Title: Ripple
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Publish Date: July 21, 2011
Source: Around the World Tours
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. Each day she goes to school like a normal teenager, and each night she must swim, or the pain will be unbearable. She is a siren - a deadly mermaid destined to lure men to their watery deaths. After a terrible tragedy, Lexi shut herself off from the world, vowing to protect the ones she loves. But she soon finds herself caught between a new boy at school who may have the power to melt her icy exterior, and a handsome water spirit who says he can break Lexi's curse if she gives up everything else. Lexi is faced with the hardest decision she’s ever had to make: the life she's always longed for - or the love she can't live without?
My Thoughts: I was so excited to read this book because it was about something different. I have never read anything about Sirens or Nixes and I was not disappointed at all!
Lexi is starting her senior year in high school. She is a loner as she has pulled away from all her friends. But she has a good reason for pulling away. She doesn't want to kill them. Two years ago, a tragedy occurred and her friends blame her for it. Lexi blames herself as well.
At the beginning of the story, Lexi has no friends and everyone is horrible to her. Everyone except Cole. Cole is sweet, caring and hot, of course! I loved him and his strong personality. He didn't care what others thought of him. He didn't care if he lost his popularity. As long as he was with Lexi, he was happy. When Lexi's ex-best friend, Sienna, starts talking to her, Lexi feels like maybe she can have her old life back again. As things progress with Cole, Lexi finds herself happy yet wary. How far can things go with Cole with Lexi holding all these secrets inside?
Then, when Lexi's relationship with Cole is going so well, Erik enters the picture. Erik knows what Lexi is and tells her that he can help her break the curse. The only thing is, Lexi must leave Cole and fall in love with Erik.
That's all I can say about the actual story line so I don't give any of the major surprises away. And let me tell you, there were some serious surprises and twists at the end that I did not see coming AT ALL! I loved it!
I loved Lexi's character! She was strong and determined and while she was lonely and felt guilty for what happened, it wasn't a total whine-fest with her. There were no pity parties and Lexi tried to stay true to her feelings.
There are two things I didn't like about this book (although it wasn't a huge deal and certainly didn't take away from the enjoyment).
1. As usual, there were no parents involved. Lexi lived with her grandma and Hubbard did explain where Lexi's parents were but still...Lexi is gone every night and her grandma NEVER notices? Seems a little strange to me. Then, Sienna's parents are never around. While there is mention of that, there is really no explanation for it. And Cole's parent's apparently didn't exist at all. There is one part of the book **SMALL SPOILER AHEAD** where Lexi sleeps over and Cole's and nobody notices or is there? There is no mention of his parents at all. The only parents that are mentioned are Lexi's and Erik's.
2. The whole background to Lexi's curse wasn't that great. I wanted to know a little more about why Lexi was a siren. I wanted to know more about the curse but there was just a brief history in a diary that Lexi found.
Besides those two issues, I thought Ripple was amazing! A different spin on the usual paranormal YA books out there made it refreshing and the twists in the ending were excellent! If there is a second book, I will be reading it for sure!
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