Three ★★★, for creative characters and story premise. ( )

Dezaray has never quite recovered from her parent's deaths, in large part because her brother blames her for it, and in drunken rages beats her on a regular basis. So when her doppleganger from another, magical realm saves her, and then accidentally takes her place, Dezaray finally gets a chance to breathe. But as much as she likes being in the alternate world, her doppleganger needs to get back to save her world, and they can't both remain in the same world at the same time.

This is a heartbreaking tale of finding love and worth and forgiving oneself. I have to say, though I've had this book read for a bit, I kept forgetting to rate it because I keep having a hard time associating the title with the story (also happened after I bought the book, and when I finished reading it I pulled out of the ebook and went - oh yeah, that's what it's called).

The book ends on quite the cliff-hanger. I wish the author would have taken it just a step farther, but that might take the reader back into the midst of disappointment and depression, rather than leaving them on a high note. Oh well.

The story was still good. Lots of action, angst, and romance. An exciting read, and a story my mind keeps returning to. I'll have to put the rest of the books on my to-be-read list. :) ( )

OH, NO SHE DIDN'T!! After I calmed down I see that this was only book 1 and I get a chance to get to the end! I didn't like Dezaray letting her brother use her as a punching bag and that she didn't fight back. She was so brainwashed that she believed she killed her parents and that she had to work for free at her parents pub! This book had nonstop, hold on to your seats action as there was a fight between the realms and I MUST read the next! WELL DONE Ms. McPherson!! ( )

At The Waters Edge by S McPherson is a YA (young adult) romance fantasy fiction story. The principle characters are 17 to 18 years old. If you have completed the Harry Potter series and feel bereft of something with a strong vein of the magical running through it and a teen romance is your thing then there is probably no finer novel to pick up next.
So there is the target audience for this story. There must be millions of people in the world that fit this description and it is with this audience in mind that I review At The Waters Edge.
As a 45 year old man I doubt any would consider it a natural fit for me, but as a writer myself I do read some unexpected novels. Like “The Witness” by Nora Roberts (arguably the Queen of romance) for example. I read it as I wanted to see how an expert in this genre of fiction portrayed a romance to help inform my own writing which has a romance sub-plot to it. It occurs to me that if Nora Roberts were to add a fantasy romance to her 200 works it is unlikely she would do better than At The Waters Edge.
S. McPherson, in common with JK Rowling and Nora Roberts, demonstrates the techniques many authors and screenplay writers use to structure their stories in such a way as to create drama in the right places to support a story and character arc. For those who have no interest in writer’s craft it simply means the plot moves along at a good pace with a clear direction – the story is always going somewhere towards its resolution. That does not mean the story is predictable.
The portrayal of the 17 year old protagonist Dezaray, who crosses a portal into a magical world and finds romance with boy she can’t possibly have a future with, is rendered in great detail. It all happens against a backdrop of a war between magical empires with fearsome warlocks and vampires among their number. All this threat and danger sinks into the background while Dezaray and the reader is caught up in the developing romance. There were times when I thought Dezaray was at risk of being less than the proactive daring heroine the story needed to keep an audience rooting for her. A passenger in the story rather than the catalyst for change. In the end she does enough to be worthy of our continued interest at the same time as leaving plenty of room to develop her character arc in future stories.

One thing I thought was particularly innovative about the writing was the use of both the first person point of view and present tense together. It did take a few pages to get used to but worked very well and contrasted nicely with the parts of the narrative when we follow Lexovia (Dezaray’s double from the parallel world). In these chapters, the writing switches to third person present tense which immediately indicates the change of scene. The writing also maintains a consistent and easy to read style (voice) providing just the right level of description to immerse the reader in this magical story.

The only thing I might criticize this story for are the flavours of Harry Potter running through it. Personally, I would have loved to have discovered something I’ve never seen before. I suspect this aspect of the novel might actually work in its favour for the target audience.
These days I abandon half of the novel’s I start because there are so many stories in the world that I don’t want to waste my time on anything that isn’t actually working for me. At The Water’s Edge was not one of these. Quite the opposite. I picked it up almost every day for the little reading time I have and felt disappointed it had ended. And it did end well.

In future instalments, I hope to see Dezaray develop more as a proactive and daring heroine - she only just started to become this towards the end. I’d like to see her romance mature beyond the all-consuming first flush of love - which is realistic for the age and circumstances of the characters involved. There is a war on out there after all.
5 stars because I never expected a teen romance to grab me enough to make me want to follow the future stories. It helps that it is a fantasy, even so, that is an amazing thing!
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