Blog Tour: Everblue Book review (+ giveaway)

Everblue Blog Tour

Welcome to the next stop in the Everblue Blog Tour for author Brendas Pandos. The tour is hosted by Eleni at La Femme Readers blog. I'm so happy I was able to be a part of this tour. I'm a fan of Brenda's work and was very excited when I heard she would be writing a new series. A big Thank You to Brenda also for the shout out in the acknowledgments in Everblue, that brought the biggest smile to my face.

Brenda Pandos Links: Website / Blog / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

Everblue

Mer Tales #1

Author: Brenda Pandos

Pages: 304 Paperback

Reading Level: YA

Published: July 29th 2011

Review Source: Author

Avilable: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

Let's begin with the beautiful cover that just calls your attention. This is a great example of when a cover will sell the book without opening the book itself. The cover model represents one of the main characters in the book and the water rippling to me represents the Mer people. It just a beautifully design cover with so much depth to it. I'm so glad this cover belongs to Everblue because Brenda deserves the best for all her hard work. 

Everblue is not my first mermaid book that I've read. Everblue is the first Mermaid story I loved though. I didn't have a doubt in my mind when I pick up Everblue to read that I would not like the story. I knew its was not Brenda's Talisman series but I knew Brenda's writing style and have always love it. Now knowing that I would like the story I didn't expect that I would be blown away by it. Brenda has grown as a writer and her writing shows it. This was also her first time alternating characters in her writing, and I enjoyed how they transitioned back and forth. All readers will literally dive into Brenda writing and devour Everblue probably in one or two sittings. Then Brenda leaves you animated for the next novel in the series, wanting to know what will happen next. 

Everblue takes place at Lake Tahoe, You meet Ashlyn and her best friend Tatiana. If it wasn't for having her friend Ashlyn would die of boredom. She is also ready to possibly make a move on Fin, that's Tatiana twin brother. The best friend have decided to seak out a college in Florida and go there and get away from it all. Ashlyn believes that Tatiana Father is a drunk and too strict and has even seen him get somewhat violent. So she understand why Tatiana wants to move away for college. So the girls have their plans all ready and set to go. Well that all changes the day Ashlyn realizes that Tatiana and her family including Fin have disappear without a trace, they didn't say where or why they had to leave or where they went. They are long gone and Ashlyn donest understand. They have left the family business and house unattended. What about their college plans? they are already accepted. 

Then a few days later Ashlyn sees a older man and younger good looking guy at Ashlyn and Fin's house, she figures out this must be their cousin and uncle. They of course give Ashlyn no explanation for why they are there but Ashlyn finds it strange that she wants to kiss this cousin of Fin's. Until know the only boy she has wanted to kiss is Fin, even though he is Ashlyn sister. Fin has not open up to Ashlyn because of his family secret that he must keep hidden from any human. See Fin and Tatiana are Mer people. Now don't think that the lives of the Mer are perfect. Not at all, Fin and Titiana wantto escape that life of theirs and live on in the human world instead of the water. They must fight against their rules and their King's son to try and go back to land. Fin fears he will never be able to return back to land and it drives his crazy. That pushes him to sneak out one day at the gate to Lake Tahoe from his world. That's when both Fin and Ashlyn lives will change forever and star a whole chain of events. Seems after all this time Ashlyn might not be saved from his world. 

If your looking for a well written story and characters that are interesting and unique, then pick up Everblue today. This book is a must have for anyone, any age that reads either YA or Adult. 

To follow this tour in its entirety click HERE to see a full listing of all blogs participating. Next blog on the stop is Me and Reading with a review on August 29th. Now Brenda will answer questions that we leave in our blog post for the tour in a vlog on her blog, so make sure you are following her blog to view her updates. Here are my 2 questions for Brenda:

Question #1: I've always associated mermaids with salt water, how or why did you incorporate these Mer people to be able to live in fresh water?

Question #2: Ashlyn is a great swimmer we know from reading the book, Is she a great swimmer because there might be some Mer in her family history?

Now for the best part of this review. Thanks to Brenda, I have one signed copy of Everblue and bookmark up for grabs to one lucky winner. Plus 3 more winners can win a signed bookmark of Everblue. I know, hold your excitement so you can fill out the entry form and be entered in the giveaway. 

To Enter:

• Fill out this FORM
• Giveaway will run until September 2nd until midnight. 
• US participants only
• There will be a extra entry for tweets that include @brendapandos and hashtag #everblue
• Also don't forget to add Brenda on Facebook and Goodreads. You'll love her.