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Midnight Pearls
"ONCE UPON A TIME"
IS TIMELESS
In a quiet fishing village seventeen years ago, one lone fisherman rescued a child from the sea. He and his wife raised the girl, Pearl, as their own daughter, never allowing themselves to wonder long about where she came from or notice her silver hair, usually pale skin, and wide, dark blue eyes.
Pearl grows from a mysterious child into an unusual young woman, not always welcomed in the village. As all the other girls her age find husbands, she has only one friend to ease her loneliness. One very special, secret companion: Prince James.
But their friendship is shaken when trouble erupts in the kingdom a conspiracy against the royal family combines with an evil enchantment from beneath the sea. Now, just when Pearl and James need each other most, bewitching magic and hints about Pearl's past threaten to tear them apart...forever.
208 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
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8629 people want to read
About the author
Debbie Viguié
92 books1,043 followersDebbie Viguié is the New York Times Bestselling author of more than three dozen novels including the Wicked series co-authored with Nancy Holder. In addition to her epic dark fantasy work Debbie also writes thrillers including The Psalm 23 Mysteries, the Kiss trilogy, and the Witch Hunt trilogy. Debbie also plays a recurring character on the audio drama, Doctor Geek’s Laboratory. When Debbie isn’t busy writing or acting she enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott, visiting theme parks.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 536 reviews
October 2, 2007
Being a fan of the original Anderson fairy tale, The Little Seamaid, and the Disney cartoon, The Little Mermaid, (and also enjoying the occasional young adult novel) I decided to take a chance on Midnight Pearls. Though it's not my favorite retelling, it was a good read. The author put an interesting twist on the story, adding in a little more adventure than other versions of the fairy tale. The beginning of the story especially is fascinating and very well told. The main body of the story and the ending don't have quite the depth of the original, but they are still interesting, and I think they will have more appeal to the young adult audience than the original might have had. My only disappointment was in what I thought to be clumsy execution of the story.
SPOILER WARNING
In the book, we're introduced to the two main characters. We learn that they've been friends since childhood and that they meet on a regular basis. It is also hinted that they have started to have feelings for each other. Both discover that their parents expect them to marry soon, and each begins to regard the other as a possible choice for that marriage. The male main character even tries to propose -- though he is interrupted. It's not until that point, around page 60 (almost halfway through the book), that two new characters enter the scene. These two, we realize, are the REAL love interests for the two main characters. This is the clumsy story telling. At this point, I'm already attached to the two main characters as a couple. Everything has hinted that they love each other, that they're meant for each other. So, as a reader, when new love interests suddenly pop up halfway through the story, I view them as intruders and immediately dislike them. I don't sympathize with them or cheer for their success. Their story seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided me, and the love at first sight that develops with the two new characters is unconvincing in contrast to the two main characters, who seem to have the sort of love that sometimes blossoms from friendship, which is also seen in a lot of fairy tales. Even though I know how the story would turn out, I still held out hope that somehow these new characters would go away and the two main characters would end up together. I thought the author could have handled that aspect of the story more gracefully -- perhaps by introducing the two love interests and their part in the plot earlier on in the book so it seemed more natural when they do meet the main characters.
However, aside from that, I did enjoy the story, and I think it will have a strong appeal to young adult readers.
SPOILER WARNING
In the book, we're introduced to the two main characters. We learn that they've been friends since childhood and that they meet on a regular basis. It is also hinted that they have started to have feelings for each other. Both discover that their parents expect them to marry soon, and each begins to regard the other as a possible choice for that marriage. The male main character even tries to propose -- though he is interrupted. It's not until that point, around page 60 (almost halfway through the book), that two new characters enter the scene. These two, we realize, are the REAL love interests for the two main characters. This is the clumsy story telling. At this point, I'm already attached to the two main characters as a couple. Everything has hinted that they love each other, that they're meant for each other. So, as a reader, when new love interests suddenly pop up halfway through the story, I view them as intruders and immediately dislike them. I don't sympathize with them or cheer for their success. Their story seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided me, and the love at first sight that develops with the two new characters is unconvincing in contrast to the two main characters, who seem to have the sort of love that sometimes blossoms from friendship, which is also seen in a lot of fairy tales. Even though I know how the story would turn out, I still held out hope that somehow these new characters would go away and the two main characters would end up together. I thought the author could have handled that aspect of the story more gracefully -- perhaps by introducing the two love interests and their part in the plot earlier on in the book so it seemed more natural when they do meet the main characters.
However, aside from that, I did enjoy the story, and I think it will have a strong appeal to young adult readers.
May 3, 2013
She came from the sea.....
A retelling of "The Little Mermaid." Started out promising and then dissolved into Insta-love between characters that didn't and still don't know each other at all, bland storytelling, and a completely anti-climatic end to the struggle between Pearl and the Sea Witch that took all of, if I was lucky, 3 pages. Arrrrrgggh.
James: So there's this girl. And I really like her. I think I'll propose.
Pearl: So there's this guy. He's the prince. We're besties. I'd marry that.
James: *falls into the ocean*
James: *already forgot Pearl* Woah. That is one hot random mermaid. So pretty..... Marry me, babe?
Faye: Holla!! You can bet all your money, hot rich prince, that I will!
Audience: .... What about Pearl?
Pearl: *sniffles*
*two seconds later*
Kale: *Italian accent* Hello, beautiful. I am your betrothed. Our engagement is long-standing. Since your birth, in fact. But I knew, even then, that you were my true love.
Pearl: Sounds legit.
*kissy faces all around*
Pearl: Kale, baby? I got to go defeat the Sea Witch so that Faye can live, kay? It'll take me like, Idk, 3 seconds.
Faye: *choking*
Sea Witch: You'll never defe...*defeated*
Pearl: *stops for a smoothie*
Pearl: Hey, babe. What did I tell you? You didn't even notice I was gone, I was that quick.
THE END.
So that was that.
But seriously;
When Kale shows up out of nowhere and immediately proclaims his love for Pearl,
who was betrothed to him at birth and disappeared from the mer-world at age four (4), I just wanted to scream.
And when they kiss after approximately 1.5 pages of meeting each other,
I wanted to rip the book in two.
When Faye saves, falls into Insta-love, kisses James and he completely forgets about Pearl, his life long friend, that he was going to propose to, darn it all to heck, and he falls into Insta-love,
I just about exploded.
When the showdown took all of ten seconds and little to no effort on Pearl's part, I was just happy it was over.
Unsatisfactory. Not recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2017
”She looked back upon her life and saw how every step had led her here. Where had it all gone wrong? What could she have changed?
She closed her eyes again and prayed for death.”
If only that book had been as awesome as that first line.
OK, OK, I’ll admit it; this wasn’t as bad as Before Midnight, but that still ain’t saying much. Because instead of being bad, it was just sheer corniness.
Pearl has always been different from others in her village. Found at sea by a kindly fisherman and adopted by him and his wife, her pale hair and even paler skin have made her somewhat of a social outcast. Her only friend in the world is James, who has his own secrets; he’s a prince, and his father is the king. And unlike what his father expects of him, he does not want to be king.
Borrowing more from the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale than the well-known Disney movie of the same name, this cheese fest of a book seems more designed for tweenage girls drooling over the pre-teenage version of Justin Beiber than older readers who may have read more well-crafted fairy-tale retellings. This is probably why, admittedly, I liked this series when I first encountered around 11 or 12 years old.
For starters, the instalove in this book is ridiculous. If you hate instalove, run not walk the other direction. Exit stage left. Retreat immediately.This seems to happen every time I encounter a book with this trope, but for some reason it just seems to get worse and worse each time. To avoid an arranged marriage between himself and another princess, James wants to marry Pearl. That I can kind of understand. But then she falls into the water and is rescued by a mermaid and… well you can probably guess the rest of the plot, considering what the book is based on. Pearl’s a magical mermaid princess who was lost in an ocean storm. Two other mermaids, Kale (like the salad, for cripes sake!) and Faye, find her, only to realize her true identity. And what do you think happens soon after they meet?
1) You kissed him because you’re in a YA fairytale retelling/romance and you’re contractually obligated to kiss the first hot male specimen you find. Doesn’t matter you’ve known him less than an hour, it’s part of the predetermined plot.
2)Of COURSE you let him. It’s true fictional love! You’re contractually obligated to do that also
3) It is physically impossible for time to stand still? So he’s either a lost mermaid from Hogwart’s moat, or you’ve been taking hallucinogenic drugs.
4) IF YOU KEEP HOLDING YOU’RE BREATH WHILE THINKING ABOUT IT, YOU WON’T BE HERE LONG ENOUGH TO PONDER ABOUT IT, YOU WANKER.
Second of all, the romance and dialogue were so cheesy I expected a full plate of mac and cheese to show up right in front of me. If this was a Hollywood script being made into a movie, I can’t tell you how an actor would make it through these lines without being in stitches. If anything, read this book for that.
