Review: Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Title: Sea Witch

Author: Sarah Henning

Series: Sea Witch #1

Genre: Fantasy/Re-telling/YA

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: July 31st, 2018

Edition: Kindle Edition, 368 pages

Source: Library

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

 Ever since her best friend Anna died, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. Hiding her talents, mourning her loss, drowning in her guilt.
 Then a girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears on the shore, and the two girls catch the eyes of two charming princes. Suddenly Evie feels like she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
 But magic isn’t kind, and her new friend harbors secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad—or on two legs—without Evie’s help. And when Evie reaches deep into the power of her magic to save her friend’s humanity—and her prince’s heart—she discovers, too late, what she’s bargained away.

Review:

This is the Little Mermaid retelling I've been looking for.

For years I have been wanting and looking for a book with Mermaids that feels reminiscent for The Little Mermaid, and while I have read some pretty good books with mermaids, none of them felt "Magical" the way TLM does. This is more like an origin story for Ursla, and I really love that this book doesn't ignore the Dutch heritage of the original story. 

This is very much Evie's story. Everything happening in her present is told through her eyes. We get snippets of the past, to help fill in some blanks of events that are mentioned and it helps fill out the story with out the dreaded exposition.

There were a couple times when I felt that Evie was being painfully naive and irrational when it came to Annemette. A little too trusting of the stranger she had just met. Maybe it was her naivety in wanting to believe she was her long lost friend, or perhaps just loneliness. She is after all only 16, very few people use logic let alone Teenagers.

The synopsis is a little misleading when it comes to the Princes, Evie has known both Princes for years. Has been friends with one of them for at least 10 years, and has known the other for at least 4 years.

The middle chapters of this book dragged a little, but once you get past those and more of past comes to light the better the book gets, and it had a really strong ending. There were a couple of things that I hadn't seen coming. I suspected how things were going to end for Evie, but I didn't know how it was going to happen.

I am really excited to read the sequel when it comes out.