Review : Waterfell by Amalie Howard

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Waterfell (The Aquarathi #1)
Author : Amalie Howard
Publication Date : October 29th 2013
Publisher : Harlequin Teen
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE QUEEN

Nerissa Marin hides among teens in her human form, waiting for the day she can claim her birthright—the undersea kingdom stolen from her the day her father was murdered. Blending in is her best weapon—until her father's betrayer confronts Nerissa and challenges her to a battle to the death on Nerissa's upcoming birthday—the day she comes of age.

Amid danger and the heartbreak of her missing mother, falling for a human boy is the last thing Nerissa should do. But Lo Seavon breaches her defenses and somehow becomes the only person she can count on to help her desperate search for her mother, a prisoner of Nerissa's mortal enemy. Is Lo the linchpin that might win Nerissa back her crown? Or will this mortal boy become the weakness that destroys her?

Personal Thoughts

Books about sea creatures have never really worked for me. Despite knowing very well that that Waterfell was based on an undersea society, I decided to read it because it not only sounded interesting, but it also had a stunning cover. From now on, I'm going to stay away from any YA paranormal book that has mermaids or any other mythical sea creatures
.
Waterfell's biggest disappointment was the main character, Nerissa. She was so unlikeable and there was almost no growth on her part as the book progressed. She drove me nuts with her brainless decisions and her unwillingness to see beyond her selfish  desires. She was supposed to be a Queen of Aquarathi in this book, but she lacked backbone, determination and the strength that a solid main character should have. I would have accepted or understood her behavior had she grown even a bit throughout the book, but Nerissa remained an obnoxious character who was difficult to respect or admire. What drove me crazy was how selfish and judgmental she could be. For the first couple of chapters of the book, she had this hatred for her love interest, Lo, which was never explained at all. She seemed to dislike him simply for existing because there truly was no flaw in the guy to want to hate him as much. Not only that, she preferred to trust some guy she meant a few days ago over her life-long best friend, Speio, which made me dislike her even more. To be honest, there was not one redeeming quality about Nerissa and I wouldn't have mind if somebody slapped some sense into her. Her love interest, Lo, was flat at best. He needed more substance and so did a few of the other secondary characters. Even the villain was boring.

The plot wasn't any better either. It actually got watered down by the romance and by the main character's lack of strength. Because too much time was spent on useless teenage drama like the insta-love and a rivalry with an ex-best-friend, Waterfell moved at a torturous pace and by the end of the book nothing significant, at least according to me, had happened. In addition, the few plot twists that were presented in the book were so predictable and caused me to roll my eyes about a 1000 times while reading. I'm pretty sure every reader will see the ending coming from the first few pages because it's a plot twist that is over-used now. The world-building was also mediocre at best. What could have been a beautiful, descriptive world, was reduced to something incredibly dull. The romance did not have much to root for either. As I mentioned above, Waterfell had a serious case of insta-love. The author tried to make it not appear as an instant romance with having Nerissa hate Lo for no reason at all, but it still came across as rushed because only after a couple of days, she was unable to stop thinking about Lo and was constantly blushing around him or she was mad that Lo was interacting with her ex-best friend. But at least there wasn't any love triangle!

In the end, I was not at all impressed with Waterfell. It had a promising premise, but Amalie Howard's execution of the plot just didn't make the book live up to the standards it could have risen to.


Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 2/5


Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for the e-ARC of Waterfell.

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