RippleAuthor: Mandy HubbardPublisher: Razorbill, 2011
Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. Each day she goes to school like a normal teenager, and each night she must swim, or the pain will be unbearable. She is a siren - a deadly mermaid destined to lure men to their watery deaths. After a terrible tragedy, Lexi shut herself off from the world, vowing to protect the ones she loves. But she soon finds herself caught between a new boy at school who may have the power to melt her icy exterior, and a handsome water spirit who says he can break Lexi's curse if she gives up everything else. Lexi is faced with the hardest decision she's ever had to make: the life she's always longed for - or the love she can't live without?
My Review:
Lexi has been living the fun life of a popular high school teenager, until her sixteenth birthday when her powers come out and she kills the popular guy in school. That is when she discovers she is really a siren, cursed to swim and sing every night because if she doesn’t she becomes ill.
The story starts off two years after the accident and now Lexi is basically an outcast at her school. Everybody hates her and she is fine with it because keeping everyone at arms length keeps them safe from her. But after two years of holding out Lexi is finally caving in to the aching need to have friends. So when Cole comes with his sweet gestures and attempts at being her friend, she clings to him desperately. Their love grows, but just then a mysterious guy named Erik appears, and tells Lexi that together they can break the curse.
Even though it breaks her heart, she breaks up with Cole and gives it a try with Eric. But soon enough she starts realizing that he might not be the one for her. In fact he doesn’t seem to care at all about her. In the end he show’s his true colors (quite literally too).
I found this to be a very fairy tale book, and what I mean by that is that nothing had to make much sense or be realistic enough. The plot was interesting; I especially liked how being a siren was a curse, and how she had no control over it once it took hold of her every night. The romance was fine, but I didn’t believe it for a moment. It’s just not realistic to suddenly love someone after two years of ignoring them and siding with the whole school in hating and harassing them. The best character I found to be Cole, and he didn’t get much air time (page time?).
I’m giving this book a THREE (3) because it’s a standalone novel. You can just pick it up, have fun while reading it, and then let it go...
Favorite Quote:
“Anger sparks inside me. ‘Why do you keep doing this?’
‘Because I’ve wanted to be with you for three years, okay? That’s why.’”
