Recent Reads: Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning
Series: Sea Witch, Book 1
Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher: HarperAudio
Release date: 07-31-18

 

Format: Audible Audiobook
Source: Bought using credits from subscription. Part of a Buy 1 Get 1 deal.

Rating:

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. 

Review: 

If you have been to the blog and read my reviews long enough, you might already know that I really enjoy reading retellings and adaptions of classic stories. This book is a prequel of sorts to The Little Mermaid. In this story we get the tale of Evie and Anna, best friends  and also friends with the young prince. It is a tale about depression, anger, revenge, and loneliness and it is also the tale of how the sea witch in The Little Mermaid came to be. 

There were a lot of characters in this book, the main point of view being Evie, followed by Annamette. Evie is a dark haired girl living in Havnestad and is secretly a witch. Anna, a blond beauty, was her best friend before she accidentally drowned. Nik is the prince of this story, and as a prince he should not have commoner girls as friends but he was their friend. There is Iker another princely character and the love interest of Evie. Then there is Annamette, the mermaid. 

Aside from the cast of characters, the plot takes a while to get going and really come full circle. If you are looking for the original tale of The Little Mermaid, it is not here, and you probably won't find it fully in the next book either from what I can tell. In this plot, we are really focused on Evie and her power, determination, and love for her friends. It makes it very hard to see her as an evil sea witch that is portrayed in the movies (I am really just referring to Disney). Evie is compassionate and very naive but as a reader you really feel for her and I really liked this take on how she comes to be the sea witch.  The plot only picks up in the last few chapters but the slow build was appreciated for me on this one.

I loved Evie, I liked her story and felt her emotions as I listened to this audiobook, and I really liked it overall. There were times when I felt it was a bit too predictable, thus not a full 5 stars, but it was close.