Review: Ripple - Mandy Hubbard

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Razorbill (July 21, 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 Thoughts...

This was not at all what I expected for some reason I was under the impression that this was a mermaid book.  While it is not a mermaid book I wasn't disappointed! This was a great story. Lexi was a fantastic character, she just wanted to be a normal teenager, but all that gets taken away the night Steven dies. Lexi isolates herself from all her friends, trys to blend into the background. After 2 years of people ignoring her, or being nasty, Cole starts talking to her. Lexi slowly starts rebuilding the life she use to have while trying to keep everyone around her safe. Lexi happens to be hiding a huge secret...  Just as Lexi and Cole seem to be getting closer, enters Erik, the new hot kid in school. From there it is an emotional roller coaster watching Lexi fight against her secret, take back the life she lost, and try to improve her future. I really enjoyed these characters. Lexi was pretty nifty she tried so hard to do what she needed to do to keep people safe. I was rooting for her from the start. I fell for Cole, he was just great in ways I can't describe.  Erik seemed to rub me the wrong way for a while, then I was hoping that things would work out for him, but in the end I ended up really really disliking him.  The ending really caught me off guard, nothing quite turned out the way I thought it would.  I flew through this book, I didn't want to put it down! I give this one 5 stars and glowing recommendations. 

Review: Demon Song - Cat Adams

Reading Level: Adult
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 2011)

In a world where magic is real and the supernatural is almost normal, bodyguard Celia Graves has survived a vampire attack which made her a half-vampire and awakened her latent Siren abilities. She's battled a Siren Queen to the death and twice faced down a demon that wants to kill her--slowly. She's also had her heart broken--twice--by her old flame, magician Bruno DeLuca.
Perhaps the worst thing was the discovery that Celia's life has been warped by a curse laid on her during childhood--the cause of everything from the death of her little sister to the murder of her best friend the same night that Celia became an Abomination.
An ancient rift between the demonic dimension and our own--sealed during the destruction of Atlantis--begins to open, threatening to loose all the demons of hell on humanity (including the one personally bent on destroying Celia). Celia's hellish recent experiences have given her the unique combination of abilities needed to close the rift. But to overcome the curse, which nearly guarantees her failure, she'll need to join forces with people she no longer trusts...and put people she has come to care about directly in harm's way.

                                      

This is yet another series that I am totally in love with. As the only series I have read by this team of writers I didn't have any expectations for the writing or the story. But alas I fell in love with the cover so I gave it a chance and I fell in love with everything else about this book. Now fast forward through the really good second book to Demon Song. I really liked how this book was a little different than the other two, as in it wasn't just one major catastrophic event after another, You get to see Celia try on some "girl time" which after her change seem to be a little awkward for her but it is refreshing to see her have some time with the girls or to breathe between crises. There were plenty of action pact events through out the book and some meaningful family time too. Overall I think it was a good mix of emotion, good fun and action, and all that is before we introduce the love triangle. I like that her love interest wasn't the main focus of the story it was more of an underlying story amidst all the action. I also appreciate the look into Celia's self discovery and growth throughout the book. Add in some great secondary characters and we have a winner folks. I highly suggest this series to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

I give this book 4 stars!

Previous books in this series:

Blood Song

Siren Song