Fathom by Merrie Destefano

Everything is changing... 

Turning sixteen can be hell, especially if everyone in town thinks your mother killed herself and your sister. All Kira Callahan wants to do is swim, hang out with her best friend, Sean, and ignore the kids who torment her at school. That is, until one day when she gets invited to a party. For three minutes her life is wonderful—she even kisses Sean in the driveway. Then somebody spikes her drink at the party and some girls from out of town lure her into the ocean and hold her underwater. 

Kira soon discovers that the group of wild teenagers who have come to visit Crescent Moon Bay are not as innocent as they seem. In fact, nothing is as it seems—not the mysterious deaths of her sister and mother, not her heritage, not even her best friend. And everything seems to hinge on the ancient Celtic legends that her mother used to tell her as a child.

Fathom is a selkie tale steeped in lore and mystery. Kira is a typical teen girl who feels invisible but has a couple of great friends she can depend. She has never felt secure in herself ever since when she was 6 her mother went crazy and killed both herself and her sister. When she turns 16 she feels the whispers of a legacy she would rather forget especially when she looks in the mirror. Everyone notices she looks exactly like her mother.

I have to say that for most of the book, I was connected to Kira on a level, but it wasn't very deep until much later in the book. I think this is because there was so much mystery surrounding Kira, I was more involved in learning what was going on. The mystery was the consuming factor and I didn't mind it at all.

As we move along in the story we start finding out little tidbits, crumbs for us to follow. As frustrating as learning only tiny bits of mystery could be, it was also captivating and I wanted to know more. I wanted to just read faster. While this is happening, I was becoming more connected to Kira and I wanted to solve the mystery for her. We also get hit with a couple of plot twists. One I really didn't see coming!

I did have a couple of small criticisms. One was the potential love triangle. It really never came off totally like that, but it did threaten to rear it's head. In the end there is no complete love but yet not one absent either. It was nice, to be truthful and although anything can change in the books to come, nothing felt too forced... at least with Sean. Now, Caleb was another matter. Although they became friends, I just didn't get that connection. We were told this happened, but did not witness it. I would have liked more information on how that organically grew. Other than that, I enjoyed Caleb as well. Mostly because he helped solve a big portion of the mystery.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I recommend it to those that love lore and mythology especially those of the fae. I'm curious as to where this series goes in the next book.

I received this eARC from the author an no compensation for my review was given.

Bloggy note:

Come back tomorrow for an author blog post by Merrie Destefano and giveaway!