ARC Review: The Vicious Deep (The Vicious Deep, #1) by Zoraida Cordova

For Tristan Hart, everything changes with one crashing wave. He was gone for three days. Sucked out to sea in a tidal wave and spit back ashore at Coney Island with no memory of what happened. Now his dreams are haunted by a terrifying silver mermaid with razor-sharp teeth. His best friend Layla is convinced something is wrong. But how can he explain he can sense emotion like never before? How can he explain he's heir to a kingdom he never knew existed? That he's suddenly a pawn in a battle as ancient as the gods. Something happened to him in those three days. He was claimed by the sea...and now it wants him back.

Cordova has brought readers and fans of the young adult literature scene a fresh new voice and a ton of fun new characters to enjoy. As a fan of series reading, this first installment has me convinced that Cordova has a winner on her hands and hopefully more of her wonderfully fast paced writing style and adorable characters still to come. While mermaids might be staging a come back among the paranormal genre in 2012, Cordova brought a unique spin of her own and didn't show any signs of slowing down in the process. Hearing her main character Tristan's voice throughout this novel was a change up for me, when I've been used to typically having female narrators dominating the titles I normally find myself reading. And I liked every minute of it.

While this read might center around mermaids and mermen (and not The Little Mermaid type you might be thinking of) her imagination did not stop there. Readers will get to enjoy vampires, shifters, and so much more. The imagination and creativity that went into these characters and this world was wonderful to be a part of and I enjoyed myself the whole way through. With a little bit of romance, a little more action and suspense, and unfortunately some heartache, I think Cordova packed a punch for her readers with this series opener.

I hate to be corny, but I think it'll be easy for readers to dive right into this one and leave only wanting more...counting down until the next installment hits the shelves.

I gave The Vicious Deep (The Vicious Deep, #1) by Zoraida Cordova 3 shamrocks!!!