Review: Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper

Book Description via Goodreads:

eARC, 328 pages

Rhemalda Publishing, November 25, 2011

Yara Jones doesn’t believe in sea monsters—until she becomes one.

When a hurricane hits her island home and she wakes up with fins, Yara finds herself tangled up in an underwater world of mysterious merfolk and secretive selkies. Both sides believe Yara can save them by fulfilling a broken promise and opening the sealed gateway to their realm, but they are battling over how it should be done. The selkies want to take her life. The merfolk want something far more precious.

Treygan, the stormy-eyed merman who turned Yara mer, will stop at nothing and sacrifice everything to protect his people—until he falls for Yara. The tides turn as Yara fights to save herself, hundreds of sea creatures, and the merman who has her heart. She could lose her soul in the process—or she might open the gateway to a love that’s deeper than the oceans.

Young Adult fans of Mermaids, Selkies, Sirens and Gorgons will love this tale of the sacrifice one makes for genuine love. Love that could be lost at any moment to the ever-changing tides

Source: Rhemalda Publishing (Thanks!)

My Thoughts:

Yara was a caring, determined, loving girl with a temper. Her character was a likable, relatable and realistic one. She was an orphan and her only family was her Uncle Lloyd. She had a boyfriend – Rownan – who was ruggedly handsome but had a coat with secrets and lies covering his true identity. During a strong storm, a stranger came and took Yara away. That night was the night her night changed forever, the night she was turned into a mermaid. As she struggled to get over the shock of being half-woman and half-fish, she discovered that her reality was not as true as she believed it to be. She wanted answers and she will stop at nothing to get them.

Treygan was the stranger who took Yara to sea. In the beginning, I had my doubts about him. But he proved to be trustworthy to Yara. He was a good guardian to Yara and loyal to his merfolk. He’s charming and handsome but there’s a distance between him and other people. There’s something dark about Treygan. He had too heavy a burden on his shoulders. But he had a soft spot for Yara.

Yara and Treygan’s relationship was one based on trust and a buried connection. The attraction zinged between them underwater and on land. As the guardian of Yara, Treygan had to be near her almost all the time. The obligation to protect her turned into love at some point in Yara’s adjustment to merlife. The threat to her life, danger and time spent together sped up the heightening of romance between them. They shared awkward moments as well as heart-melting ones. Their pair was a Romeo and Juliet mermaid-merman version that romance lovers will grow to like.

Underwater, Yara found out a shocking revelation about herself. She was the key to open the Gate to Rathe, the realm of merfolk and selkies. 18 years ago, the gorgons closed the Gate, enraged at an unfulfilled promise. Since then some of the merfolk and selkies have been locked out of Rathe, unable to communicate and get back to their loved ones in their realm. To solve this problem, on the sunset of her birthday, she was supposed to be a part of the ultimate sacrifice.

Tangled Tides is a refreshing paranormal novel that offers readers an exciting and thrilling adventure, a colorful and tragic history of underwater mythology, a cast of exotic and unforgettable characters and a sweet romance that will captivate readers.

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