Ashes on the Waves was a deliciously quick read. I was immediately drawn in by the way that Mary Lindsey manages to create such a chilling atmosphere. This story has it all. Tragic romance, Celtic lore, and the perfect amount of hope to even it all out. I loved this read from beginning to end!

Liam was born and raised on the remote island of Dochas. An accident at his birth, that resulted in the death of his mother, has surrounded him with suspicion and hatred. The villagers call him a demon, and he believes it. Liam stole my heart from the first moment I met him. He's sweet and more than a bit broken. His whole persona is just something that I gravitated to. I admit it, I have a crush on Liam MacGregor.

Then I met Annabel Leighton, and my love of this book soared even higher. The daughter of a wealthy family, Anna visited the island as a child. She grew up with Liam, and left him wistful for her company. I liked Anna's character a lot. She's impulsive, speaks her mind, and yet has a very kind heart. Paired with Liam, they are an odd, but gorgeous couple. I wasn't entirely convinced that they fell madly in love so quickly, but the Celtic lore here definitely helps push that idea. That, and the fact that these star crossed lovers have everyone against them. It's hard not to root for them.

Which brings me to what I loved most, the mix of Celtic lore and Edgar Allen Poe references that make this book so gothic! This makes the book so dark, so atmospheric, that the love between these two is really the only light. I loved that Ashes on the Waves moved so quickly, and kept me guessing at every turn. It was compelling, and I couldn't get enough.

If you enjoy tales of star-crossed lovers, broken pasts, and tenuous futures, this is a book for you. Pick up a copy of Ashes on the Waves and prepare to fall in love. ( )

Meh. I grabbed this out of curiosity because it's based on Annabel Lee, one of my favorite poems. I was about a 3rd of the way through when I realized I really don't care what happens, so on to better books! ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Beautiful gothic novel full of heartache, love, and destiny.

Opening Sentence: She looked like something out of a dream…or a nightmare.

The Review:

Liam MacGregor has been called a demon his whole life. The small island of Dòchas is very remote and way behind on modern day technology. The people there are superstitious and there are many legends about otherworld creatures drawing helpless humans to their deaths. Liam was not born under normal circumstances and he has been ostracized because of it. Liam has been shown very few acts of kindness in his life and he had accepted that he would never find happiness. But all that changes when the beautiful Annabel Leighton is exiled to the island by her very wealthy parents.

Anna’s parents own a mansion on the island and one summer when she was a child she played with Liam. She hasn’t been back until now, but Liam never forgot her. She is so full of life and she looks at Liam different than everyone else. It is easy for him to fall for Anna and their love seems like the forever kind. But the otherworld creatures on the island decide to play a cruel game with the sweet young couple, and as things escalate their love isn’t the only thing in danger of being destroyed.

Majority of the story is told from Liam’s POV, which I absolutely loved. Liam is a genuinely good person that has been treated awful his whole life. Instead of letting that get him down and becoming the demon everyone fears, he has turned into an amazing person with a very sweet demeanor. Loving Anna brings down some of the walls he has built around himself and he is finally able to open himself up to someone. He goes from being a shy guarded boy to a confident strong man. It was easy to feel sympathy for him and his situation, but I also respected and admired how he dealt with it.

Anna is your typical rich party girl. She grew up in New York among the high society and lives to rebel against her parents in any way possible. She went a little overboard recently and was sent to live on the island to prevent anymore scandals from surfacing until her brother gets married. She expected to despise the island but then she meets Liam. For the first time in her life she feels like she can be herself and there are no expectations of her. Anna is a beautiful girl that has been lost for a long time and it was heartwarming to watch her find herself in Liam. She is spontaneous and a little on the wild side, but she also had a heart full of gold. She was a wonderful heroine and easy to love.

Ashes on the Waves was a beautiful heartwarming story of true love and all the trials that come with it. The romance developed very quickly and normally I’m not a fan of that, but Lindsey did a wonderful job of making Anna and Liam’s relationship feel realistic. With a hauntingly gorgeous setting and a suspenseful mystery, this was an intense read that was hard to put down. I did feel that the ending was a little rushed and the plot was slightly predictable. But overall, this was a very enjoyable read and I would highly recommend it to YA paranormal fans.

Notable Scene:

“Why are you here, Anna?” I don’t know what answer I was anticipating, but it certainly wasn’t the answer she gave.

“To kiss you, of course.”

I’d never fainted in my life, but I was certain I was on the brink at that moment. “I’m sorry about that. It was wrong of me.”

She smiled. “I thought it was adorable.”

Adorable. I stood stunned in the middle of my tiny shack staring at the most beautiful girl in the world, unable to move—hardly adorable at the moment.

FTC Advisory: Philomel/Penguin provided me with a copy of Ashes on the Waves. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

First of all, super huge thanks to Mary Lindsey and Rockstar Book Tours for providing me with an ARC for review. It's one that I've been DYING for, and when I got this chance, you better believe I jumped on it!

I can sum up my experience with this book in a few words: Gorgeous. Haunting. Breathtaking. Cruel. Hopeless. Shattering. Hopeful.

