Everblue | Brenda Pandos: A Tale of Love Under the Sea

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Dive into Everblue, Book #1 in Mer Tales, WINNER OF BEST I'VE READ.★★★★★ "I recommend this book to mermaid lovers and people who like romance and unexpected twists on their story." --Bella, reader★★★★★ "Everblue is the first Mermaid story I loved..." --Yara, Once Upon A Twilight★★★★★ "I was blown away! Definitely one of the most inspiring books I've ever read in my life!" --Nicole, Comfortable Read
She wanted her life to change ... he wanted his to stay the same.
Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Lanski is tired of her boring, single life. Swimming and spending time with Tatiana, her best friend, are her only sanctuary. The girls plan to leave their drab lakeside town far behind for college, and Ash hopes to finally ditch her longtime crush for Finley, Tatiana's twin brother. But when Tatiana and her family fail to return home after a family emergency, Ashlyn makes an irrational decision to deal with her loss of them.
Finley Helton and his family are good at blending in with humans as they run their sailing charter business in Lake Tahoe. The truth is they guard an ancient secret. When a not so routine meeting forces Finley, Tatiana and their mother to return to their underwater home of Natatoria, they learn Fin's father will lead a dangerous mission. They must stay in Natatoria and wait for his return, but Fin can't stay caged up for long.
Secrets lurk beneath the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, and a simple lifesaving kiss will change their lives forever.
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Everblue is a clean Science Fiction / Fantasy Romance.Language: MildViolence: ModerateSexual Situations: Mild

“She looked up at me with innocence sparkling from her eyes. ‘What are you?’ I smiled and covered her lips with mine. ‘Yours.'” A little bit sugary, I know. But oh so sweet! Who can deny the allure of this book dipped as it is in the theme of first love? But for those of you who don’t much abide by that “love at first sight” stuff, I’ll tell you that this mermaid tale has a bit of bitterness behind all of the sweetness, but that’s all I’ll give you about the heart-wrenching twist that will fin-slap you just when you thought everything was going too well.

And yes, our main characters are high schoolers, so you get cute stuff like, “Callahan defined handsome in every girls’ internal dictionary.” For anyone who likes young adult romance and fantasy, then you are very likely to get sucked in by these fresh-faced, well-meaning teens with their big hearts and good intentions. Of course, no novel worth reading is all sunshine and rainbow Care Bears. Every good book has to have some darkness, and Pandos brings it by twisting your idea of what mermaids and mermen should be like.

Of course there are adults in this book. One of my favorites is Gran who has the sweetest exchange with her granddaughter:

Gran, do you believe in angels?’ She smiled. Her entire face lit up.

Why of course I do. Who else is going to help God perform all those miracles?

Totally heartwarming, and any good book is made up of light and shadows. The loveable Grandmother that everyone wishes they could have is one of those lights. The fresh face of first love is another. Reading this really brought back memories of being with my first real boyfriend (you know, “You hang up.” “No, you hang up.” “Let’s hang up together.” “Okay.” …long pause. “You still there?” “So are you.” “You were supposed to hang up.” “So were you.” “Okay, let’s try again.” and so on and so on.)

I think one of the best strengths of this story is that it adds even more magic to those beautiful moments of being mindlessly, blissfully, obsessed with another person…plus sea people.

I found this book to be enjoyable and smile-worthy, like dreaming of the best meal you’ve ever had. Did it change my soul? No, I wouldn’t say that it did, but even still, I enjoyed the journey, got sucked into the book, and couldn’t put it down. If you love teen romance set in a lovely world of fantasy, get your copy now. But fair warning, this is just the first book of the series. 😉

And so this concludes my thoughts on the first book of this romantic fantasy.