Third, WE GET NO SEA WITCH. She shows up at the end of the novel for literally five pages, with no dialogue. And she doesn’t even get impaled by a trident.
*Pouts: I was looking forward to that, dammit. Don’t tell me that scene didn’t scare the crap out of you as a kid.**
If you’re looking for some shits and giggles to read about, read this book. Or better yet, read the entire Once Upon a Time series. I can’t tell you what I liked about it when I was a preteen, but whatever they were using to market us these books at the time worked like a miracle, because I ate it up. Now, there’s a certain stink of embarrassment that won’t go away as I revisit these books. Unrecommended, especially for those wanting an epic sea witch battle.
She closed her eyes again and prayed for death.”
If only that book had been as awesome as that first line.
OK, OK, I’ll admit it; this wasn’t as bad as Before Midnight, but that still ain’t saying much. Because instead of being bad, it was just sheer corniness.
Pearl has always been different from others in her village. Found at sea by a kindly fisherman and adopted by him and his wife, her pale hair and even paler skin have made her somewhat of a social outcast. Her only friend in the world is James, who has his own secrets; he’s a prince, and his father is the king. And unlike what his father expects of him, he does not want to be king.
”James was her best friend, her only friend. She had known him since they were both children, and he was the only one who had never treated her differently because of the way she looked. Perhaps it was because he, too, knew what it was like to be treated differently, to have people whisper and stare, and he disliked it as much as she did.”They spend their days together by the shore where they always talk but never get in, since Pearl hates the water. And yet it’s when she accidentally falls into the sea that her life begins to change.
Borrowing more from the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale than the well-known Disney movie of the same name, this cheese fest of a book seems more designed for tweenage girls drooling over the pre-teenage version of Justin Beiber than older readers who may have read more well-crafted fairy-tale retellings. This is probably why, admittedly, I liked this series when I first encountered around 11 or 12 years old.
For starters, the instalove in this book is ridiculous. If you hate instalove, run not walk the other direction. Exit stage left. Retreat immediately.This seems to happen every time I encounter a book with this trope, but for some reason it just seems to get worse and worse each time. To avoid an arranged marriage between himself and another princess, James wants to marry Pearl. That I can kind of understand. But then she falls into the water and is rescued by a mermaid and… well you can probably guess the rest of the plot, considering what the book is based on. Pearl’s a magical mermaid princess who was lost in an ocean storm. Two other mermaids, Kale (like the salad, for cripes sake!) and Faye, find her, only to realize her true identity. And what do you think happens soon after they meet?
”She had known Kale less than an hour and he had kissed her. She couldn’t believe he had the audacity. Worse still, she couldn’t believe she had let him. Why, then, had time seemed to stand to stand still when he’d kissed her? And why had she find herself holding her breath when she thought about it?”Let me answer those questions for you, toots.
1) You kissed him because you’re in a YA fairytale retelling/romance and you’re contractually obligated to kiss the first hot male specimen you find. Doesn’t matter you’ve known him less than an hour, it’s part of the predetermined plot.
2)Of COURSE you let him. It’s true fictional love! You’re contractually obligated to do that also
3) It is physically impossible for time to stand still? So he’s either a lost mermaid from Hogwart’s moat, or you’ve been taking hallucinogenic drugs.
4) IF YOU KEEP HOLDING YOU’RE BREATH WHILE THINKING ABOUT IT, YOU WON’T BE HERE LONG ENOUGH TO PONDER ABOUT IT, YOU WANKER.
Second of all, the romance and dialogue were so cheesy I expected a full plate of mac and cheese to show up right in front of me. If this was a Hollywood script being made into a movie, I can’t tell you how an actor would make it through these lines without being in stitches. If anything, read this book for that.
Third, WE GET NO SEA WITCH. She shows up at the end of the novel for literally five pages, with no dialogue. And she doesn’t even get impaled by a trident.
*Pouts: I was looking forward to that, dammit. Don’t tell me that scene didn’t scare the crap out of you as a kid.**
If you’re looking for some shits and giggles to read about, read this book. Or better yet, read the entire Once Upon a Time series. I can’t tell you what I liked about it when I was a preteen, but whatever they were using to market us these books at the time worked like a miracle, because I ate it up. Now, there’s a certain stink of embarrassment that won’t go away as I revisit these books. Unrecommended, especially for those wanting an epic sea witch battle.
July 8, 2017
So, the prologue was fantastic.
And then the story actually began...
I can sum up the plot of the entire book with one gif.
That was pretty much it. The two main characters (that the summary on the back makes you want to ship) meet two other characters and fall in love with them for no apparent reason.
I would like to start by saying that Disney's Little Mermaid is my favorite disney movie of all time. That being said...
***too many spoilers ahead to put it in brackets. read at your own risk***
I'll start with characters. Pearl is the main character... I think (who really knows by the end?). I don't think it's spoiling much to say that she's a mermaid who doesn't know she's a mermaid because she grew up human after something happened to her when she was 4 yrs old. She is very honest and trusting, though gets bad feelings and bad dreams a lot. James is her best friend and the prince of the land. Kale and Faye are two merfolk who have been looking for mermaid Pearl since she disappeared years before. Kale is loyal and Faye is free-spirited (and a careless *****, but that may be personal bias talking....). That is all the characterization you get throughout the entire book.
I want to cry.
As for plot...
This book clearly is not a modern fairytale. It is set in the undefined "past." I think the term that modern folk would give this book, based on the handling of love and marriage, would be "medieval." So as someone with a B.A. degree in History, I was quite insulted - because there is no time in history EVER when people took marriage as such a frivolous thing, and flung the word "love" around with as little respect for its meaning as in this book. Not even DISNEY (as some people claim) is this bad about that.
To be fair to James, his line "I will marry the girl who saved me," comes almost directly from Disney's Prince Eric's mouth. But let us compare James and Eric, shall we? They are both princes who are under serious pressure to get married. They both have looked for a wife upon their parents' insistence and didn't like what they saw. However, James's best friend is a beautiful girl (Pearl), albeit peasant, while Eric's best friend is a dog. Do we see the differences in their situations here? I would be very insulted if I were Pearl at James's assumption that he has no options. Eric, on the other hand, actually has no other options. So when each prince is miraculously saved by a beautiful girl, I don't think it is that much of a stretch for Eric to say "I will marry the girl who saved me," while James is saying those very words to his super hot female best friend whom he was about to propose to minutes before.
All I wanted to do was slap James across the face.
And that is only the beginning of the shallowness. Then we have Faye, the mermaid who is the one who MADE THEIR BOAT SINK in the first place, who is suddenly love struck after seeing this guy for literally five seconds.
To be fair to Faye, Ariel fell for Eric while watching him on his ship after only a few moments. To be fair to Ariel, she picked Eric out of a crowd of men, watched him interact with people, and then fell for him. He wasn't just sitting in an intimate boat talking to ANOTHER WOMAN. Also Ariel did not cause Eric to nearly drown, while Faye did in fact puncture the hole in James's boat. Ariel also did not kiss Eric before actually speaking to him! I'm looking at you, Faye. She is a silly little love struck puppy for no apparent reason, and then kisses a guy she almost caused to drown while the waves lap at their feet/tail. UGH.
-_-
The characters are just silly! Pearl is the only one who I wouldn't call silly, but the plot... lacked so much substance that her choices just seem ridiculous. The author wants us to want her to be with Kale... but there is nothing to their relationship! The same goes with Faye and James. Faye saves him... and that's the basis of the whole thing. At least Eric and Ariel spent time together! Good quality time in which she legitimately made him laugh for the first time in a long time, hurtled his carriage over a cliff safely, and had a wonderfully romantic boat ride in the lagoon together!
This book shows NO interaction between Pearl/Kale and James/Faye except when they are info dumping about the "mystery" of the novel and shouting their love for each other.
I can't get over this.
The story had so much potential it kills me! The prologue was amazing, and the plot idea was really good too - unique and fresh for a retelling of this classic. But there was nothing to the story. They met, they fell in love at first sight, there may have been a few evil plots all over the place that were resolved in a page
and then they lived happily ever after with the person they didn't know at all.
The End
And then the story actually began...
I can sum up the plot of the entire book with one gif.
That was pretty much it. The two main characters (that the summary on the back makes you want to ship) meet two other characters and fall in love with them for no apparent reason.
I would like to start by saying that Disney's Little Mermaid is my favorite disney movie of all time. That being said...
