Blog Tour: Everblue by Brenda Pandos (+ Giveaway!)

Summary/Cover Image from Amazon:

Best friends share everything with each other. Or do they?

Seventeen-year-old Ashlyn Frances Lanski is tired of her boring, single life. Spending time with her best friend Tatiana, dreaming about kissing Tatiana's twin brother Fin, and swimming competitively are her only sanctuary. The girls plan to leave their drab lakeside town far behind for college. But when Tatchi fails to return home after a family emergency, and no one knows where the family has gone, Ash chooses to do something drastic to find them.

Ashlyn is about to discover what she’d thought to be true her whole life, wasn’t, and the truth, too fantastical to imagine. Secrets lurk beneath the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, secrets that will change Ashlyn's life forever.

Review: 

When I first heard about Everblue, the first book in Brenda Pandos' new series, I knew I had to read it. Not only because I really enjoyed Brenda's first two books (The Emerald Talisman and The Sapphire Talisman), but because Everblue had to do with one of my new favorite trends in YA: mermaids. Luckily enough, Everblue turned out to be everything I was expecting and much more!

Ash and Tatiana (Tatchi) have been best friends for the longest of times. They share nearly everything with the other, and they even plan to go to college together in the fall. However, each has their own secrets to hide from the other for numerous reasons. For Ash, this means hiding the feelings she feels for Tatchi's twin brother Fin whose unreachable in ways she can't even begin to imagine. For Tatchi, this means hiding the biggest, most powerful secret she has, the secret she's been running from for way too long. Everything changes, though, when Tatchi and Fin mysteriously disappear into the night. No one, not even Ash, knows where they've gone and why new people have taken up residency in their house. However, Ash plans to find out, even if it means putting everything in her life on the line....

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was split first person narratives between Ash and Fin, because it allows the reader to get a feel for both sides of the story: the "human" version and the "mer" version. In addition, both were adorable and fabulous protagonists. Ash was resilient and sweet- even managing to break through the small shell she surrounded around her life over the course of the novel. Fin, on the other hand, was more headstrong but still very sweet in the long run. Together they managed to have a sweet romance, even though I was sometimes put off by the insta-love feeling of it. I also enjoyed seeing Tatchi as a character. However, I have to admit I would have loved to seen a bit more of her in the book.

The mer aspect of this was another high point. I loved the new spins Brenda gave to mermaids and mermen as well as the level of development and description she put into their underwater world. I also enjoyed seeing Ash's school and swimming life, because while it wasn't quite as thrilling as the mer aspect, it still provided a great edge at times.

The writing in this one was also great. Brenda is an author whose books I've read since the beginning, and I have to say her writing continues to grow and grow as she writes more books.

Unique and enjoyable, Everblue is well worth a read! However, that ending? Crazy! I need the sequel ASAP.

Grade: B+ 

Everblue is now out, and best of all it's only $2.99 currently for Kindle and Nook.

Source: Book provided by author for blog tour- thanks Brenda!

Thanks to Brenda, I also have one copy of Everblue to giveaway.

To enter, please fill out the following form.

Official Giveaway Rules:

~ Must be 13 years or older to enter
~ Must have a US Mailing address
~ This giveaway will end September 16, 2011 at 12:00 PM EST
~ You can earn an extra entry by tweeting: Enter @Lauren817's giveaway for #Everblue by Brenda Pandos http://bit.ly/rk5gMh

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER*