I really enjoyed this fantasy with dual timelines. A little fantasy with the mermaids, a little paranormal with some ghosts, plus a little romance.

Mermaids? Not my thing. Neither is paranormal romance. But this one is pretty good - creepy and mysterious and atmospheric.

I really enjoyed listening to this - the reader was truly fantastic, changing her voice for the characters in a most believable way. The story was gripping as well. While I sometimes get annoyed at the "I will die without my love" notion that many YA books have and while this one was a bit annoying on occassion, overall it was the base of the two stories and so was necessary. I loved the inclusion of historical facts and it was clear that this was a well researched book. I also like the fact that these mermaids are truer to the mermaids of Hans Christian Andersen, that those of Disney - they were scary and killers.

"Monstrous Beauty" is a beautiful tale of love, tragedy, sacrifice, and forgiveness. It's feels authentically birthed from the little mermaid story but fleshed out with so many original twists and characters to make it it's own. I felt very connected to every character; I felt genuine, confusing emotions about certain people and decisions, which is always so realistic and fun to endure. The story rings true with all the historic references that it's almost hard not to believe the fantastical elements as fact, too.

It feels like it belongs in that sweet spot between (older) young adult and adult fantasy. The main character is seventeen, dealing with typical teenage girl issues, (and not so typical issues), but there are a lot of mature themes and scenes in this book. Things that shouldn't necessarily be avoided for younger teens, just maybe be aware of before reading.

I loved this book. It's interesting, thrilling, heart-wrenching, full of complex twists and characters, all woven together to make a really cool historical fantasy novel. I highly recommend it to those who like mermaids and twists on The Little Mermaid. I would point out that I'd recommend this to high school and older, for mature themes and scenes as mentioned before.

God knows I really tried giving this book a chance.

Ugh. I wanted to love this but nope. Hester is super annoying and like, was I supposed to be into this "romance"? It was insta-love as all get out and actually pretty creepy if you think about it.

Spoiler

Being in love with your multiple-great-grandmother's lover/husband? Nope nope nope.

The only mystery was in how long it took Hester to get a clue. The cover is gorgeous though, so it has that going for it.

Read for a book club.

I felt like this could have been a SUPER good book, but for whatever reason every chapter jumped back and forth between the past and the present. That works for some stories, but not this one. It felt like the most important mysteries of the past got revealed a little too early with that format.

Dark and lovely.

Absolutely indelible. This is the mermaid book I've been waiting for all my life.

This was a really interesting take on a mermaid tale. It went far back into history and had a mystery to solve, which was a fun tale.