***too many spoilers ahead to put it in brackets. read at your own risk***
I'll start with characters. Pearl is the main character... I think (who really knows by the end?). I don't think it's spoiling much to say that she's a mermaid who doesn't know she's a mermaid because she grew up human after something happened to her when she was 4 yrs old. She is very honest and trusting, though gets bad feelings and bad dreams a lot. James is her best friend and the prince of the land. Kale and Faye are two merfolk who have been looking for mermaid Pearl since she disappeared years before. Kale is loyal and Faye is free-spirited (and a careless *****, but that may be personal bias talking....). That is all the characterization you get throughout the entire book.
I want to cry.
As for plot...
This book clearly is not a modern fairytale. It is set in the undefined "past." I think the term that modern folk would give this book, based on the handling of love and marriage, would be "medieval." So as someone with a B.A. degree in History, I was quite insulted - because there is no time in history EVER when people took marriage as such a frivolous thing, and flung the word "love" around with as little respect for its meaning as in this book. Not even DISNEY (as some people claim) is this bad about that.
To be fair to James, his line "I will marry the girl who saved me," comes almost directly from Disney's Prince Eric's mouth. But let us compare James and Eric, shall we? They are both princes who are under serious pressure to get married. They both have looked for a wife upon their parents' insistence and didn't like what they saw. However, James's best friend is a beautiful girl (Pearl), albeit peasant, while Eric's best friend is a dog. Do we see the differences in their situations here? I would be very insulted if I were Pearl at James's assumption that he has no options. Eric, on the other hand, actually has no other options. So when each prince is miraculously saved by a beautiful girl, I don't think it is that much of a stretch for Eric to say "I will marry the girl who saved me," while James is saying those very words to his super hot female best friend whom he was about to propose to minutes before.
All I wanted to do was slap James across the face.
And that is only the beginning of the shallowness. Then we have Faye, the mermaid who is the one who MADE THEIR BOAT SINK in the first place, who is suddenly love struck after seeing this guy for literally five seconds.
To be fair to Faye, Ariel fell for Eric while watching him on his ship after only a few moments. To be fair to Ariel, she picked Eric out of a crowd of men, watched him interact with people, and then fell for him. He wasn't just sitting in an intimate boat talking to ANOTHER WOMAN. Also Ariel did not cause Eric to nearly drown, while Faye did in fact puncture the hole in James's boat. Ariel also did not kiss Eric before actually speaking to him! I'm looking at you, Faye. She is a silly little love struck puppy for no apparent reason, and then kisses a guy she almost caused to drown while the waves lap at their feet/tail. UGH.
-_-
The characters are just silly! Pearl is the only one who I wouldn't call silly, but the plot... lacked so much substance that her choices just seem ridiculous. The author wants us to want her to be with Kale... but there is nothing to their relationship! The same goes with Faye and James. Faye saves him... and that's the basis of the whole thing. At least Eric and Ariel spent time together! Good quality time in which she legitimately made him laugh for the first time in a long time, hurtled his carriage over a cliff safely, and had a wonderfully romantic boat ride in the lagoon together!
This book shows NO interaction between Pearl/Kale and James/Faye except when they are info dumping about the "mystery" of the novel and shouting their love for each other.
I can't get over this.
The story had so much potential it kills me! The prologue was amazing, and the plot idea was really good too - unique and fresh for a retelling of this classic. But there was nothing to the story. They met, they fell in love at first sight, there may have been a few evil plots all over the place that were resolved in a page
and then they lived happily ever after with the person they didn't know at all.
The End
March 11, 2009
I am a big fan of the retold fairy tale, so I was happy to find this series of familiar tales and fables rewritten for teens. I just finished this one yesterday, and I enjoyed it. Finneas is out fishing one night when a terrible storm blows up. Just when he is ready to give up and surrender to the sea, he spots a child floating in the ocean. He rescues the girl and together with his wife, they raise the girl as their own. They name her Pearl. It's a promising beginning, and I did enjoy the book. It's not really anything unique, pretty much a classic tale. All the regulars from the original story are there - the handsome prince, the Sea Witch - but there are a few twists. I read it in a day, a quick fun story.
If you like this genre, I can recommend some titles from the 'Once Upon a Time' series. Overall, the writing is uneven. Some of the stories are really well done. My favorites are The Storyteller's Daughter (1001 Nights), Sunshine and Shadow (The Magic Flute), and Golden (Rapunzel). Before Midnight, based on Cinderella, is my very favorite. But there are a few I just couldn't read, one based on Little Red Riding Hood that has her falling in love with the wolf, and some one I can't remember set in France during World War I. I got this one at the library.
If you like this genre, I can recommend some titles from the 'Once Upon a Time' series. Overall, the writing is uneven. Some of the stories are really well done. My favorites are The Storyteller's Daughter (1001 Nights), Sunshine and Shadow (The Magic Flute), and Golden (Rapunzel). Before Midnight, based on Cinderella, is my very favorite. But there are a few I just couldn't read, one based on Little Red Riding Hood that has her falling in love with the wolf, and some one I can't remember set in France during World War I. I got this one at the library.
Want to read
May 31, 2023found a fairytale retelling that i might (might) get around to reading
September 14, 2009
During a storm, a fisherman pulls up a little girl in his net instead of fish. She's odd, with too-long legs, nearly translucent skin, and white hair. And as she grows, her oddities don't fade... but the prince doesn't seem to mind.
I had high hopes for this one, thinking that perhaps the author would return to the original roots of the Little Mermaid fairy tale. But she didn't, and what she did give readers was clunky and awkward. Instead of showing, she'd tell - a couple paragraph infodump informing readers that only mermaids get premonitions, not mermen, or other equally as uninteresting and useless information.
There's a lot going on in 200 pages, but none of it is explored fully. There's the evil uncle, the forced marriage, the "I'll never fit in", the "You're really a princess, you just have to remember who you are!", and of course, the sudden remembering (and subsequent piece of magic) so that she can turn everything all right just in the nick of time. It's not that I mind things being neatly wrapped up, but this was just too neat, too perfect.
Unless you're doing a research project on the different variations of the Little Mermaid story, don't bother with this one.
I had high hopes for this one, thinking that perhaps the author would return to the original roots of the Little Mermaid fairy tale. But she didn't, and what she did give readers was clunky and awkward. Instead of showing, she'd tell - a couple paragraph infodump informing readers that only mermaids get premonitions, not mermen, or other equally as uninteresting and useless information.
There's a lot going on in 200 pages, but none of it is explored fully. There's the evil uncle, the forced marriage, the "I'll never fit in", the "You're really a princess, you just have to remember who you are!", and of course, the sudden remembering (and subsequent piece of magic) so that she can turn everything all right just in the nick of time. It's not that I mind things being neatly wrapped up, but this was just too neat, too perfect.
Unless you're doing a research project on the different variations of the Little Mermaid story, don't bother with this one.
June 26, 2009
Viguié's retelling of the Little Mermaid adds a couple new characters and a few more years in the heroine's life, but still turns out pretty thin -- literally, under 200 pages with not-very-small print. It felt like Viguié was really struggling to get a full-length novel out of it. Might be okay for tweens, but wouldn't recommend it for adult readers.
Also, I was a bit disappointed that she stuck with "I saw you once from afar and now love you so much I will do extraordinarily stupid things for a chance to be with you" motif of True Love. Even Andersen didn't seem to think that could work out.
Also, I was a bit disappointed that she stuck with "I saw you once from afar and now love you so much I will do extraordinarily stupid things for a chance to be with you" motif of True Love. Even Andersen didn't seem to think that could work out.
October 3, 2019
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
This could have been more. With a more involved opening than what the length of book would have allowed, thus leading into a rushed, haphazard ending, it would have been better if given some extra length. And time for me to really get invested in the characters, which I didn't really care about because I hadn't been given anything to really care about in the first place.
I wanted to like the characters, I really did. I was very miffed when Pearl/Adriana & James didn't end up a thing because I absolutely adore best-friends-to-more kind of love stories. But, alas, 'twas not to be. (Thanks, Kale. You're such a vegetable that it's not even funny . . . )
This would have been a fascinating story without the addition of the mer-siblings, Kale and Faye. (What kind of mer names are those anyway ??? At least Adriana is mer-ish sounding, at least to my ears.) As soon as they were introduced, the whole plot seemed to suddenly shift and change in a terrible, boring way. And OF COURSE Kale and Adriana would have this instalove thing because "we knew each other when we were kids and we've been betrothed since then", while James seems all besties with Adriana until her almost-twin, Faye, shows up.
What the heck, guys???
I need to find a better retelling of The Little Mermaid than this.
This could have been more. With a more involved opening than what the length of book would have allowed, thus leading into a rushed, haphazard ending, it would have been better if given some extra length. And time for me to really get invested in the characters, which I didn't really care about because I hadn't been given anything to really care about in the first place.
