Review: Move over Ariel, there's a new kind of Mer in town.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 17, 2011
No need for me to summarize the book, its been done plenty, so lets get into the nitty gritty of it.Pros-The Mer. I fell the book right off the bat for the simple reason that this was different amongst the paranormal romance genre. I like a good vampire story, I favorite the the shifters (particularly wolves) but the fact that this has MERMEN? I was sold. You dont get many mer people stories, and I peaked my interest really quick-World building. Im sucker for world building, I love being transported into a new culture, a new time, a new place, so on and so forth. Pillow does an amazing job taking you some place entirely new, and introducing you to a new kind of people and culture. I liked learning about the history of the Mer, their curse/punishment, and how their relationships and society works. I liked learning about the neat perks and unique abilities of the mer race. The Lords of the Abyss series is strong when it comes to world building, nothing cookie cutter here. All fun and original!-Character development. I love the characters Pillow has written, I was smitten with the mermen Caderyn, but the secondary cast was developed enough and tanalizing enough in this story for me to want to read about the other Hunters, Warriors and so forth. I liked Caderyn and how he comes to understanding of his feelings for Birdget, and good portion of the story I liked Bridget. I liked Caderyn's alpha-ness, but his jealousy streak was also fun to watch. I liked Bridget's whit and smarts, but it was also a downfall for her through out the story. Despite the character issues I had with Bridget, she managed to grow out of them was quite likeable for me by the end of the story.-Love, love, love and more love. Yeah, I admit it freely: the steamy love scenes were a total bonus for me. No harm, no foul here. They were tasteful in their own right, nothing too raunchy or over played, just enough of everything to make it all work.Cons-The only thing I disliked about this book, and probably the reason it held this book back from a five star review, was Bridget's attitude. I get it, youre a scientist, you want fact and reason, and proof for everything Caderyn is telling you. But when you think Bridget has enough proof and fact, and she even admits at some point she simply believes Caderyn, she turns right around and goes back to disbelieving and wanting more proof. It was an up and down, and constant roller coaster of acceptance and disbelief throughout the story that I began to grow tired of it. When we FINALLY see Bridget accept the belief of the mer existence and exile, then Bridget has several other things she wants to worry about: How can she still be a scientist, why does she have to be (caution, possible spoiler) turned into a mermaid, ect, ect. Bridget literally was fighting everything about the mer, and her acceptance about, at every turn, she couldnt just let something be and move onto her new life. Bridget wanted to cling, and desperately, to whatever was her past. Its a normal human reaction, I understand, but Bridget kind of took it over board. There are also several instances where Bridget's reactions were WAY to dramatic. (Again, possible SPOILER) Really, you just STABBED yourself out of pure anger and rage? Some of Bridget's reactions had me groaning at her stupidity. Again, I understand that some of these dramatic reactions were used to move the plot, or her relationship with Caderyn, forward but that doesnt mean I cant think she was a drama queen a good portion of the time.All in all, its a fantastic story and I enjoyed every bit of it! It comes highly recomended to those who like romance, paranormal, mermaid/mermen, even fairy tale retellings.