Review: Unique twist on mermaids!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2012
Beyond the Sea was a great mermaid story, the world under the sea that Emily had created was magical, and the friendships she put on land were nothing short of beautiful!Melia's sister was murdered, she doesn't know by who, or how, but she does know she was murdered. To keep Melia safe, Melia must stay on land with her mother for a while.  Melia in the common term is a mermaid, she can live under the water, and would actually prefer to live there, but to keep her mother happy she will stay on land even if it takes her awhile to get used to all these human terms! At first Melia hates being on land, but after making a new best friend in Jamie a girl that can see into the otherworld, and possibly falling in love with the hottest guy in school Peter, things don't seem so bad. But when darklings from the water came to take her back in, everyone she knows and loves on land and under the sea is in danger.....there is a war going on..and she is about to become a very big part of it weather she likes it or not.This was a really great read, but I will go ahead and talk about the things that weren't so great for me so I can just get them out of the way and talk about all the awesome! Okay so first let me say this book would totally get 4 stars if it weren't for the first about 30% or so of the book, the beginning was a little bit all over the place.  I found myself sort of lost, and also not really enjoying being inside of Jamie's head..she came off very stuck up and rude, and didn't like being judged, yet would judge other people harshly before even knowing them.  I found myself disliking her almost instantly, thank goodness though that once Melia is introduced things switch over to following her, and eventually Jaime changes her attitude.Moving onto the awesome! Once I got past the first 30% of the novel I loved this story and could not put it down! Emily created such unique creatures for under the sea, there was even a group of shark like people in the novel! Yes you heard me, SHARK like people, how cool is that? I have never heard of that in a novel and I must admit Emily did an amazing job at describing all the magical creatures that lived under the sea.  I was able to easily picture all of the creatures she created, and a lot of times for me that is hard to picture things that don't exist, but Emily made it insanely easy, which made picturing this story beautiful!Now as far as the characters go, Jamie did change a lot!  I am pretty sure in the beginning she was just mad at the world for being so cruel to her, but after making some new friends her real self really started to shine! My favorite characters though were Melia and Peter, I felt they were an amazing couple. I love that Peter was known for being the popular hot `it' guy, but really he had his own home problems and was actually a sweet guy that really cared about Melia. Then there is Melia, don't even get me started on her! I absolutely adored her, she was everything you want in a heroine, super tough, super sweet, and just flipping awesome! I found myself automatically loving her.Besides the beginning of this novel, I really loved Beyond the Sea. It was a very unique mermaid story with tons of great characters. If you love mermaid stories and are looking for one that is unique, has romance, and an epic under sea war then Beyond the Sea is a read you don't want to miss!Thank you Emily for providing me a review copy.