I wanted to like the characters, I really did. I was very miffed when Pearl/Adriana & James didn't end up a thing because I absolutely adore best-friends-to-more kind of love stories. But, alas, 'twas not to be. (Thanks, Kale. You're such a vegetable that it's not even funny . . . )
This would have been a fascinating story without the addition of the mer-siblings, Kale and Faye. (What kind of mer names are those anyway ??? At least Adriana is mer-ish sounding, at least to my ears.) As soon as they were introduced, the whole plot seemed to suddenly shift and change in a terrible, boring way. And OF COURSE Kale and Adriana would have this instalove thing because "we knew each other when we were kids and we've been betrothed since then", while James seems all besties with Adriana until her almost-twin, Faye, shows up.
What the heck, guys???
I need to find a better retelling of The Little Mermaid than this.
February 22, 2009
I was disappointed with this retelling. I think, first off, that it was too short. Some stuff happened so fast I kind of sat there staring at the pages thinking "Wow, that was a lot of new info way too fast."
And secondly, this book seemed to have nothing to do with real love. Pearl and the prince seemed just right for each other, and all of a sudden he sees a pretty mermaid and falls head over heels in love with her, even though he didn't even hear her speak once. He takes one look at her and dumps Pearl, just like that. And then Pearl turns around and does the same thing. He was like "I love you Pearl, if I have to get married I'll marry you, HEY! Mermaid girl who I know nothing about saved my life forget you bye!" They both seemed to have some sort of relationship ADD.
And secondly, this book seemed to have nothing to do with real love. Pearl and the prince seemed just right for each other, and all of a sudden he sees a pretty mermaid and falls head over heels in love with her, even though he didn't even hear her speak once. He takes one look at her and dumps Pearl, just like that. And then Pearl turns around and does the same thing. He was like "I love you Pearl, if I have to get married I'll marry you, HEY! Mermaid girl who I know nothing about saved my life forget you bye!" They both seemed to have some sort of relationship ADD.
November 28, 2016
3.5 stars. This was a great retelling of one of my all-time favorite tales! I've already added the rest of the series to my to-read list. :)
December 31, 2016
his fucking name is KALE
May 4, 2025
Ok I read this in like an hour it was amazing! However I was not a big fan of the finale couples.
Plot 9/10
It was good definitely new twist on the little mermaid story. There is a planned murder that is a key part of the story.
Romance 6/10
A decent amount of kissing. In the beginning there is one couple and at the end there are two.
Racism(a lot)
The main character is clearly different than the rest of the people and she is looked down upon for it.
Age 13+
The romance is a little much.
Pacing 5/10
It goes pretty fast and somehow two characters are actually “in love” even though they met like two days before.
Language 10/10
There is no bad language
Overall I enjoyed it but it didn’t end the way I wanted it to.
Plot 9/10
It was good definitely new twist on the little mermaid story. There is a planned murder that is a key part of the story.
Romance 6/10
A decent amount of kissing. In the beginning there is one couple and at the end there are two.
Racism(a lot)
The main character is clearly different than the rest of the people and she is looked down upon for it.
Age 13+
The romance is a little much.
Pacing 5/10
It goes pretty fast and somehow two characters are actually “in love” even though they met like two days before.
Language 10/10
There is no bad language
Overall I enjoyed it but it didn’t end the way I wanted it to.
May 28, 2010
Peal was discovered by a fisherman in the ocean on the day of a huge storm. She was about four years old, naked as a bluejay and clutching a large, dark pearl. The fisherman and his wife raised her like their own for they had been praying for a child.
Many years later Pearl is all grown up. She still has long, ungainly legs pale translucent skin, silvery hair and won't eat fish. She stares and stares at the sea but never goes in because she has nightmares about a pair of dark eyes watching her in the water and the memory of words that the ocean would kill her. Pearl's best friend is James and he just happens to be a prince. We learn that they've been friends since childhood and that they meet on a regular basis. It is also hinted that they have started to have feelings for each other. Both discover that their parents expect them to marry soon, and each begins to regard the other as a possible choice for that marriage.
Prince James even tries to propose -- though he is interrupted. It's not until that point, almost halfway through the book that two new characters enter the scene. These two, we realize, are the real love interests for the two main characters. This is the clumsy story telling. At this point, I'm already attached to the two main characters as a couple. Everything has hinted that they love each other, that they're meant for each other. So, as a reader, when new love interests suddenly pop up halfway through the story, I view them as intruders and immediately dislike them. I don't sympathize with them or cheer for their success. Their story seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided me, and the love at first sight that develops with the two new characters is unconvincing in contrast to the two main characters, who seem to have the sort of love that sometimes blossoms from friendship that is also seen in a lot of fairy tales.
Even though I know how the story would turn out, I still held out hope that somehow these new characters would go away and that Pearl and James would end up together. I thought the author could have handled that aspect of the story more gracefully -- perhaps by introducing the two love interests and their part in the plot earlier on in the book so it seemed more natural when they do meet the main characters.
A minor, but rather baffling detail is the mention that the Sea Witch is a "dryad", described as a mermaid with a long serpent's tail. Dryads are Grecian tree spirits (wood nymphs to be exact); why would they be at the bottom of the ocean?
The "Once Upon a Time" books are guilty pleasures; beautifully designed and quick and easy to read. But "Midnight Pearls" stretches credibility too far, and therefore saps away the enjoyment I might have had as a result.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of "The Little Mermaid"
Author Debbie Viguié
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Many years later Pearl is all grown up. She still has long, ungainly legs pale translucent skin, silvery hair and won't eat fish. She stares and stares at the sea but never goes in because she has nightmares about a pair of dark eyes watching her in the water and the memory of words that the ocean would kill her. Pearl's best friend is James and he just happens to be a prince. We learn that they've been friends since childhood and that they meet on a regular basis. It is also hinted that they have started to have feelings for each other. Both discover that their parents expect them to marry soon, and each begins to regard the other as a possible choice for that marriage.
Prince James even tries to propose -- though he is interrupted. It's not until that point, almost halfway through the book that two new characters enter the scene. These two, we realize, are the real love interests for the two main characters. This is the clumsy story telling. At this point, I'm already attached to the two main characters as a couple. Everything has hinted that they love each other, that they're meant for each other. So, as a reader, when new love interests suddenly pop up halfway through the story, I view them as intruders and immediately dislike them. I don't sympathize with them or cheer for their success. Their story seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided me, and the love at first sight that develops with the two new characters is unconvincing in contrast to the two main characters, who seem to have the sort of love that sometimes blossoms from friendship that is also seen in a lot of fairy tales.
Even though I know how the story would turn out, I still held out hope that somehow these new characters would go away and that Pearl and James would end up together. I thought the author could have handled that aspect of the story more gracefully -- perhaps by introducing the two love interests and their part in the plot earlier on in the book so it seemed more natural when they do meet the main characters.
A minor, but rather baffling detail is the mention that the Sea Witch is a "dryad", described as a mermaid with a long serpent's tail. Dryads are Grecian tree spirits (wood nymphs to be exact); why would they be at the bottom of the ocean?
The "Once Upon a Time" books are guilty pleasures; beautifully designed and quick and easy to read. But "Midnight Pearls" stretches credibility too far, and therefore saps away the enjoyment I might have had as a result.
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of "The Little Mermaid"
Author Debbie Viguié
Reviewed By Purplycookie
January 1, 2016
SUMMARY: In a quiet fishing village seventeen years ago, one lone fisherman rescued a child from the sea. He and his wife raised the girl, Pearl, as their own daughter, never allowing themselves to wonder long about where she came from — or notice her silver hair, usually pale skin, and wide, dark blue eyes.
Pearl grows from a mysterious child into an unusual young woman, not always welcomed in the village. As all the other girls her age find husbands, she has only one friend to ease her loneliness. One very special, secret companion: Prince James.
But their friendship is shaken when trouble erupts in the kingdom — a conspiracy against the royal family combines with an evil enchantment from beneath the sea. Now, just when Pearl and James need each other most, bewitching magic and hints about Pearl's past threaten to tear them apart...forever.
REVIEW: Another in the Once Upon a Time fairy tale series for young adults, I have enjoyed the retellings by Debbie Viguie very much. She seems to take the stories and give them some original twists without straying too far away from the original version. This one incorporates a little more adventure than the original which I enjoyed. The storyline didn't have quite the depth of the original, and the ending seemed a bit rushed. I really liked the characters though particularly Pearl as she struggles with her differences and tries to discover who she really is. Prince James was a sweet friend but really disappointed me later on in the story. Overall, a good quick easy read from this series.
Pearl grows from a mysterious child into an unusual young woman, not always welcomed in the village. As all the other girls her age find husbands, she has only one friend to ease her loneliness. One very special, secret companion: Prince James.
But their friendship is shaken when trouble erupts in the kingdom — a conspiracy against the royal family combines with an evil enchantment from beneath the sea. Now, just when Pearl and James need each other most, bewitching magic and hints about Pearl's past threaten to tear them apart...forever.
