I mean, yeah, it looks kind of girly, but it's such an amazing design, and I love how it really makes the reader think this is going to be such a cutesy story about mermaids playing in the ocean and swimming with dolphins, and blah di blah blah.
BUT IT'S NOT.
This actually turned out to be a pretty serious book, with a lot of topics that should be discussed more often. Basically, Jade, our main character, catches her fiance almost red-handed in killing someone. But, not just anyone, a girl of another race/species then her fiance's high nobility self. I ended up reading all of the acknowledgements 110% because right after the killing I started to wonder...is this book based off of true events? Or disguised as a cute mermaid book, but with a serious subject line? And maybe this was done on purpose, and maybe not, but it reminded me a lot of BLM.
Here me out.
The girl murdered is a "naiad" (which is basically another race of mermaids, but they're like water nymphs). And the number one suspect is Jade's fiance who is a member of the Royal Mer Guard (which are basically underwater policemen).
Maybe I'm wrong. But there's definitely a lot of talk about the fairness of the way the naiads are treated versus the mer-people. Which just SCREAMS racism in the real world. An addition to the references to BLM, and racism, there's also talk about domestic violence and how no one deserves that. And how it effects others. IN ADDITION, I thought Ms. Catherine Jones Payne did an EXCELLENT job in incorporating reasons why people don't get out of the bad situations that they're in.
The romance bothered me a little. I really hated how it was emphasized so much that Jade and her friends were of marrying age like there was nothing else out there for them to do. There was hardly any mention at the fact that Jade and her two closest friends (Rhea and Cora) were all unemployed, but at EVERY SINGLE social gathering they were required to flirt with someone of a "higher standing" in order to keep their status. Her mother mentions to Jade a few times that they have nothing to offer if for whatever reason the King decides that he no longer favors their family. And I was just like...well if you got a job maybe you'd be able to provide something (besides your charming personality of course).
But I'm not going to fault Breakwater over that, as that clearly is part of the plot and will probably be discussed later on in a future book.
The main issue I had with the romance was how Jade and her best friend, Alexander go from being friends of so many years, to saying how much they love each other. Yeah, I get it, they've been friends for years and have always cared for each other, but honestly? The switch felt too soon. One day even the mention of her friend being her boyfriend is laughable, and then next...I love you and I can't live without you.
While we're on the topic of relationships.... Jade didn't have a lot of social interactions with a lot of different people. She had her mom (which I would have loved to see more of), her brother (likewise), her two friends (Kora and Rhea, which both felt like they were mostly written with a bunch of stereotypes in mind, but we really didn't get to see a lot of them either), her older guy friend, her house keeper/butler (who was awesome), and the few naiads she hangs out with. I really didn't like her friend Rhea especially. She was written out to be extremely fake and unlikable. And I really hope in the next book in the series, that we see a lot more of her. As, I refuse to believe that there is anyone out there that is just that one dimensional and yet still has friends. I also wasn't crazy about how one of her naiad friends was very rude to Jade at times. She had the right to be upset, and yet sometimes she tried to discount Jade's problems like they were nothing. Even though Jade really tried to help out the naiads and really didn't even have to become involved in the whole mess.
The writing style as I mentioned earlier, wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible and it gets pretty easy to adjust to and easy to forgive.
Overall, I enjoyed Breakwater. The writing isn't fabulous, but I loved how the author incorporated real world issues into such a unassuming book. And for that, I can't fault Breakwater.
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Character Development: 4/5
Incorporation of Real World Issues: 5/5
Romance: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Ending: 4/5
Total: 3.7857 = 4 fins
**I received this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my review. However, all opinions above are my own.
***Full review will go up on my blog http://heathertooreal.blogspot.com/ on Thursday, 5/25 12:00 PM EST.
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