The Syrena Legacy Series Book #1: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

First it was vampires, then it was werewolves, then it was zombies, and then it was witches. Now it’s mermaids – I’m sorry Syrena – turn in the paranormal book world. Of Poseidon was one of those books that I found randomly at the bookstore one day, read the summary and added it instantly to my reading list. None of the libraries around me had the book, the digital library didn’t have it, and I wasn’t really in the mood to shell out big bucks for a book that I wasn’t too sure about. However, the iBook store held a sale last year and I picked it up. I read it last December, but because I didn’t remember what happened – I’ve read a lot of books since then – I decided to reread it now that the whole series is out.

Emma McIntosh feels like her life is just one embarrassing moment after another and when the book begins she’s experiencing one of those moments when she literally runs into the most handsome guy on the planet. He kind of unnerves her because of his gorgeousness and because he has purple eyes just like hers. It doesn’t help either that her best friend Chloe keeps insinuating things that make her red all over. They go their separate ways and Emma and Chloe go into the water where Emma starts berating her friend for her comments.

Galen – the guy Emma runs into – watches her and starts to wonder if she is like him and his sister. He can’t wonder long as a shark attacks Chloe and Emma goes down with her. Barely five chapters in and you’ve got a mystery of what Galen is and the death of a character. As the book unfolds, Emma discovers that she isn’t one hundred percent human that Galen isn’t human either and that she might be falling for him too. Just like he’s falling for her even though he’s there to bring her back for his brother.

I liked this book, really I did. Emma’s temper and her exclamations of ‘ohmysweetgoodness’ were quite entertaining. Her relationship with her mother was definitely anger worthy – again what is it with YA books and parents being totally irritating? And the tension between Galen and Emma was just aggravating for 280 pages. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the Galen’s POV chapters. For some reason, the tensing in his chapters was very weird and threw me off.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Good story, good intrigue and good tension. Just wished that the tensing had been consistent.

Bookshelf worthy? Electronic or support your local library!