REVIEW: Another in the Once Upon a Time fairy tale series for young adults, I have enjoyed the retellings by Debbie Viguie very much. She seems to take the stories and give them some original twists without straying too far away from the original version. This one incorporates a little more adventure than the original which I enjoyed. The storyline didn't have quite the depth of the original, and the ending seemed a bit rushed. I really liked the characters though particularly Pearl as she struggles with her differences and tries to discover who she really is. Prince James was a sweet friend but really disappointed me later on in the story. Overall, a good quick easy read from this series.
April 21, 2009
I really enjoy this kind of fairy tale re-told genre. This one intrigued me from the start and I spent the evening reading it instead of folding laundry. There was a lot more action in this version of the Little Mermaid, which was exciting, but I have to admit I think Pearl ended up with the wrong guy at the end! I loved Pearl and her friendship with Prince James. That is exactly the kind of friendship that grows into true love and I was waiting for that to happen, when all of a sudden another love interest shows up from nowhere. I don't necessarily mind the twist, it's just that we never go to know Kale as much as we did James and Pearls love for him seemed to be based on nothing much at all. Still, it was a fun, easy read and great escape for a day!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2025
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO BECOME A MERMAID
December 3, 2023
The "Once Upon A Timeless" Is Timeless has been such an interesting series for me since I found four of the books at my local used bookstore. Unfortunately they are all from various authors and while in trying to see if they had bundled the books I can find no record unfortunately so it would be a bit of spend to get a chance to read all of them.
Each book in the series retells a slightly different version of the original while maintaining a good amount of original material woven into the new story thus giving a read that is both similar but also quite new. In Midnight Pearls the reader is introduced to The Little Mermaid in which the stakes are so much more higher than in the original while introducing new characters that help to flesh out the story wonderfully.
Unlike Golden, I found this book to be a bit more fantastical with the shotgun re-engagement of one of the characters without any chance of re-familiarizing oneself to the person who just appeared from nowhere or that with so many working pieces things magically worked out for the best. At the same time the pacing at times was a bit sluggish as well, which made it a bit hard to be focused but not too difficulty.
I do love the creativity of Pearl's character and her origin as well as how the story ends up weaving both sides back together instead of having the story seem so one-sided as the original one has it. As a result I am able to find myself overlooking the parts that bugged me just a bit.
All in all if you like to read fairy tales and various re-tellings then this should be one book that you should give a try.
Each book in the series retells a slightly different version of the original while maintaining a good amount of original material woven into the new story thus giving a read that is both similar but also quite new. In Midnight Pearls the reader is introduced to The Little Mermaid in which the stakes are so much more higher than in the original while introducing new characters that help to flesh out the story wonderfully.
Unlike Golden, I found this book to be a bit more fantastical with the shotgun re-engagement of one of the characters without any chance of re-familiarizing oneself to the person who just appeared from nowhere or that with so many working pieces things magically worked out for the best. At the same time the pacing at times was a bit sluggish as well, which made it a bit hard to be focused but not too difficulty.
I do love the creativity of Pearl's character and her origin as well as how the story ends up weaving both sides back together instead of having the story seem so one-sided as the original one has it. As a result I am able to find myself overlooking the parts that bugged me just a bit.
All in all if you like to read fairy tales and various re-tellings then this should be one book that you should give a try.
September 20, 2019
This was a pretty disappointing read for me.
I managed to get through it because it was short, I enjoyed the twists on the original fairy tale, and I wanted to know what happened to Pearl.
The beginning hooked me in and really made me want to know more. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. The pacing felt very off to me; the set up took way too long, we had new and very key characters introduced halfway through the book, and the ending was rushed and anticlimactic. In addition, there was a lot of instalove and convenient play points, the political enemies and schemes fizzled out, the ending was predictable, and the dialogue felt very awkward (it was often used to get across information about the plot, didn't feel unique to the characters, and felt choppy in many places).
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this.
I managed to get through it because it was short, I enjoyed the twists on the original fairy tale, and I wanted to know what happened to Pearl.
The beginning hooked me in and really made me want to know more. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. The pacing felt very off to me; the set up took way too long, we had new and very key characters introduced halfway through the book, and the ending was rushed and anticlimactic. In addition, there was a lot of instalove and convenient play points, the political enemies and schemes fizzled out, the ending was predictable, and the dialogue felt very awkward (it was often used to get across information about the plot, didn't feel unique to the characters, and felt choppy in many places).
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this.
August 27, 2024
An easy read. I enjoyed the similarities AND differences from The Little Mermaid. The ending was a little sad, but only because they I thought the whole thing about the pearl was interesting,
April 26, 2021
I love retelling stories of Disney movies, or other stories I grew up with, but this one is the only one I didn’t finish because I ended up not liking it. Maybe it was just not a retelling I wanted to read or didn’t go the way I wanted it.
March 6, 2018
A two star rating from me usually signals the end of me reading a series. I’ve read quite a few of these books before, and while it has been a long time since I’ve read one, according to my rating I enjoyed them enough to continue with the series. This has put me off of the for good.
Absolutely no character development, nothing much in the way of a plot, and I honestly didn’t care at all what happened to the characters. I’m disappointed to say the least.
I should probably be more ashamed of myself for reading the whole thing and not enjoying it. Darn my finish-what-I-started-reading attitude.
Absolutely no character development, nothing much in the way of a plot, and I honestly didn’t care at all what happened to the characters. I’m disappointed to say the least.
I should probably be more ashamed of myself for reading the whole thing and not enjoying it. Darn my finish-what-I-started-reading attitude.
January 18, 2018
5 stars.
I loved this so much, I couldn't put it down!
I loved this so much, I couldn't put it down!
March 22, 2019
I love fairy tale re-tellings, and I wanted to love this book, but the second half is such a mess. Not to say the first half is perfect, but I was enjoying where I thought it was heading.
The first chapter tried to make things a little mysterious, giving important details slowly, but it was just annoying, as it made it harder to get into the story. A small complaint, but it easily could have been fixed.
Then there was one chapter that had a weird choice in POV. It was nice to see their perspective on things, but that was the wrong scene to do it in.
It was also weird how sometimes a chapter would take place before a previous one. I know some of the chapters have simultaneous moments, but it was odd how much things could jump around. It also made a certain event feel very strange, as if it was an attempt to confuse the reader as well as Pearl, even though the reader knows it could never be true.
The biggest issue, however, were the two characters introduced halfwayish through the story. I thought things were headed in one direction, only to have something entirely new introduced. I was excited to see where this was going to go, but then ended up being disappointed by the result. Normally I don't let my shipping interfere with how I feel about something as a whole, but considering this is a romance story... The characters ended up with the wrong people! More on that in the spoiler section.
Overall, while there's a lot of negative in this review, I mostly enjoyed the story. The ending just left me super dissatisfied. I enjoyed the character of Pearl, but I especially love the depth given to James. To me, he was the most interesting of the lot, as he was kind and thoughtful, but also trying his best to be wary of the troubles of royalty. This could have been a great re-telling of The Little Mermaid, but once the two new characters are brought in, enough time wasn't given to developing relationships, and it just ended up making me want to throw the book with frustration.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
So, Faye and Kale. Faye is the actual Ariel--mermaid who saves a prince and falls in love with him, makes a deal with the sea witch, becomes a mute human, and has to marry the prince in an allotted time or face the consequences. Also, she ends up with the prince in the end. She was a smart and fun character, and I really didn't mind her, but... I was thinking/hoping she would actually end up falling in love with somebody different. Not James.
Then there's Kale. He's not too bad, but felt pretty one note. My biggest problem with him is the idea of him and Pearl being in love. I'm sorry, but the two of them hardly interacted at all. When they did interact, it was clear they had feelings, but the only explanation given for that was that they had been betrothed for years. Umm, what? If there had been some magical explanation, then whatever, but there wasn't.
Pearl had a crush on James, and he had one on her. Yet, as soon as these two other love interests appear, they seem to forget these crushes. There's no dilemma, even though it's clear Pearl is jealous when she sees Faye and James together. Also, when the chapters are in Pearl's POV when it comes to Faye and James, it almost seems as if James is bewitched, with how he acts like Pearl isn't even there.
Why spend time building up Pearl's and James' romance in the first half of the book if it's just going to be pushed aside/ignored in the second half? Why rush through the two new romances when they're the endgame? It just leaves me still wanting Pearl and James together.
But enough complaining about the romance. :P
My last complaint is the sea witch. Pearl defeated her so easily. Like, the sea witch was never a threat. From my understanding, Pearl could have defeated her from the shore, it was so easy. Though, it also doesn't make sense. You could argue Pearl only had the power because the pearls were so close together, but then the sea witch would have had the same power to break free. So, that means Pearl had the power inside of her all along, but while she is a princess, nobody ever says anything about her having powerful magic. Maybe the answer was there and I just missed it, but it was so anti-climatic, and doesn't make sense thinking back on it.
