Review: Such a thoughtful, original, new adult book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 3, 2013
First reviewed at New Adult Addiction - I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.What a nice surprise this book was. I've never read any of Chrystalla's books before this one, and for that I'm sorry. She's a wonderful storyteller. First of all, the year of contemporary new adult might be over. I for one am just a little bit sick of contemporary romances, but yet - I still do enjoy them a lot if they are very original.Azure is something in between a contemporary and paranormal. It's quite subtle, and for that I seriously have to give Chrystalla props. It's something of a mermaid story - but yet... that's not even close to what it is. First of all, the main heroine, Olivia, is not in any way paranormal. And the hero, Kai, might not be either.So where's the paranormal aspect, you ask? Well, I'm not going to tell you. It's a spoiler that I'm not willing to give up, because half f what kept me reading was figuring out this little mystery these two characters have going.I love the setting - on the beaches of Crete. Chrystalla herself is Greek and I have this thing for reading non-American authors - and maybe it's more of a non-English thing... or a non-English as an only language thing... but anyway - I enjoy reading their take on storytelling in English when it's not their only language because the sentences and expression are so fresh. Chrystalla's storytelling is like that. She a breath of fresh air and really excels as keeping things interesting using word choices alone.Also - this is such a thoughtful book. It has original poetry at the heading of each chapter, complemented by Shakespeare, and I tell you, I liked the fictitious poet much better than I did the famous dead English one. ;) Those little poetic gems should not be skipped - they are delightful. In fact, these little snippets were so good, I actually went Googling for the poet! (She's not real, the poet is Chrystalla!)OK, on to the story - Olivia is in Crete with some German friends trying to get over a nasty break up with a boyfriend and get past a mistake she made with a friend not that long ago.Kai is in Crete because this is his home. Sorta. He's half American, he speaks perfect English, and he grew up in America. He's also very cryptic and moody - but that's because he's got some demons in his past as well.And everything about this story revolves around the sea... mermaids? Not quite. Sirens? Nope. Angry Greek Gods... sorry. Not it.And yet - it might be about all three of those things.This story is so original, I don't want to spoil it for you by giving away too much of the plot so let's just say it's a nice romance with some hot moments, some tension, some mythology, some history, and some poetry.I loved it, actually. Chrystalla pens a beautiful new adult tale that is totally by itself as far as what's currently out there in this genre. I definitely recommend this one to all romance readers.