Author: Tobie Easton

Synopsis:

Lia Nautilus may be a Mermaid but she's never lived in the ocean. War has ravaged the seven seas ever since the infamous Little Mermaid unleashed a curse that stripped Mer of their immortality. Lia has grown up in a secret community of land-dwelling Mer hidden among Malibu's seaside mansions. Her biggest problems are surviving P.E. and keeping her feelings for Clay Ericson in check. Sure, he's gorgeous in that cocky, leather jacket sort of way and makes her feel like there's a school of fish swimming in her stomach, but getting involved with a human could put Lia's entire community at risk. So it's for the best that he's dating that new girl, right? That is, until Lia finds out she isn't the only one at school keeping a potentially deadly secret. And this new girl? Her eyes are dead set on Clay, who doesn't realize the danger he's in. If Lia hopes to save him, she'll have to get closer to Clay. Lia's parents would totally flip if they found out she was falling for a human boy, but the more time she spends with him, the harder it is for her to deny her feelings. After making a horrible mistake, Lia will risk everything to stop Clay from falling in love with the wrong girl.

Review:

Have you ever stepped into a series and was left wondering if you missed something?  Maybe you somehow skipped a few chapters beforehand?  Because that’s exactly how I felt when I started Emerge.  By the time I got my footing, it was a little too late.  Which was such a disappointment, because I was so excited for this book!  A curse on the mermaids because of what The Little Mermaid did, and we get to hear the story from one of her descendants?  YES please!  But as I read through the pages of Emerge, that yes sadly turned into a no.

• Confusion & No Connection

Am I really off the fishhook?

The first chapter was unfortunately where the confusion started for me.  Here is the situation that made me say what,what, what……

Aurelia, who was the descendant of The Little Mermaid, was at a high school with humans and their PE coach was trying to make her swim.  A little fyi….if she got in that pool she would have transformed into a mermaid.  Luckily a human boy, named Clay, got her out of that situation.  In that first chapter we then got to watch Aurelia and Clay have an awkward conversation, Clay date a new girl in school, and then Aurelia see the new couple kiss in a store where she was shopping.  Upon seeing them kissing, she wanted to leave the store because she could not handle watching them kiss.

I was SO lost towards Aurelia’s strong feelings towards Clay and his new girlfriend kissing.  Was this someone she had crushed on forever?  Did they have a history?  I had that small amount of interaction, no backstory, and I was confused.  How was I supposed to be compassionate, let alone feel her emotions, if I couldn’t understand the why behind it.  I finally got the why and backstory at 16%.  Which left me a little confused until that point.

• Timeline?

My father claps his hands once, breaking the somber mood. “I thought the party last night went just swimmingly. Pun intended!”

I am 99.9% positive that I have never complained about a books timeline before in a review.  It’s usually an aspect of the book that never affects me.  But I guess that is why they say never say never, because Emerge’s timeline drove me a little crazy.  It vacillated from slow to fast, such as their party went by in the blink of an eye, yet a conversation that took place in minutes would go on for pages.  I never could get a good grasp on whether something was going to take place in a matter of minutes, days or weeks.

• Easy Peasy Plot Twists

I was probably gaping at him like a codfish.

I love when I have to work hard to figure out plot twists before the characters do.  But this time, they were so easy to figure out.  Maybe that was the point?  But if it was, I wish that I would have at least gotten farther than a quarter of the way into the book before saying aha again and again.  Because then I kept finding myself frustrated with Aurelia as she she completely oblivious to clue after clue.

• An Infuriating Heroine

I shouldn’t do what I’m about to do. It’s wrong. It’s so wrong. But what other choice do I have?

You know what?  All those issues above can’t even hold a candle to my frustration to the heroine.  Aurelia’s decision making abilities was beyond horrid.  She made that statement above at not even the halfway point, and just so you know I loathe when people say that.  A lot of times, there are PLENTY of other options available. And this was definitely one of those times.  She could have asked for help, confided in her best male friend, Caspian, or her older sister.  Yet she took the worst possible of way out again and again and again.

And I never fully grasped her interest towards Clay, because there was Caspian.  Caspian was her friend and a male mer.  And when the two of them were together, I could see the sparks flying.  But with Clay, I felt absolutely nothing.

I did contemplate not finishing Emerge a few times.  But I’m one of those people who always holds out hope.  Hope that something, anything will pull me back in.  Unfortunately, nothing ever did.  But I do have to say that the premise was fascinating.  I just wish it would have been executed differently.  And Emerge did end nicely with lots of options for the next book, but sadly I have no desire to continue this series.  But here’s hoping that if you pick up this book, that you are able to find enjoyment where I could not.

*ARC kindly provided by Month9Books in exchange for an honest review*