenny at Books to the Sky
Jenny: It's worth a try.. just not my thing!
DeleteThank you for the review, Lauren. While Undertow wasn't exactly your cup of tea, I appreciate the time you took to share your opinion with your readers. Hopefully, it will assist readers to choose Undertow for what it is, a realistic story, rather than mistakenly expecting a paranormal romance.
ReplyDeleteCallie
Thanks for the chance to review it!
DeleteI really don't like to cover!! Lol is that horrible? I don't care. Thanks for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteHaley@www.passingthepages.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by Haley! :)
DeleteI think it's a very unique take on mental illness - I wonder if the merman element is a metaphor in some way for her mental illness.
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteJust when I was thinking this would be yet another novel about a human girl falling in love with some supernatural guy . . .
The mental illness twist is great! I'd really, really like to check this book out now.
Thanks for the review! =)