So, I enjoyed the land side of this story, but once the sea side got involved, it became a mess, and the endgame romances weren't given enough development for me to want them to happen. This is a book I won't be keeping.
The first chapter tried to make things a little mysterious, giving important details slowly, but it was just annoying, as it made it harder to get into the story. A small complaint, but it easily could have been fixed.
Then there was one chapter that had a weird choice in POV. It was nice to see their perspective on things, but that was the wrong scene to do it in.
It was also weird how sometimes a chapter would take place before a previous one. I know some of the chapters have simultaneous moments, but it was odd how much things could jump around. It also made a certain event feel very strange, as if it was an attempt to confuse the reader as well as Pearl, even though the reader knows it could never be true.
The biggest issue, however, were the two characters introduced halfwayish through the story. I thought things were headed in one direction, only to have something entirely new introduced. I was excited to see where this was going to go, but then ended up being disappointed by the result. Normally I don't let my shipping interfere with how I feel about something as a whole, but considering this is a romance story... The characters ended up with the wrong people! More on that in the spoiler section.
Overall, while there's a lot of negative in this review, I mostly enjoyed the story. The ending just left me super dissatisfied. I enjoyed the character of Pearl, but I especially love the depth given to James. To me, he was the most interesting of the lot, as he was kind and thoughtful, but also trying his best to be wary of the troubles of royalty. This could have been a great re-telling of The Little Mermaid, but once the two new characters are brought in, enough time wasn't given to developing relationships, and it just ended up making me want to throw the book with frustration.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
So, Faye and Kale. Faye is the actual Ariel--mermaid who saves a prince and falls in love with him, makes a deal with the sea witch, becomes a mute human, and has to marry the prince in an allotted time or face the consequences. Also, she ends up with the prince in the end. She was a smart and fun character, and I really didn't mind her, but... I was thinking/hoping she would actually end up falling in love with somebody different. Not James.
Then there's Kale. He's not too bad, but felt pretty one note. My biggest problem with him is the idea of him and Pearl being in love. I'm sorry, but the two of them hardly interacted at all. When they did interact, it was clear they had feelings, but the only explanation given for that was that they had been betrothed for years. Umm, what? If there had been some magical explanation, then whatever, but there wasn't.
Pearl had a crush on James, and he had one on her. Yet, as soon as these two other love interests appear, they seem to forget these crushes. There's no dilemma, even though it's clear Pearl is jealous when she sees Faye and James together. Also, when the chapters are in Pearl's POV when it comes to Faye and James, it almost seems as if James is bewitched, with how he acts like Pearl isn't even there.
Why spend time building up Pearl's and James' romance in the first half of the book if it's just going to be pushed aside/ignored in the second half? Why rush through the two new romances when they're the endgame? It just leaves me still wanting Pearl and James together.
But enough complaining about the romance. :P
My last complaint is the sea witch. Pearl defeated her so easily. Like, the sea witch was never a threat. From my understanding, Pearl could have defeated her from the shore, it was so easy. Though, it also doesn't make sense. You could argue Pearl only had the power because the pearls were so close together, but then the sea witch would have had the same power to break free. So, that means Pearl had the power inside of her all along, but while she is a princess, nobody ever says anything about her having powerful magic. Maybe the answer was there and I just missed it, but it was so anti-climatic, and doesn't make sense thinking back on it.
So, I enjoyed the land side of this story, but once the sea side got involved, it became a mess, and the endgame romances weren't given enough development for me to want them to happen. This is a book I won't be keeping.
February 28, 2018
fun story, but I was underwhelmed by the writing style. a lot of the book could have been made more interesting with more description and details. the story was simply told. I realize it was written for teens, but it also seems like it could have been written by a teen.
April 29, 2017
This was a really good, interesting and different retelling of the little mermaid. Its basically has the same events as the original tale but instead there are two princesses and two princes. It was really cool how the story was split up into between all the characters with each taking some aspect of the story.
Pearl is the main character of the story. She is found in the ocean at the age of four during a storm by the fisherman Finneas. Finneas took her from the ocean and brought her home to his wife. They raised Pearl as their own child. They knew she was different but they didn't want to know where she was from or if she was human. They just loved her as their child. Fast forward and by the 2nd chapter Pearl is 17 years old and different from everyone in the village. She has silver blond hair, large eyes and pale pale skin. Pearl has one friend, Prince James. Her parents don't know about their relationship. They had been meeting on the beach by Pearls home every week since they were seven and they are best friends. Marriage proposals for both Pearl and James as well as a plot against the king's life are included in the plot.
Pearl is a very sweet girl. She feels that she is different but she doesn't know how. Her parents don't talk to her about how they found her or speculate on what she is. She feels a call to the ocean but remembers being told by someone that if she goes in the ocean she will die. She does not want to get married and wants to keep her cozy life with her parents by the beach. I liked her a lot.
There are three other characters in the book as well, Prince James, Kale and Faye. I know what you're thinking, Pearl and James fall in love and get married...WRONG! I'm not going to say anything but there are many twists in the romances and marriages in this book. Kale and Faye are merpeople and they are royalty in the merworld. Pearl is too but she doesn't know it. I liked Kale and Faye well enough but they came on kind of strong and they also came out of nowhere. I thought it was only gonna be Pearl and James in the book but then these two show up. There was so much "love" in this book. But the storyline was good.
I loved how each of these characters took on parts of the story. I'm not going to go into who took what part of the tale but all parts of the original were in it including the sea witch and the deal she makes. I also though it was very interesting and creative in the way the mermaids acted on land. Its like humans in water. We can't breathe underwater and in this book merpeople can't breathe out of water. Just like real fish. I thought that was cool and different.
All in all a good retelling that I enjoyed alot.
This review is also posted on The Book Owl Extraordinaire
Pearl is the main character of the story. She is found in the ocean at the age of four during a storm by the fisherman Finneas. Finneas took her from the ocean and brought her home to his wife. They raised Pearl as their own child. They knew she was different but they didn't want to know where she was from or if she was human. They just loved her as their child. Fast forward and by the 2nd chapter Pearl is 17 years old and different from everyone in the village. She has silver blond hair, large eyes and pale pale skin. Pearl has one friend, Prince James. Her parents don't know about their relationship. They had been meeting on the beach by Pearls home every week since they were seven and they are best friends. Marriage proposals for both Pearl and James as well as a plot against the king's life are included in the plot.
Pearl is a very sweet girl. She feels that she is different but she doesn't know how. Her parents don't talk to her about how they found her or speculate on what she is. She feels a call to the ocean but remembers being told by someone that if she goes in the ocean she will die. She does not want to get married and wants to keep her cozy life with her parents by the beach. I liked her a lot.
There are three other characters in the book as well, Prince James, Kale and Faye. I know what you're thinking, Pearl and James fall in love and get married...WRONG! I'm not going to say anything but there are many twists in the romances and marriages in this book. Kale and Faye are merpeople and they are royalty in the merworld. Pearl is too but she doesn't know it. I liked Kale and Faye well enough but they came on kind of strong and they also came out of nowhere. I thought it was only gonna be Pearl and James in the book but then these two show up. There was so much "love" in this book. But the storyline was good.
I loved how each of these characters took on parts of the story. I'm not going to go into who took what part of the tale but all parts of the original were in it including the sea witch and the deal she makes. I also though it was very interesting and creative in the way the mermaids acted on land. Its like humans in water. We can't breathe underwater and in this book merpeople can't breathe out of water. Just like real fish. I thought that was cool and different.
All in all a good retelling that I enjoyed alot.
This review is also posted on The Book Owl Extraordinaire
February 6, 2013
1.5 Stars because it was almost an okay read.
Growing up, The Little Mermaid, was my all time favorite fairytale. I love the ocean as much as I love living in the mountains so mermaids were appealing because in some stories, they could truly have the best of both worlds. Lately, I have found a few different mermaid based stories to indulge my little childhood fantasies and this is one of them.
Unfortunately, the story falls excessively short of the magical appeal in the original version of The Little Mermaid I was told when I was younger. Even as a child, I can remember three different versions of the story (and, yes, one of them was the disney version). I loved all of them for different reasons.
But, Midnight Pearls didn't captivate me in the same way that the others are still able to do when I occassionally leave the adult in me at the door step. The story started well enough, intriguing, even, with Pearl's mysterious presence and rescue from the ocean and then the friendship between Pearl and Prince James. It all seemed a bit like a reverse of the tales I'd heard before in which the mermaid longs to be human. In this story, the mermaid is forcefully turned human and has to find her way back to the sea. It would have been a good angle if the author hadn't incorporated the traditional Little Mermaid tale into this story as well.
