*REVIEW* WRECKED by Anna Davies

Secrets of the sea have never been sexier than this. 

Ever since the death of her parents, Miranda has lived on Whym Island, taking comfort in the local folklore, which claims a mysterious sea witch controls the fate of all on the island and in its surrounding waters. Sometimes it’s just easier to believe things are out of your control.     

But then a terrible boating accident takes the lives of several of her friends, and Miranda is rescued by a mysterious boy who haunts her dreams. Consumed by guilt from the accident, she finds refuge in late-night swims—and meets Christian, a boy who seems eerily familiar, but who is full of mystery: He won’t tell her where he is from, or why they can only meet at the beach. But Miranda falls for him anyway…and discovers that Christian’s secrets, though meant to protect her, may bring her nothing but harm.     

Seductive and compelling, Wrecked brings a contemporary, paranormal twist to a classic enchanting tale.

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 Torn.  That is the best word I have to describe how this book made me feel.  I read it quickly enough and I am a big lover of mermaids so I expected to like this one.  I'm finding it hard to get the right words to properly tell you how I feel right now.  I want to say I loved it because there was so many times that I did but there are also times that I felt the story was just not what it could have been.  Some places it just fell short for me and as I said it's hard to do justice because there was so many parts I just loved to death as well.  Be prepared to read some minor contradictions as I try and get this out.

  The story started out with a bang.  I mean it just took you off to a place where people grew up together and knew everything about everyone, scandals were never forgotten here and everyone had a place.  The close knit group of friends that you meet right of the bat all seem different but that's why it works.  When the tragity strikes and Miranda looses several of her friends, she doesn't just loose them but what seems like her entire life is lost in the accident.  The accident and the moments surrounding it were extremely well written and it really broke my heart as everything progressed.  It was after the accident when Miranda was trying to deal with it all that I started to feel the story was a bit on repeat.  I get the grief thing but it just seemed that for several pages all anyone did was blame her without using those words or pity her.  No one including Miranda herself talked about what actually happend!

  Miranda was actually a fairly strong character.  She had her moments where she seemed to be defalted and give up but when the moments came I honestly understood.  What she had gone through was enough to break any teenager but Miranda had some experience in the loss department but still didn't make it.  What bothered me even more was how everyone including her own family treat her.  Her fellow peers and teachers were cruel to say the least.  Her Grandmother acted like nothing had happened and she should continue on as if nothing happened and although her and her brother used to be close it seemed to have created a rift between the two of them.  I think this is why at times I found it super easy to connect with her and others times it was a struggle. Overall I liked reading about her strength and how she dealt with her pain.  She may have broken down but it was her way of dealing with everything.

  Christian is one of the more interesting parts of this book.  He is also an original to me and in the Mer book scene as far as I know.  There is so much more going on with him than his heritage and it made me so much more interested.  He is the mystery that haunts Miranda and the question that we all want to know about.  I will let you find out what he is on your own but know that he himself is an original and although he isn't going to openly tell Miranda what is going on and why he is really there.

  Wrecked was overall another mermaid book that I really enjoyed but I don't know if I loved it.  It really was kind of like The Little Mermaid with a twist.  I did warn you that the review would have its contradictions.  There was a lot of awesome world building to start but in some places that just stopped and you kind of were left to figure it out.  Miranda and Christian were awesome characters but most of the others made me want to scream.  One of them actually enraged me.  However if you can get used to the different writing style of Anna Davies and are a mermaid lover you will seriously enjoy this book.  If you are on the fence with mermaids and the likes of them maybe you should borrow it first.

NOTE:   I would like to add a quick little rant about the ending.  The ending is really a cause of most of my frustrations...  I really liked the ending but I disliked it as well.  It tore at my heart and brought up some serious emotions.  It was my favourite part and my most disliked part all rolled into one.