Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Author: Sarah Henning

Publisher: HarperCollins

Date: July 31, 2018

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Purchase Links: [Chapters/Indigo] [Amazon]

Goodreads Synopsis:

Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead. Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch. A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after. But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

My Review:

I went into this book with high expectations. The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite Disney movies. When I heard there was going to be a retelling for The Little Mermaid AND about Ursula I was so excited. I love a good twisted retelling.

In Sea Witch I enjoyed the subtle aspects of the classic tale of The Little Mermaid and the twists of the story but that wasn't enough.

I had enjoyed the first 80 pages but then it went downhill from there... I was bored. I was bored with the characters, of the plot and story, we weren't moving. I felt as if the book was just stuck. The time period of the book covers only four present days. Each day felt as if multiple days have passed. I was reading I started getting sleepy and my mind started drifting but since I was eager to see the twists of the retelling I had pulled through. Going further the book was slow and didn't pick up its pace until, thankfully, the last 100 pages.

As a result, I wasn't a fan of the writing. There were unnecessary words and descriptions that dragged and weighted the sentences.

Another unfortunate thing was that I have no connection with any of the characters. The story mainly revolves around three unlikely best friends; Evie (the witch and fishermen's daughter), Anna (now deceased), and Nik (the prince). There wasn't anything that stood out or special about them. They didn't stick with me.

Sea Witch was constantly flipping between 2 stars and 4/4.5 stars so I decided to rate it in between with 3.5 stars.

#SeaWitch #SarahHenning #35stars