Review: Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

Title: Ripple

Author: Mandy Hubbard

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published July 21st 2011 by Razorbill/Penguin

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I am really surprised and really shocked by the fact that I totally TOTALLY loooved this book. I've tried another of Mandy's titles before, Prada and Prejudice, and I have to confess I gave up on it after the first 50 or 60 pages. So I didn't know about Ripple, I wasn't sure of what to expect either because I haven't read the description in a long time, and when I picked up the book I didn't know what I was getting into.

The first page, no wait, the first paragraph and I was hooked. It started off amazing! one of the strongest first couple of chapters I've read this year.

You can't help but be enganged in Lexi's story and it's sad beginning. Lexi's voice was suprisingly charming, I've liked her from the first word that came out of her mind (so to speak), she came across as vulnerable yet strong, because she was having a very tough internal battle that was keeping her from her friends and her past life but she managed to stay sane and likable.

The story starts off with a shoking confesion: Lexi killed someone, someone very close to her heart, and now she's in pain, she's confused and lost and worse of all she has no one right now, not even a shoulder to cry on. The person she killed was her boyfriend, Steven, her first love and also best friend to Cole, a guy she never really got to know but now is suddenly everywhere she looks, even in her secret lake.

Why does she need a secret lake you ask? well she happens to be a siren. The kind of mermaid that is dangerous because when she sings, death crosses the path of every men that listens. So the only thing Lexi can do to protect everyone she cares about is shutting herself from the world. But Cole seems changed since Steven's death, he has matured, he seems more caring, more interested in Lexi. He's set his mind in finding out what made Lexi change, and while they get to know eachother, they also slowly start to fall in love.

But then just when Lexi and Cole are starting to give themselves a chance, another boy appears, his name is Erik and he has some news for Lexi, he's a nix, the counterpart of a siren, and he says there's a way to break Lexi's and his curse, they just need to fall in love.

Yeah you read it right, they need to fall in love! and in less than a month that is, because when he turns eigthteen, the game is over. And the curses will never break.

So Erik manages to convince Lexi to start a relationship, she breaks up with Cole because she knew she needed to break the curse if she ever wanted to live a normal life, and Erik seemed so nice, he just wanted to have a normal life too. And they tried it out, it seems to be working for a while, they have a good time but her heart belongs to Cole. She is still in love with Cole.

Another great thing about this book was that it had closure! you really can't imagine how much I appreciate when a book has an ending, a real one. 'Cause lately all the books I read have open endings. But not good open endings, just open endings that leave the story inconclusive, as if to they intentionally leave it that way so they can turn it into a series in the future.

But at the end shoking truths are revealed and nothing was what she thought it was, and some things were simpler than she never thought they could be. And I was blown away!
I'm might be biased because I reaally love mermaids haha no, I swear is not only that but because the story is sweet and charming and not perfect but still amazing enough to be one of my favorites.

Cover love. UFFFFF. I love this cover so much! its authenticity is breath taking, the dress she wears, the outfit he has on, the meaning behing the tree they're leaning into. And the lake behind them. It's just amazing in its rightness.

All through the book I was glued to the pages, even when Lexi was with Erik and my heart was aching because I missed Cole, I could not stop liking Lexi and her captivating story. It was incredible! I never thought I'd like it this much!

The story:

But to me, it's a FAVORITE!