Wednesday, October 10, 2012

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!

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like a nice read. I do hate it when there's a love triangle and you just don't feel that connection the main character has with one of the boys. But, maybe in the sequel the connection between Kira and Caleb will be more explained.. ;)
    Liking the cover, she looks mad.

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    1. There was a triangle... and yet not at all... ;) It was interesting and there may be none in the end. You just have to check it out to see... ;D

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  2. Intrigued by your comments on the love triangle. What a cover, moody doesn't begin to explain it.

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  3. Ooooohhhh.... I've been seeing this a lot in the Twitter world lately so I'm excited to see my first review of it! And I love the idea of selkies!

    Also, ONE FOLLOWER AWAY FROM 1800, MELISSA! :D

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  4. I haven't read many selkie stories, I think I would like to give this one a try! I'm glad the hint of a love triangle doesn't ever mature into a full fledged love triangle, and I do love a good plot twist:) Thanks for the review of this one Melissa, it's new to me!

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    1. It may never mature into a full love triangle. Hm... hard to explain w/o spoilage... you'll just have to see for yourself. The plot twist was pretty fun. :)

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  5. Kira sounds interesting and it's nice you could more connect with her as you progressed in the book. Well it wouldn't be fun if you could connect with everyone, doesn't it? But I'm intrigued to learn more about this book.

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  6. I haven't read an entire book on Selkies so I must try and do that since they are relatively foreign to me. This sounds promising and I am glad to hear that love triangle didn't read its head!

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  7. Hmm, I like small town mysteries, there is something that always pulls me in. Thanks for the great review! And I will be back for the giveaway!

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  8. Woahh, this sounds AMAZING! I haven't even heard of it before, but I want to check it out ASAP now. I love the mystery behind it and selkies are such intriguing creatures, so this is one book I need to get my hands on soon for sure. Fantastic review, Melissa! :D

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  9. I'm glad to see your review of this one since I hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it on my blog today.
    It sounds really interesting. And the whole Selkie thing and the lore and mythology sounds great!

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  10. Oh I just finished this one tonight. I had to finish it as I had to know all that played out. And was pleased with it, yet saddened too. Yes, I was biting my nails wondering about the love triangle as well.

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  11. Are you going to shoot me if I say I am a bit over the Fae right now? I seriously am saving up the last bit of my love for ICED but I think other than that I need to step back from the fae a bit :(

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