KEEP CALM AND LOVE BOOKS: mermaid

Pages: 404

Publication Date: October 7th 2003

Publisher: Berkley Sensation

ISBN: 0425226883 (ISBN13: 9780425226889)

On the night of her twenty-fifth birthday, alone in her apartment, Air Force Sergeant Christine Canady wished for one thing: a little magic in her life. After drinking way too much champagne, she performed, of all crazy things, a goddess-summoning ritual, hoping that it would somehow make her life a little less ordinary...but she never believed the spell would actually work.

When her military plane crashes into the ocean, CC's mission overseas takes an unexpected turn. She awakens to find herself in a legendary time and place where magic rules the land—occupying the body of the mythic mermaid Undine. But there is danger in the waters and the goddess Gaea turns this modern, military gal into a beautiful damsel so that she can seek shelter on land.

CC is soon rescued (literally) by a knight in shining armor. She should be falling in love with this dream-come-true, but instead she aches for the sea and Dylan, the sexy merman who has stolen her heart.

Now, What I Thought:

WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. I was so not expecting to like this book. I couldn't believe how hooked I got!! Immediately I thought our protagonist, CC, was weird and that I was not going to like her at all. Yep. As you guessed it, I was 100% wrong. It took a couple chapters (maybe up to 4) for me to really start to realize how great this story was. It's not a regular, stereotypical siren/mermaid love tail (no pun intended) but instead, the love was magical and CC's transformation between a strong, Air Force and independent women to this love filled, desperate mermaid was incredible!! There are 7 books in this series and when I saw that, I was immediately confused. The novel ended beautifully and I couldn't imagine continuing CC and Dylan's story anymore but then I realized they're all different plots!!! Every book in P.C. Cast's series has different settings, plots, God's and characters. I can definitely say I will be reading more of her works because she is a fantastic writer. Now, just for reader's discretion, this should be labeled Rated R considering there is sexual content in this. I've definitely read worse but some people might find the sex scenes in here a little too much. I truly didn't mind it at all, I found it fitting because it showcased Dylan and CC's love perfectly! I will admit I did not get how Dylan and CC had sex. Sorry, I'm just going to put it out there... It didn't make sense to me but oh well.

CC was incredible. She was brave, strong, independent and hello! An Air Force Sergeant!!! I love anything with a strong female lead, especially one in the army, so this was perfect. She really knew when to stand her ground and make herself known to the empowering men. CC goes into a realm and world where on land, women are looked down upon and beauty is considered a sin and evil, especially a women's beauty. So of course, CC in this beautiful body of Undine, demands attention by her very existence. The abbot running the monastery where she resides, does not take to her and instantly hates her. Lot's of drama transpires but I managed to stay so impressed with CC and her strong will and not giving up even though the situations were SO degrading to women, I wanted to scream.

"I did so enjoy learning the Poultry Dance," Gwenyth said, waving a hand in front of her heated face.

"Chicken Dance," CC corrected with a giggle.

"Chicken Dance," Gwenyth repeated. The old woman's eyes sparkled."

Dylan was just sooooooo fine. He was perfect. From the moment we met him to the very end was amazing. He was such a good match for CC and I loved that he made sure to mention from the beginning that he loved CC for CC, not Undine's body. He really, truly loved her and it was love at first sight. I liked that we got his P.O.V sometimes because it allowed us to see his true intentions and make us fall in love with him even more! Gaea was so sweet. She was just so lovely to read about! I loved her immediate love and protection for CC, even though her own daughter was away from her. She really was a great mother and Goddess. I liked when we met Lir in the end. Lir was definitely not what I was expecting though! Usually with Greek mythology novels, I detest when an author makes God's and Goddess's nice and sweet, because in myth and legend, they were brutes that loved to kill and have sex. Cast really held that balance with Gaea and Lir, whom is Poseidon by the way, and we really saw that they were capable of in the last couple chapters. Let's not forget Lynelle. I knew from the beginning they would be close friends. Lynelle really shown through on her trust and support for CC even after she found out what she was. I liked that Cast gave Lynelle character growth as well!

“True love is not a potion one person can swallow and another refuse to drink. It happens only when the souls of two join together to form one."

There were a lot of moments in this book where I wanted to scream at the abbot, Andres, Sarpedon and many more characters but that was just the thrill to see the judgment get passed onto THEM in the end. Really guys, this was a wonderful book and I assure you I will be reading the others in this series because I can't get enough of Cast's writing!

