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Birthstone #1
Sea Dweller
Aylen has been considered an outcast on the secluded island of Vairda her entire life.
It doesn’t help that her parents forbid her to acknowledge any island traditions and refuse to tell her anything about the mysterious mainland they left behind before she was born. Meanwhile, her only friend, Sai, is suddenly distancing himself because his parents don’t approve of the time he spends with “that girl who isn’t a native.”
Aylen wants more than just the life of an outsider and she’s determined to figure out how to get it, even if it means defying her parents or spying on her best friend. But the night she finds a strange jewel that gives her the ability to breathe underwater, Aylen thinks she may have found a way to leave the island for good. As she learns to use the jewel, however, Aylen uncovers the nightmarish secrets about her parents’ pasts, and the dangers which made them leave the mainland in the first place. And it turns out those dangers may have found their way to the island. With the help of her jewel, Aylen is the only person who can protect her family and the entire island nation from the biggest threat they have ever known.
It doesn’t help that her parents forbid her to acknowledge any island traditions and refuse to tell her anything about the mysterious mainland they left behind before she was born. Meanwhile, her only friend, Sai, is suddenly distancing himself because his parents don’t approve of the time he spends with “that girl who isn’t a native.”
Aylen wants more than just the life of an outsider and she’s determined to figure out how to get it, even if it means defying her parents or spying on her best friend. But the night she finds a strange jewel that gives her the ability to breathe underwater, Aylen thinks she may have found a way to leave the island for good. As she learns to use the jewel, however, Aylen uncovers the nightmarish secrets about her parents’ pasts, and the dangers which made them leave the mainland in the first place. And it turns out those dangers may have found their way to the island. With the help of her jewel, Aylen is the only person who can protect her family and the entire island nation from the biggest threat they have ever known.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
ebook
First published July 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Melanie Atkinson
10 books11 followersSome of Melanie's happiest memories are from the summers she stayed with her grandmother at her home on the cliffs of the Oregon coast. Many of those experiences show up in her writing and still spark her imagination.
When she isn't writing stories (something she realized she loved to do at the age of eight) or dreaming of living near the ocean, she's caring for her four children, sewing dresses from vintage patterns, or playing in Photoshop.
Visit her website at www.cityofnethra.com.
When she isn't writing stories (something she realized she loved to do at the age of eight) or dreaming of living near the ocean, she's caring for her four children, sewing dresses from vintage patterns, or playing in Photoshop.
Visit her website at www.cityofnethra.com.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 27, 2012
I really liked this book and can't wait to read the rest of the series!
Aylen and Sai had some great chemistry and the story was addicting...I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to see where the characters progress from here - the characters felt real and not forced, which I loved. I also wanted to smack Faema...and I'm really hoping to see her knocked down a peg or twenty...
All in all...a GREAT read...well worth the time and money invested - Great Job Ms. Atkinson!
Aylen and Sai had some great chemistry and the story was addicting...I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to see where the characters progress from here - the characters felt real and not forced, which I loved. I also wanted to smack Faema...and I'm really hoping to see her knocked down a peg or twenty...
All in all...a GREAT read...well worth the time and money invested - Great Job Ms. Atkinson!
October 3, 2012
This book reminded me of the books I enjoyed reading as a teenager - fantasy with a fairy tale feel to it. I loved reading it from beginning to end! Melanie Atkinson does an excellent job of exploring each of the main characters, their personalities, and their struggles. The book is an easy read, and I look forward to the next in the series!
May 14, 2020
I love a good story and this is just that, but better... it's a great story. I loved everything about it. I really enjoyed the calm, relaxing first half and how I had no idea what was coming. It was nice to sit and read without constant anticipation. Then the anticipation did build. It was so entertaining and fun! I'm anxious for the next book and hope we don't have to wait too long! :-)
March 14, 2013
I couldn't stop reading! The way Melanie writes, her story just blossoms from the page. It has drawn me in and I'm trapped right there on the island with her characters. So far I've just read what's available on the kindle for iPhone, so i need to get a hold of the rest of it!
April 23, 2022
a unique YA fantasy
Actual rating: 4.5
I enjoyed this book. The premise is different from anything I’ve read. The MCs were both likable straight away and I could feel the connection between them. Aylen is easy to sympathize with, and I couldn’t help but root for here. As it’s only in her POV, the chosen one trope was easily identified early on, but that in no way made it predictable. The world building is so unique that the story held my intrigue the entire way.
As a note, the book does need editing.
