Summary (from Goodreads): Undersea romance with captivating merboys, deep friendship, and spectacular pearls.
Set in Tera Lynn Childs’ fin-flicking world that began with Forgive My Fins, this 100-page digital novella focuses on Periwinkle Wentletrap, Princess Lily’s best friend, and is perfect for fans of mermaids, light romance, and mythology retellings.
As Princess Lily’s emissary, Peri works hard to make sure her best friend knows all the goings on in the underwater kingdom of Thalassinia. The upcoming Sea Harvest Dance means plenty of fun for them, too, including shopping for jewels, trims, and dress making supplies. Peri especially loves the pearls she finds at Thalassinia’s marketplace—and she might be falling head over fins for Riatus, the thoughtful pearl trader who looks like a dashing pirate.
When Lily realizes her friend has a crush, she is determined to help them get together in time for the dance—except her matchmaking efforts backfire, sweeping Peri into dangerous depths and tangled in confusing tides. Should Peri give up on Riatus and find a different date to the Sea Harvest Dance, or will they finally find a way to float along the same current?
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Series: Fins (Book #3.5)
Edition: ebook
Pages: 100
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mermaids
Published: January 7, 2014 by Katherine Tegen Books
Reading Level: Teens
Plot: Considering the novella was only a 100 pages, there was a lot of things that went on. When I heard Tera Lynn Childs was doing an e-book for her Fins series, I was expecting it to be as dark as it was. It was a nice surprise.
That’s not to say that this is a dark book, because it definitely isn’t, but considering it was a short story, I thought there wasn’t a lot of room to make conflict. But then again this is Tera Lynn Childs and her writing is always amazing.
Characters: Peri being Lily’s best friend gave readers just a fraction of insight as to who she is. There was more to her. I love how back and forth she was with her feelings for Riatus. Riatus is a character I wish I could read more of. I loved both Peri and Riatus’ characters when they interacted with each other.
Relationships: I loved Lily and Peri’s friendship. Lily setting Peri up on a date was my favorite moment that the two of them shared in Pretty In Pearls. I’d love to read more stories that focused on their friendship.
Romance: What I love about Tera Lynn Childs when it comes to her writing romance is the way she keeps her characters apart due to blank problem. A lot (and I mean A ALOT) of the YA books I’ve read put the couple together in the first 1/3 of the book then they must fight together to fix whatever blank problem they need to handle.
Keeping the couple apart makes the story refreshing. It’s different from other books and so I like it.
Way of Writing: I’ve always loved Tera Lynn Child’s writing. In Pretty In Pearls, I felt like Childs was able to explore the mermaid world in a way she hadn’t done before. She wrote about the mermaid world in her Fins books, but considering the entire novella was set there this time, she had to focus on it more.
And since I hate reviews that come close to how long the book/story is, I’ll leave it with this:
4 OUT OF 5 STARS FOR PRETTY IN PEARLS BY TERA LYNN CHILDS
Summary (from Goodreads): The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters ... Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved?
Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: Vampire Academy (Book #4)
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 503
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Published: April 6, 2010 by Razorbill
Reading Level: Young Adult
I’ve been reading the Vampire Academy for almost a year now. However, with the Vampire Academy movie now out, I’m making it my goal to read all six of the books as soon as possible.
With that being said, Blood Promise was the hardest of the four that I’ve read so far to get through. It was a good book, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t like the first three books.
Plot: One of the reasons I found it difficult to read was because Rose, the main character, was separate from the rest of the main characters. Because of the events of Shadow Kiss (book #3), Rose is left on her own for a majority of the book.
Although Rose has to take her own journey apart from the people she cares about, I really like where he journey takes her. Here’s a little spoiler alert for those who have not read the book, Rose meets Dimitri’s family. Before this book, I didn’t even consider it something that would happen yet. After reading the book, I realized why Richelle Mead wrote that into the book. It was needed.
Characters: The thing I love most about the Vampire Academy series is Rose’s sassy girl attitude. While that was another thing that changed in this book, I was still able to enjoy the characters.
Dimitri’s character stood out for me in this book. Mead wrote his character in a way that it felt like this story was half in his point of view. He doesn’t really censor himself and it allows the reader to see what’s going on in his mind.
Relationships: Rose and Lissa’s relationship took a strain in Blood Promise, but at the same time, it was because of that strain that I believe in book #5, I believe their relationship will be stronger.
I love Rose and Adrian’s back and forth banter. I ship Dimitri and Rose so I don’t really see the romance side of it.
Romance: Two romances are put to the test. I actually like it more like that. When it’s all happy and lovey dovey, it can get pretty boring. While, the two romances that are put to the test are put to the test in two very different ways, the core of their problems is a personality change given because of supernatural reason. It sounds complicated (and I like that), but it made the story come together in the end.
Creative Way of Writing: Since I started reading the first page of Vampire Academy, I’ve loved Richelle Mead’s writing. She is not afraid to go all in. She kills characters off that we love. She breaks our favorite couples up. Yet, she does it in a way that the readers (or at least myself) don’t hate her.
4 out of 5 stars for Blood Promise by Richelle Mead.