The introduction of the traditional story along with the new angle completely fractured and subsequently shattered the entire story. It was too much! The focus begins with Pearl and James and then suddenly, we get introduced to Faye and Kale (mermaids). Kale is in love with Pearl and Faye falls for James so now there are several love stories going on in the midst of an attempt to overthrow the king and the prince, James. And the reader ends up getting far too many perspectives toward the end that have never been introduced before: Mary, Robert, even Kale and Faye. They all converge and cause asymmetry because for approximately 3/4 of the book, the only people we hear from are Pearl and James. There are long sequences in the latter half of the book where characters disappear altogether for long periods of time.
The sudden introductions along with the collision of traditional and contemporary story ideas just didn't bode well. I felt as if the author started a really good story and then completely faltered, maybe for lack of inspiration because all at once, the story just collapses on itself. It's really too bad. There was potential in the beginning.
Growing up, The Little Mermaid, was my all time favorite fairytale. I love the ocean as much as I love living in the mountains so mermaids were appealing because in some stories, they could truly have the best of both worlds. Lately, I have found a few different mermaid based stories to indulge my little childhood fantasies and this is one of them.
Unfortunately, the story falls excessively short of the magical appeal in the original version of The Little Mermaid I was told when I was younger. Even as a child, I can remember three different versions of the story (and, yes, one of them was the disney version). I loved all of them for different reasons.
But, Midnight Pearls didn't captivate me in the same way that the others are still able to do when I occassionally leave the adult in me at the door step. The story started well enough, intriguing, even, with Pearl's mysterious presence and rescue from the ocean and then the friendship between Pearl and Prince James. It all seemed a bit like a reverse of the tales I'd heard before in which the mermaid longs to be human. In this story, the mermaid is forcefully turned human and has to find her way back to the sea. It would have been a good angle if the author hadn't incorporated the traditional Little Mermaid tale into this story as well.
The introduction of the traditional story along with the new angle completely fractured and subsequently shattered the entire story. It was too much! The focus begins with Pearl and James and then suddenly, we get introduced to Faye and Kale (mermaids). Kale is in love with Pearl and Faye falls for James so now there are several love stories going on in the midst of an attempt to overthrow the king and the prince, James. And the reader ends up getting far too many perspectives toward the end that have never been introduced before: Mary, Robert, even Kale and Faye. They all converge and cause asymmetry because for approximately 3/4 of the book, the only people we hear from are Pearl and James. There are long sequences in the latter half of the book where characters disappear altogether for long periods of time.
The sudden introductions along with the collision of traditional and contemporary story ideas just didn't bode well. I felt as if the author started a really good story and then completely faltered, maybe for lack of inspiration because all at once, the story just collapses on itself. It's really too bad. There was potential in the beginning.
April 13, 2012
SPOIL ALLERT: I spoil the ending in my review!!
I really liked the book, until the last 3 chapters.
In the end everyone decides to marry a stranger they had met within a week and, in Pearl's case, had haunting nightmares about her whole life???
James quickly turns out to be shallow and a blind idiot and unapologetic to his best, truest friend.
Faye appears to be no more than a complete foolish irrational teen head over heels for someone because of his looks. Her only saving quality was that she rescued James from drowning. I did not sympathize with her at all.
Kale wants to marry Pearl because of a childhood betrothal and the idea of her, not because he really knows her. He doesn't consider the person she's become and the life experiences she's had, assuming she is the same person she was at age 4. Though I sympathize with Kale and how he sacrifices an incredible amount for Pearl all his life,(though making a deal with the sea witch was for his love and concern of Faye and not so much Pearl), I don't buy his comment to Pearl that she must not really be in love with James because she hesitated to admit it to him.
Most of all I do not buy that Pearl was really so much so suddenly in love with Kale to be happiest marrying him and giving up her best friend, the man she had loved for years. Nor do I think it appropriate for her to marry him just because she felt sorry for him. Rather, Pearl appears to be very much in love with James right until the last pages when her love appears to have evaporated, which is what is so confusing.(Maybe it's because the James the author convinced us to love gave her up so easily and shallowly when foolishly "misplacing" his love on another whom he thought was Pearl in the first place. Still I was 100% prepared to forgive him when he got the sense knocked back into him, except he never did).
Also in the last chapters of the book there was a lot of corn (Finneas' reaction/message to the mob) and silly quick resolutions (Pearl defeating the sea witch, resolving all the love triangles in an instant). I felt dissatisfied when the book ended. Maybe this is meant for teenagers.
I know some of my words sound harsh, but I really liked reading it. There were certain aspects I really enjoyed. It was a fast read. I am interested to read other books by this author and see how they compare, because I do enjoy fairy tales so it's worth the risk.
I really liked the book, until the last 3 chapters.
In the end everyone decides to marry a stranger they had met within a week and, in Pearl's case, had haunting nightmares about her whole life???
James quickly turns out to be shallow and a blind idiot and unapologetic to his best, truest friend.
Faye appears to be no more than a complete foolish irrational teen head over heels for someone because of his looks. Her only saving quality was that she rescued James from drowning. I did not sympathize with her at all.
Kale wants to marry Pearl because of a childhood betrothal and the idea of her, not because he really knows her. He doesn't consider the person she's become and the life experiences she's had, assuming she is the same person she was at age 4. Though I sympathize with Kale and how he sacrifices an incredible amount for Pearl all his life,(though making a deal with the sea witch was for his love and concern of Faye and not so much Pearl), I don't buy his comment to Pearl that she must not really be in love with James because she hesitated to admit it to him.
Most of all I do not buy that Pearl was really so much so suddenly in love with Kale to be happiest marrying him and giving up her best friend, the man she had loved for years. Nor do I think it appropriate for her to marry him just because she felt sorry for him. Rather, Pearl appears to be very much in love with James right until the last pages when her love appears to have evaporated, which is what is so confusing.(Maybe it's because the James the author convinced us to love gave her up so easily and shallowly when foolishly "misplacing" his love on another whom he thought was Pearl in the first place. Still I was 100% prepared to forgive him when he got the sense knocked back into him, except he never did).
Also in the last chapters of the book there was a lot of corn (Finneas' reaction/message to the mob) and silly quick resolutions (Pearl defeating the sea witch, resolving all the love triangles in an instant). I felt dissatisfied when the book ended. Maybe this is meant for teenagers.
I know some of my words sound harsh, but I really liked reading it. There were certain aspects I really enjoyed. It was a fast read. I am interested to read other books by this author and see how they compare, because I do enjoy fairy tales so it's worth the risk.
March 13, 2021
For anyone new to my reviews (And who wouldn't be? I'm a broken record about my mini media presence here on Goodreads), I review middle grade books and children's lit a bit differently: I simply say what I liked, maybe a light con or two, and most importantly, if it's a retelling, list the OG references/homages to other retellings.
Pros
-A Bit of Darkness This Time 'Round
*Most OUAT books have a sort of surface level darkness, maybe a familial passing but nothing too deep. But this had painful transformations for merfolk, death centric nightmares, and literal witch hunts for the nonconformists.
*Not just with imagery, but in the intense feeling of isolation and loneliness both James and Pearl feel in their everyday life:
1.James is conflicted about his choice of betrothed and feels isolated by his royal status (no one befriends him for the friendship. They're a bunch of star-chasers)
2.Pearl's appearance (translucent skin, milky white/bluish hair), discomfort about eating/killing fish (makes being an adoptive fisherman's daughter living in a fishing village a bit difficult), as well as her being unable to communicate for the early bit of her life among life-long residents who let their small minded fear literally kill a woman, make fitting-in crucial yet unattainable. She's kind to residents (literally saves a kid from being trampled by a cart) and stays out of their way, but they can't say extend the courtesy: the very same kid she saved blurts out "Why does she look like that?" and the mom just lets him do it, watching the visible pain appear on Pearl's face.
*This loneliness is hardly remedied when Pearl becomes engaged to James's scheming cousin, Robert, and while she gets to be near her friend, it's under the intense gaze of a man she doesn't know or love. After accepting his proposal for her, Pearl's parents pack her up and ship her off to live among Robert and his family the very same day.
-Fairy Tale feel
*Most others in this non-connected series have a distinctly modern edge, especially in regards to language. But this author writes with whimsy and clear cut description that although short in structure, sometimes goes a on bit too long with imagery (many olden fairy/folk tales are guilty of setting the scene before getting right to the action). Even Pearl getting her name feels like it fell out of Grimm (Mary-her adoptive mother-looks to the pearl hanging on her necklace and how the girl touches it out of worry and goes, "I'll call her Pearl").
-Complex Family Ties
*Although love is all around, Pearl knows Finneas and Mary aren't her real parents. Which makes questioning her origins all the more dicey: Pearl acknowledges that asking where she came from or complaining about not fitting in makes Mary feel like she and Finneas just aren't enough.