Being trapped on an island where you’re nothing like the natives is one thing. But living with parents who control your life is another. Aylen knows her family has secrets, but what about their past is so terrible that they can’t share it with her? Finally given permission to attend an island festival, Aylen gets more than she bargained for when she sees her best friend Sai kissing the chief’s daughter. Upset, she flees to the beach where she finds an incredible stone.
But Sea Gems are just legends, aren’t they?
As secrets unravel, Aylen discovers her heritage and learns she’s destined to be far more than the island outcast.
Actual rating: 4.5
I enjoyed this book. The premise is different from anything I’ve read. The MCs were both likable straight away and I could feel the connection between them. Aylen is easy to sympathize with, and I couldn’t help but root for here. As it’s only in her POV, the chosen one trope was easily identified early on, but that in no way made it predictable. The world building is so unique that the story held my intrigue the entire way.
As a note, the book does need editing.
Being trapped on an island where you’re nothing like the natives is one thing. But living with parents who control your life is another. Aylen knows her family has secrets, but what about their past is so terrible that they can’t share it with her? Finally given permission to attend an island festival, Aylen gets more than she bargained for when she sees her best friend Sai kissing the chief’s daughter. Upset, she flees to the beach where she finds an incredible stone.
But Sea Gems are just legends, aren’t they?
As secrets unravel, Aylen discovers her heritage and learns she’s destined to be far more than the island outcast.
August 11, 2017
Like nothing I have ever read
This was one of the most original stories I have ever read. For me the start was slightly slow but once things started happening, I didn't want to put it down. The story is set on an island where some of the most important things are family and the celebration of where they come from. I loved the relationship between the two main characters. It is how a relationship is supposed to be, they know and rely on each other completely. The center of the story is all about these special stones that bond with their bloodlines and give them these amazing gifts and abilities. The bulk of the story is about the heroine learning her birthright, finding a magical necklace and fighting to save her island home. It is a complete and magical tale. I am so excited for the next book!!!!
This was one of the most original stories I have ever read. For me the start was slightly slow but once things started happening, I didn't want to put it down. The story is set on an island where some of the most important things are family and the celebration of where they come from. I loved the relationship between the two main characters. It is how a relationship is supposed to be, they know and rely on each other completely. The center of the story is all about these special stones that bond with their bloodlines and give them these amazing gifts and abilities. The bulk of the story is about the heroine learning her birthright, finding a magical necklace and fighting to save her island home. It is a complete and magical tale. I am so excited for the next book!!!!
September 12, 2018
A fictionally exciting adventure
This book hooked me from the start. I loved the detailed beauty of the island. The war Aylen had to fight within herself to find out who she was, what she wanted to fight for, and her discovery of tapping into gifts she already possessed. I loved the youthful love story between Aylen and Sai. There is no deeper love then a best friend understands.
This book hooked me from the start. I loved the detailed beauty of the island. The war Aylen had to fight within herself to find out who she was, what she wanted to fight for, and her discovery of tapping into gifts she already possessed. I loved the youthful love story between Aylen and Sai. There is no deeper love then a best friend understands.
October 14, 2017
Amazing. Hard to get into at first but then it became hard to put down
March 30, 2013
I desperately, desperately wanted to like this book more than I did. I wanted to give Sea Dweller a minimum of 4 stars because I am acquainted with the author. Let me start with what I really liked, then explain what happened to crash into 3-star territory.
I was dubious with the book's description of a magical stone giving people the ability to exist underwater for an extended period of time. Turns out my imagination took that down the complete wrong path and I was so delighted to fully believe that stones like that could exist.
I enjoyed the world itself. I could see the characters moving with it, interacting with it, heck, I could even smell and hear the world. It was well built and thought-out and, being a resident of the Pacific Northwest where it rains about 10 months out of the year and is cloudy almost the rest of the time (I do exaggerate only slightly), it made me want to go to a tropical island and play in the water and bask in the sun and eat exotic fruits. Seriously. It made me want to escape. That's a good thing.
Now, this is where my personal reading preferences come in and destroy that 4-star minimum rating I had hoped for. This is a YA. Because this is a YA, the story does do a little bowing to the trope of the angsty teenage girl who's somewhat insecure with herself because her parents have sheltered her from her past and as a result she's not very close with the islanders, except one, who she's so obviously in love with that his inability to clearly reciprocate her feelings causes her to be even more insecure than necessary. Thus enters a very strange love triangle that, ultimately, exists solely in Aylen's head. But it goes on and on and on for too long for somebody who loathes angsty love triangles.
