Social Media Icons

Friday, May 25, 2018

REVIEW: Between the Sea and Stars by Chantal Gadoury @CGadouryAuthor @parliamentbooks

Between the Sea and Stars
by Chantal Gadoury

A heartfelt thank you to Chantal for this copy in return for my honest review.

Not only is she one of the sweetest people on Bookstagram, but she is an extremely talented writer!
I previously read her book, The Songs in Our Hearts and absolutely ADORED it.  See my 5 Star review HERE.

Continue below for a synopsis, the trailer and my review!


Publisher:  The Parliament House
Publish Date: June 19, 2018
Kindle Edition
Series:  Book 1 - Lena 
Genre:  Fantasy


A Legend, 

A Magical Shell 
A Girl Who Dreamed Of Something More... 

Lena, a Merrow girl, lives in the Skagerrak sea with her father, Carrick and her brother, Javelin who tells her of the legend of the Merrow Queen murdered by her human lover when greed takes over. But what’s worth spilling the queen’s blood? Gifted from Poseidon, himself, a magic shell gives any human the ability to control both land and sea. 

When Javelin is called to join a clan of Merrow soldiers bent on protecting their waters from human invasion, Lena resists Merrow law and ventures to the shore with no choice but to swim to land. 

With newfound legs, Lena is whisked away on a new adventure with new friends and new trouble. Everyone seems to want something from her as intrigue lurks around every corner. 

Trying her best to hide who she is and remain safe from the dangers of the human world, will Lena finally find where she belongs, or will she be swept into a strong and stormy current by lust, greed, and jealousy? 



My Review:

There is no doubt that Chantal is a wonderful story teller.  This is my second book by her and I've been sucked right in from page one each time.  

We have The Little Mermaid feel with Lena, who just wants to see what it's like on land... to be human.  She feels stifled under the sea and doesn't want to just be another wife.  She's a merrow who wants more.  Stubborn to get her way, she's not prepared for what she actually gets.

There's a lot of things in this book that are easily predictable.  You can never run away from your problems and Lena finds herself basically in the same predicament on land as she did in the sea.  What's great about this book is the author's way of pulling you right in.  It reads fast and had me swiping pages with a fury to see where it would head.  I didn't even care that I pretty much knew what was coming.

The ending is SUCH a cliffhanger!  Normally this irritates me, but I found myself still trying to swipe left hoping that somehow I would will more pages to appear.  Alas, this did NOT work (but I still encourage you to try this - maybe you'll have more luck 😉).  

As with most of these types of reads, the women are put in a secondary role and we see a lot of male characters in this story.  The women are there to take care of them and play their roles.  Remember, this is almost like a Disney story and that's to be expected.   It's how we get characters such as Lena, who rebel against this stereotype.  A fairy tale where Lena is there to save herself, not to have a man do that for her. 

I absolutely adore books about mermaids and this one delivers.  Engaging, fantastical and whimsical.  Chantal brings us a rich fairy tale where sometimes getting what you want comes at a cost you can never run from.  I need book two, NOW!

★★★★

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this book! And thank you so much for your very generous review <3

    ReplyDelete