P.S. Yes, the original cover was just so boring I had to use the 2008 paperback edition one because it's clearly more interesting. The ISBN is of that edition, just to be clear.

air force - 2:22:00 AM

Goddess of the Sea (Goddess Summoning #1) by P.C. Cast | Review

Pages: 404 Publication Date: October 7th 2003 Publisher: Berkley Sensation ISBN: 0425226883 (ISBN13: 9780425226889 ) On t...

Pages: 327 pages

Publication Date: January 26th 2016

Publisher: HarperTeen

ISBN: 0062391992 (ISBN13: 9780062391995)

Love is a risk worth taking.

Years ago, Kahlen was rescued from drowning by the Ocean. To repay her debt, she has served as a Siren ever since, using her voice to lure countless strangers to their deaths. Though a single word from Kahlen can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again.

Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude…until she meets Akinli. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. And though she can’t talk to him, they soon forge a connection neither of them can deny…and Kahlen doesn’t want to.

Falling in love with a human breaks all the Ocean’s rules, and if the Ocean discovers Kahlen’s feelings, she’ll be forced to leave Akinli for good. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.

Now, What I Thought:

Lets just put this into perspective for you guys, I read the sample and then bought this book at around 3am this morning and I then finished it at 7am this morning. Damn, that was quick. I could not put it down. It was so captivating and such a light, easy and fun read. Who doesn't want to read about sirens and then to turn it into a sad perspective on them as well? I think Cass wrote this book beautifully and I just loved that it was a stand-alone. I needed a book with a happy ending since I've been stuck on the gruesome, A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), novels. This was much needed and I think you guys can tell how much I enjoyed this.

It was a cool concept on the whole siren/mermaid type thing. We automatically start off with our main character in the 50s where she's 19, the richest family on the ship they're on and beautiful. Her and her family start to hear this beautiful song with these beautiful voices and all of a sudden everyone is going overboard willingly, jumping to their deaths. Kahlen has the sense to plug her ears but even then that is not enough. She does, however, have enough time to see her family jumping to their deaths as well, damn. Distraught by that and a moment of distraction the voices reach her head again and she, too, jumps overboard. After coming to sense, she realizes she hasn't even lived yet, she's 19 and she wants to get married, live a life, have children etc. Well that seems to be the call for help because then she is soon pulled out of the water and given the chance for a life where she will not age, not get hurt, and stay beautiful for however long the Ocean says. As long as Kahlen feeds the Ocean that is, with humans. Shipwrecks. See where this is going? It doesn't take a genius to know what she picked, so Kahlen then turns into this beautiful Siren and rather abruptly, we get to chapter 2 where it is 80 years later. Dun Dun Dun....

So Kahlen seems to be with new and young sirens now, in the present. She's almost like there leader seeing as she's the oldest siren they know, or rather live with. It was cool how Cass tried to justify that killing people for the deemed 'evilness' of the Ocean was something good and to kill 200 is to save billions type of argument. Also that the Ocean, whenever She is mentioned in anyway, has to be capitalized. It was almost like the Ocean is a real living thing with a mind of Her own, which in this book She was. She could speak to the sirens, give them hugs and warm their hearts. The thing I found interesting though, was that Kahlen loved Her. Like really really loved Her and adored Her. I couldn't get that seeing as it was the Ocean Herself that killed Kahlen's family and forced Kahlen to live for about 80 years isolated and killing people on shipwrecks. It was weird how the sentencing went as well. Kahlen had mention it was 80 years since she was 'reborn' and still had about 20 or so to go. That's 100 years of not speaking to any human, unless it's to sing for their death, and since we're on the topic, killing loads of people for the Ocean to eat. Kahlen of course then meets a boy whom she realizes that she may love and may want to live for. The Ocean doesn't like that and in a way, is jealous? Since it seemed that She only truly loved Kahlen out of all of Her sirens, which is interesting because the Ocean knows that if this boy sticks around She will lose the only one She truly cares about.

This book was so cool and new!! I had never read anything remotely close to this type of fantasy and just the plot line in general. I really liked how different it was and it was a nice, easy and fun break from all of the other YA paranormal book series there are today. Really starting to like Kiera Cass's work now!