ARC Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Title: Of Poseidon (Of Poseidon #1)
Author: Anna Banks
Pages: 326 pages
Acquired format: Paperback (ARC)
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published on: May 22nd 2012
Source: Borrowed from Precious (Fragments of Life) Thanks!
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . 

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:

Mermaid-themed books have always been my weakness, I just can't not love them. I always expect authors to put in their own twist to the mythology since The Little Mermaid idea has been used way too much, which is why I absolutely adored Of Poseidon. It's the type of book that when you read it you just know that you're going to laugh your larynx out (you'll understand this when you read the summary which is ^ up there. You're welcome.) I think that it was a very smart decision for Anna Banks to write the book in Galen and Emma's POVs because you really won't get the whole story without it and awesomely enough, it doesn't get confusing since some dual POVs get messy, so you're good. And the violet eyes? Genius.

I really liked Emma as a heroine. She isn't the type of girl who's insecure unlike a few protagonists who doubt their self-worth, Emma knows who she is and she isn't afraid to tell anyone off if they piss her off. And I absolutely love her internal monologues and she literally had me cracking up in just the first chapter. I'm not really so sure about her friend Chloe though, it might be just me but she is kind of mean in a friendly way...? But I guess if you can handle a person like that then why not be friends with them, right?

As much I really like Galen, the one that owns my heart is Toraf even if his name is unbelievably not sexy. Like, at all. But before we go to Toraf, let's talk about the hunky Galen. I think one of the really appealing things about Galen (other than his shockingly good looks) is that he's really loyal to his people and he's willing to sacrifice what he wants the most to protect his people, and while this is a really good quality it also has it's downsides. Half of the time he was trying to deny his attraction to Emma, he only ended up hurting her and that's never good but in the end, can we really blame him? He's a royal and his responsibilities are greater than any other normal Syrena (Syrena = mermaid in the Of Poseidon world. Requirement: Black hair, violet eyes, lean build and olive skin.) Now onto Toraf, I honestly felt sorry for him throughout the whole first half of the book because Rayna is one sadistic Syrena. She literally put him through a lot of trouble and I felt really bad for him.

I think that the only thing that didn't appeal to me is the sort of insta-love that happened between Galen and Emma, even though there was some resistance on their part but it was definitely there. There was a lot of sizzle and even some fizzles happening between them. But even though there was an insta-love between them, their relationship as fake boyfriend/girlfriend was definitely entertaining. There's never a dull moment when you're talking about these two.

If you want a really feel good read with a lot of fluff and laughs, Of Poseidon is definitely for you! There's not a moment that you won't find yourself laughing out loud. Oh and... MERMAIDSMEN!!! Hee!

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