The writing was my other personal stumbling block. At times I felt Aylen took up too much time describing something three different ways in one sentence when the first way worked just fine for me and left me ready for the next sentence. Also, Aylen tended to wax a bit too flowery, which sometimes distracted me from the story (the story being crazy mainlanders are coming to the island and there's going to be kidnapping and action and lots of cool demonstrations of various stones' superpowers and that's what I really want to see because I tend to adore action, especially buildings getting blown up, but I digress).
I also thought the story could've started a few chapters sooner, but now I'm acting like I'm in peer review, which is silly because this is a published book. Those are the reasons, however, that a very intriguing story with a very cool set of magical rules got reduced to a 3-star rating.
I was dubious with the book's description of a magical stone giving people the ability to exist underwater for an extended period of time. Turns out my imagination took that down the complete wrong path and I was so delighted to fully believe that stones like that could exist.
I enjoyed the world itself. I could see the characters moving with it, interacting with it, heck, I could even smell and hear the world. It was well built and thought-out and, being a resident of the Pacific Northwest where it rains about 10 months out of the year and is cloudy almost the rest of the time (I do exaggerate only slightly), it made me want to go to a tropical island and play in the water and bask in the sun and eat exotic fruits. Seriously. It made me want to escape. That's a good thing.
Now, this is where my personal reading preferences come in and destroy that 4-star minimum rating I had hoped for. This is a YA. Because this is a YA, the story does do a little bowing to the trope of the angsty teenage girl who's somewhat insecure with herself because her parents have sheltered her from her past and as a result she's not very close with the islanders, except one, who she's so obviously in love with that his inability to clearly reciprocate her feelings causes her to be even more insecure than necessary. Thus enters a very strange love triangle that, ultimately, exists solely in Aylen's head. But it goes on and on and on for too long for somebody who loathes angsty love triangles.
The writing was my other personal stumbling block. At times I felt Aylen took up too much time describing something three different ways in one sentence when the first way worked just fine for me and left me ready for the next sentence. Also, Aylen tended to wax a bit too flowery, which sometimes distracted me from the story (the story being crazy mainlanders are coming to the island and there's going to be kidnapping and action and lots of cool demonstrations of various stones' superpowers and that's what I really want to see because I tend to adore action, especially buildings getting blown up, but I digress).
I also thought the story could've started a few chapters sooner, but now I'm acting like I'm in peer review, which is silly because this is a published book. Those are the reasons, however, that a very intriguing story with a very cool set of magical rules got reduced to a 3-star rating.
October 24, 2012
Melanie Atkinson's "Sea Dweller" is a page-turning adventure tale of the highest order. It's got everything YA readers love: danger, romance, ancient prophecies, a complex plot and characters with special powers. Atkinson presents it all elegantly and believably without resorting to the use of excessive violence or sexual content. The book's creative story line also beats the pants off the glut of vampire-and-werewolf-centered YA adventure stories on the market. Not only is "Sea Dweller" refreshing, it furthers my resolve that traditional publishers have made a wrong turn when it comes to the types of books they choose to publish and promote. I'll be first in line to buy the sequel!
August 13, 2012
I really enjoyed this book, and appreciated how clean it was. I'm always happy when the romance isn't the main focus of the book--I'm fine with relationship development, but endless kissing, sparks flying, etc, gets super annoying and inhibits the plot. I particularly loved one line: when they called Haji the annoying sister they never had. (One of my best friends is like a brother to me, and I often tell him that he's my favorite annoying brother I never had.) :) Overall a very enjoyable read--I'm looking forward to sequels, and can't wait to recommend this to my 12-year-old daughter.
September 13, 2020
What an excellent and exciting story!!
This book was riveting. I loved the characters and the plot was well thought out. The writing was paced well and engaging. I would think any youth age 13-18 would love this.(and any adult interested in YA fantasy) I can't wait to read book 2.
This book was riveting. I loved the characters and the plot was well thought out. The writing was paced well and engaging. I would think any youth age 13-18 would love this.(and any adult interested in YA fantasy) I can't wait to read book 2.
September 4, 2012
Downloaded this book from Smashwords to my phone. A first for me. Engaging storyline and characters. I definitely want to read the next title in the series when it's available.
January 21, 2014
I know this author personally, she is an awesome person and I really liked this book. I only gave it a 4 because I don't love fantasy. My 11 year old daughter loved it! Way to go Mel!
June 4, 2015
This was beautifully written. I highly recommend to people who love fantasy.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews