Beneath the Haunting Sea by Joanna Ruth Meyer

This book was amazing! It reminded me of the original Little Mermaid story....mixed with Moby Dick...plus some other stuff, all twisted and changed up. It was amazing to see soo many elements creatively woven into such a great story.

I must admit though that I didn't really like Talia in the beginning. She was ok when in palace but once she arrived at the Ruen Dahr she came off as pretentious, rude and even insensitive. In her early meetings with Wen and the Baron she was soo unlikeable. As the story unfolded though and she learned more about the actual situation, she became much more tolerable and even likeable. She did go through a lot on the journey over, so I guess I should be more lenient. At the end she had grown soo much and I became really impressed with her character.

The other characters were all written great! I liked Caiden ok...but never as much as Talia apparently did. He seemed pretty mean also at times. Blaive was ok...I expected her to kind of cruel...like Eda, but she actually wasn't. I could see her reasonings behind how she behaved. Talia's mom, while seeming to be mad, came into much clearer focus towards the end of the book and she was quite admirable.

I think the settings of this book were amazing. The beginning was reminiscent of Arabian Nights and seemed so beautiful. The middle was completely different and reminded me more of some beach mystery. And then there was all the boat scenes, which I thoroughly enjoyed. All the scenes were written with great detail and I found it to be a pleasant addition to such an emotional story.

Overall, I really loved this book. I don't know if it is a sequel, but i'd def read more from this world. There were a few things that were brought up that I think could make a good book two. Either way though, I recommend this book and I plan to keep an eye on this author.