Wait, it's both hopeless AND hopeful?! How does that even work?

I'll attempt to tell you. Be warned, there might be spoilers afoot if you aren't familiar with Poe's poem, Annabel Lee.

For those of you in the know, you're well aware that Poe's poem does not have a happy ending. Annabel Lee meets her end in tomb down by the sea. It's very chilling and heartbreaking and beautiful.

Lindsey's work follows many of the same lines, but with so much more. Yes, the book stays fairly true to the poem. Yes, it's devastating. Yes, it left me feeling completely bereft and unable to process anything more than a fluffy romance novel. (All this right on the heels of Siege and Storm...probably not the best idea!)

The thing is, there is SO MUCH HOPE in this novel. It's a beautiful tribute to true love and love conquering all and being together forever. It's about overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds and coming out the other side stronger and happier, even through the worst sort of hell imaginable. It's about being yourself, even when no one likes you and has old and unfair prejudices against you.

This book took pieces of me and destroyed them. I felt like I couldn't quite be the same afterwards, except that it then took those destroyed pieces and put them back together, stronger than before. With each new challenge that Liam and Anna faced, I gained a bit more hope in the outcome, even when I knew exactly what was going to happen.

See, the thing is, I DIDN'T know what was going to happen. I know Annabel Lee very well and I know how it all ends. I knew how this book was going to end. I was prepared. Except that I wasn't. I expected to be utterly devastated by the end and lose all faith and hope in true love and think that evil was always going to win. Because that's how Poe kind of makes you feel in the whole sepulcher by the sea bit.

Mary Lindsey takes that and makes it all happen down by the sea but then she ends the book with so much brightness and hope and wonder and faith. Holy cow. I was left feeling like the happiest girl alive.

How is that even possible with a Poe retelling?!

I have no idea, but Mary Lindsey did it. Brilliantly. Beautifully.

I can recommend this book without reservation to anyone who is a fan of paranormal romance, gothic horror, retellings, or pretty much books in general. NO RESERVATIONS, people! It's a beautiful book that NEEDS to be read.

I have a gorgeous signed ARC, which I am keeping because, SIGNED, but I'm also buying a hard copy. It's worth having in duplicate.

4.5 Eiffel Towers ( )

This novel, a modern day story based on Edgar Allen Poe's poem "Annabel Lee", did not work for me, largely due to the setting but I had other issues as well. The writing is good: Liam has a distinctly old-fashioned way of speaking influenced by both the speech patterns of his community and his classic and Romantic reading material. I enjoyed what we saw of the heroine and love interest: she has some WTF reactions I found totally understandable under the circumstances. Use of Celtic mythology is something I usually enjoy and the use of quotes taken from various works by Poe at the beginning of chapters was interesting. Ultimately however the novel as a whole fell flat.
I normally try to suspend my disbelief and accept the world as presented by the author, but this book tested my limits. Though the story is set in the present day our hero and narrator, Liam, lives on a time capsule of an island. The lack of electricity and other modern amenities such as gas and medicine make the modern day setting seem more 19th century. I'm at a loss as to whether this island off the coast of Maine is part of the U.S., Canada, or is a country unto itself. This last choice seems to be the most likely, as this would explain the lack of any government or infrastucture. People seem be lured to their deaths every night, but no one ever feels that maybe they should move somewhere with a lower mortality rate. No one ever investigates these deaths and the only law is enforced at the hands of an angry mob. The primary link to the outside world comes from the convenience store where Liam works: gossip magazines are in stock, the number one choice of reading material for all superstitious lobster fisherman I'm sure. Hey, no judgement.
The setting's absurdities aside, the relationship driving the narrative is as shallow a case of insta-love as I've ever read. Attraction on Liam's part makes sense: he and Anna were childhood friends and she was one of two people to ever treat him like a human being. Anna's attraction also makes sense: she wants to escape her socialite life and Liam is allegedly super hot. It's when after a couple of days this attraction is declared an eternal soul bond kind of love that my eyes roll straight out of my head and down the road. Also Liam's psychological damage as a result of being treated like a demon his whole life is magically cured by Anna telling him that's nonsense. It is, but that does not make his magnanimously forgiving the various characters for their treatment of him any more emotionally realistic. Liam's infatuation also makes for tedious reading: it's like going to dinner with a friend who's in a new relationship and talks about it constantly. I'm happy for you but it's been three hours, can we talk about something else? Like how to stop the constant drownings?
Speaking of the drownings, the villains of the story leave a lot to be desired. Poe's stories tend to be about human evil, his poems about the consuming nature of grief. Gothic novels tend to have an element of mysteriousness that make them effective. The supernatural creatures driving the plot of this novel sit around gossiping and making bets like it's happy hour at the bar. Some secrets from the past come out, but are ultimately unsatisfying and there is a literal deus ex machina.
Recommended for: People who can suspend disbelief regarding the setting, people who find Romeo and Juliet romantic, people who love the poem "Annabel Lee". ( )