-Connecting the Dots
*Although all the characters and their love stories felt a bit bloated, it was interesting that the sea witch who granted Kale and Faye human features was also the one responsible for Pearl coming to shore.
*Also, having just finished WandaVision, Pearl using the sea witch's pearl against her by stripping away her powers/sealing her up in rock cavern where no one gets in or out, made me think of a certain someone's fate... No spoilers, promise.
-Pearl becomes a mermaid again not only to with her true love, but to go home to her family, with the promise to visit Mary and Finneas again. Nice change from the usual "girl gives up her life to be with a man".
OG Elements/Homages
-This kind of felt like a mash-up of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson and the play Ondine, by Jean Giraudoux.
*Ondine
1.Ondine is the title character who is adopted by a childless fisherman and his wife who find her at the edge of the lake and the couple realizes she's unusual from the start. Pearl is captured in Finneas's fishing net and is brought back to live in a fishing village with himself and his wife as their only child.
2.Just like Ondine, Pearl's parents realize she's peculiar from the first family outing (Finneas worries that even church won't stop the townsfolk, making sure to keep Pearl nestled between him and Mary in the pew)
3.In Ondine, a knight seeks shelter with the old couple and in walks Ondine, whom he falls head over feet for. Pearl herself gets a mortal royal, Prince James, all riled up as well.
*Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Anderson)
1.Given his name, it's fitting that religion played a huge part in Anderson's fairy tales: the little mermaid was seen as selfish and to remedy this, she must perform good deeds in the afterlife. Debbie Viguié isn't quite so heavy-handed, but going to church and Finneas praying when he believes he's in danger is seen a lot.
2.Anderson's little mermaid had a painful transformation: when she walks, it's like walking on sharp knives with the feeling only intensifying, and when her tail becomes two legs, it's like a sword passing through her body. When Faye (who I consider to be this story's true little mermaid) awakens after her bargain with the sea witch, she's in intense pain after having her fin separated into two legs and while sharp pains do stab her feet upon standing, it gets better with each step.
3.Faye rescued James from drowning and kisses him before slipping into the sea. And although he only caught a superficial glimpse, James vows to marry the girl who saved him. While the OG little mermaid does rescue the prince, he doesn't see her do it, and because of this, he goes on to marry a woman he mistakes for his rescuer.
4.The sea witch in this story lets Kale (Faye's brother and Pearl's fiancé) and Faye become human in exchange for his eyesight and her voice, much like the original tale where the mermaid takes a potion to become human in exchange for her voice.
*Disney's Little Mermaid
1.James's appearance (jet black hair and blue eyes) feels a lot like Prince Eric's...
*Rusalochka (1976 Russian adaptation)
1.Pearl's off kilter milky white and light blue tinged hair looks similar to the titular little mermaid in this film before she turns mortal.
Con
-The name Kale
*Like, why? It was so cheesy and why not make this less jarring and have Faye get an aquatic name too?
-So many proposals
*Pearl herself receives no less than three (Thomas the blacksmith, Prince James, and Kale her actual fiancé).
-Bloated story
* We get an assassination attempt on James' father, Kale and Faye turning human to get their true loves, a witch hunt on Faye, and a sea witch's near revenge. All at the tale end (no pun intended) of the book.
-Over the top villains who only cackle, twiddle their thumbs, and get one line in before their demise. They're not fleshed out, and they were taken out in less than a page.
I appreciate this for what it was: a Little Mermaid retelling. One more OUAT to go.
Pros
-A Bit of Darkness This Time 'Round
*Most OUAT books have a sort of surface level darkness, maybe a familial passing but nothing too deep. But this had painful transformations for merfolk, death centric nightmares, and literal witch hunts for the nonconformists.
*Not just with imagery, but in the intense feeling of isolation and loneliness both James and Pearl feel in their everyday life:
1.James is conflicted about his choice of betrothed and feels isolated by his royal status (no one befriends him for the friendship. They're a bunch of star-chasers)
2.Pearl's appearance (translucent skin, milky white/bluish hair), discomfort about eating/killing fish (makes being an adoptive fisherman's daughter living in a fishing village a bit difficult), as well as her being unable to communicate for the early bit of her life among life-long residents who let their small minded fear literally kill a woman, make fitting-in crucial yet unattainable. She's kind to residents (literally saves a kid from being trampled by a cart) and stays out of their way, but they can't say extend the courtesy: the very same kid she saved blurts out "Why does she look like that?" and the mom just lets him do it, watching the visible pain appear on Pearl's face.
*This loneliness is hardly remedied when Pearl becomes engaged to James's scheming cousin, Robert, and while she gets to be near her friend, it's under the intense gaze of a man she doesn't know or love. After accepting his proposal for her, Pearl's parents pack her up and ship her off to live among Robert and his family the very same day.
-Fairy Tale feel
*Most others in this non-connected series have a distinctly modern edge, especially in regards to language. But this author writes with whimsy and clear cut description that although short in structure, sometimes goes a on bit too long with imagery (many olden fairy/folk tales are guilty of setting the scene before getting right to the action). Even Pearl getting her name feels like it fell out of Grimm (Mary-her adoptive mother-looks to the pearl hanging on her necklace and how the girl touches it out of worry and goes, "I'll call her Pearl").
-Complex Family Ties
*Although love is all around, Pearl knows Finneas and Mary aren't her real parents. Which makes questioning her origins all the more dicey: Pearl acknowledges that asking where she came from or complaining about not fitting in makes Mary feel like she and Finneas just aren't enough.
-Connecting the Dots
*Although all the characters and their love stories felt a bit bloated, it was interesting that the sea witch who granted Kale and Faye human features was also the one responsible for Pearl coming to shore.
*Also, having just finished WandaVision, Pearl using the sea witch's pearl against her by stripping away her powers/sealing her up in rock cavern where no one gets in or out, made me think of a certain someone's fate... No spoilers, promise.
-Pearl becomes a mermaid again not only to with her true love, but to go home to her family, with the promise to visit Mary and Finneas again. Nice change from the usual "girl gives up her life to be with a man".
OG Elements/Homages
-This kind of felt like a mash-up of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson and the play Ondine, by Jean Giraudoux.
*Ondine
1.Ondine is the title character who is adopted by a childless fisherman and his wife who find her at the edge of the lake and the couple realizes she's unusual from the start. Pearl is captured in Finneas's fishing net and is brought back to live in a fishing village with himself and his wife as their only child.
2.Just like Ondine, Pearl's parents realize she's peculiar from the first family outing (Finneas worries that even church won't stop the townsfolk, making sure to keep Pearl nestled between him and Mary in the pew)
3.In Ondine, a knight seeks shelter with the old couple and in walks Ondine, whom he falls head over feet for. Pearl herself gets a mortal royal, Prince James, all riled up as well.
*Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Anderson)
1.Given his name, it's fitting that religion played a huge part in Anderson's fairy tales: the little mermaid was seen as selfish and to remedy this, she must perform good deeds in the afterlife. Debbie Viguié isn't quite so heavy-handed, but going to church and Finneas praying when he believes he's in danger is seen a lot.
2.Anderson's little mermaid had a painful transformation: when she walks, it's like walking on sharp knives with the feeling only intensifying, and when her tail becomes two legs, it's like a sword passing through her body. When Faye (who I consider to be this story's true little mermaid) awakens after her bargain with the sea witch, she's in intense pain after having her fin separated into two legs and while sharp pains do stab her feet upon standing, it gets better with each step.
3.Faye rescued James from drowning and kisses him before slipping into the sea. And although he only caught a superficial glimpse, James vows to marry the girl who saved him. While the OG little mermaid does rescue the prince, he doesn't see her do it, and because of this, he goes on to marry a woman he mistakes for his rescuer.
4.The sea witch in this story lets Kale (Faye's brother and Pearl's fiancé) and Faye become human in exchange for his eyesight and her voice, much like the original tale where the mermaid takes a potion to become human in exchange for her voice.
*Disney's Little Mermaid
1.James's appearance (jet black hair and blue eyes) feels a lot like Prince Eric's...
*Rusalochka (1976 Russian adaptation)
1.Pearl's off kilter milky white and light blue tinged hair looks similar to the titular little mermaid in this film before she turns mortal.
Con
-The name Kale
*Like, why? It was so cheesy and why not make this less jarring and have Faye get an aquatic name too?
-So many proposals
*Pearl herself receives no less than three (Thomas the blacksmith, Prince James, and Kale her actual fiancé).
-Bloated story
* We get an assassination attempt on James' father, Kale and Faye turning human to get their true loves, a witch hunt on Faye, and a sea witch's near revenge. All at the tale end (no pun intended) of the book.
-Over the top villains who only cackle, twiddle their thumbs, and get one line in before their demise. They're not fleshed out, and they were taken out in less than a page.
I appreciate this for what it was: a Little Mermaid retelling. One more OUAT to go.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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