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nicoleaisling's review against another edition
3.0
DIB Reviews
I went into this book not knowing exactly what to expect. The title of the series, “Watersong,” gave me a clue, but I wasn’t sure what kind of supernatural creatures we’d be dealing with. The mystery was kind of unique, since a lot of books you know right away.
As I got closer to the big reveal about what Penn, Lexi, and Thea really were,
Spoiler
I was worried we’d find out this was all about mermaids. I’ve read mermaid books. I don’t dislike them. And in a way that’s part of what they are, but up to that point everything was pointed toward sirens. Low and behold, she followed through! The mean, dangerous girls are Greek monsters who lure men to their deaths. She even went into the mythology a little, which I loved.The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading, with the mystery of the three girls and then the conflict Gemma faced as she became one of them. The way the relationship between Gemma and her sister was disrupted by the change broke my heart. I love sister relationships in books.
When it comes to character, I liked Harper way more than Gemma. The younger sister felt a bit flat to me, as did her relationship with Alex (and honestly Alex didn’t have anything compelling about him at all). On the flip side, I really liked Harper and Daniel. Both of their characters are much better written, as is their relationship. Daniel is exactly one of the types of character I love: confident, laid-back, and charming. He’s not a jerk to Harper, but he’s annoyingly persistent.
This book left me with a kind of sub-plot cliff-hanger, and I’m eager to read the next book.
Spoiler
Daniel is clearly immune to the siren song, but why? Penn alluded to the song not working on someone who is in love. Does that mean Daniel is in love with someone? With Harper? That seems a bit far-fetched, so I’m interested to see where the author goes with it.geisttull's review against another edition
3.0
quick read. i liked it. about half way through, i thought i would probably not read the second one, but by the end of the book, i was ready to keep going. the relationships are well written and realistic. the plot is a little convoluted, albeit creative and new. still like her zombie series better. need to check out her vampire series next.
jeslyncat's review against another edition
4.0
This book was well-written, and I actually enjoyed it more than I initially enjoyed Hocking's other series, "Trylle"--which I highly recommend. But I felt like we all knew where the story was going, but it took an extended amount of time to get there. I was frustrated in waiting for the supposedly intelligent main character to figure out the simplest things. I'm curious to see where the rest of the series will go.
caffeineaddict980's review against another edition
4.0
'And it won't be long before she's ours,'
This novel revolves around two sisters, Harper and Gemma.
Harper is the more practical of the two, that works in a bookstore and seemingly has her life sorted out. Whereas Gemma is pretty and carefree, with a passion for swimming and also has a budding romance with Alex, the boy next door.
However, things begin to change when three new girls arrive in town, popular and mysterious, they begin to draw everyone's attention.
After a night out at the cove with them, everything Gemma knows begins to change.
This book was definitely an interesting one!
I like the way that it switches between Gemma and Harper's stories, so we see both sides to what is going on, along with a different set of events.
The characters are diverse and well-rounded, which makes up for a slight bit of cliche use.
4.5 stars!
This novel revolves around two sisters, Harper and Gemma.
Harper is the more practical of the two, that works in a bookstore and seemingly has her life sorted out. Whereas Gemma is pretty and carefree, with a passion for swimming and also has a budding romance with Alex, the boy next door.
However, things begin to change when three new girls arrive in town, popular and mysterious, they begin to draw everyone's attention.
After a night out at the cove with them, everything Gemma knows begins to change.
This book was definitely an interesting one!
I like the way that it switches between Gemma and Harper's stories, so we see both sides to what is going on, along with a different set of events.
The characters are diverse and well-rounded, which makes up for a slight bit of cliche use.
4.5 stars!
cari1268's review against another edition
3.0
I started this one a couple of months ago when I was going through bad morning sickness. This is not a morning sickness friendly book. I was hoping that there was a significant plot point when the author described trash that smelled like a dead animal. There wasn't. But seriously. Who's trash smells THAT bad?
I admit that this was an easy book to put down. It was s.l.o.w. Although the last 30% of the story picked up.
Maybe I would have been glued to this book if I would have liked the characters a little more. Gemma acted like a weakling and was at times, dumb. I wanted her to stand up to Harper at some point but she never really did. Her few weak efforts were just too little too late. Also, once learning what she had been turned into, she never did any sort of investigation on her own or even just googled it. Maybe it's wrong for me to assume that most people would do that. It especially frustrated me that she made such a huge decision on the advice of her (mentally limited) mother. I'm not even going to go in to the moral implications of her eventual decision.
Gemma's sister, Harper, was a more likable character. However, too often she came off as a grumpy control freak. She wasn't someone I would necessarily want to befriend.
I also had issues with the male characters. They were both depicted as losers and so it was hard for me to like them all that much. (Although Alex's dance at the computer scene had me smiling.) Harper is depicted as being judgmental for not liking Daniel, who wasn't doing very much with his life. While it was wrong of her to judge him so harshly and treat him so poorly, I found nothing wrong with wanting to be friends with or date people who have similar motivations and goals in life.
Despite these flaws, I think the author showed signs of brilliance. The pacing at the end kept me glued and even though her characters weren't the most likable, they weren't completely unlikable either.
If I see the next book in the library, I'll probably pick it up.
Three Stars.
I admit that this was an easy book to put down. It was s.l.o.w. Although the last 30% of the story picked up.
Maybe I would have been glued to this book if I would have liked the characters a little more. Gemma acted like a weakling and was at times, dumb. I wanted her to stand up to Harper at some point but she never really did. Her few weak efforts were just too little too late. Also, once learning what she had been turned into, she never did any sort of investigation on her own or even just googled it. Maybe it's wrong for me to assume that most people would do that. It especially frustrated me that she made such a huge decision on the advice of her (mentally limited) mother. I'm not even going to go in to the moral implications of her eventual decision.
Gemma's sister, Harper, was a more likable character. However, too often she came off as a grumpy control freak. She wasn't someone I would necessarily want to befriend.
I also had issues with the male characters. They were both depicted as losers and so it was hard for me to like them all that much. (Although Alex's dance at the computer scene had me smiling.) Harper is depicted as being judgmental for not liking Daniel, who wasn't doing very much with his life. While it was wrong of her to judge him so harshly and treat him so poorly, I found nothing wrong with wanting to be friends with or date people who have similar motivations and goals in life.
Despite these flaws, I think the author showed signs of brilliance. The pacing at the end kept me glued and even though her characters weren't the most likable, they weren't completely unlikable either.
If I see the next book in the library, I'll probably pick it up.
Three Stars.
cathyatratedreads's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty good, maybe even a bit better than I expected. I'd give 3.5 stars. But I don't know if I loved it enough for 4. I may even try reading the Trylle trilogy. Sounds like Hocking does benefit from having a good set of editors but has the stuff to make some good stories. This book has a good story and now makes me want to read the next book that's coming in the series.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/wake-watersong-young-adult-book-review/
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/wake-watersong-young-adult-book-review/
deemazztan's review against another edition
4.0
Not high literature by any stretch of the imagination, but a great popcorn book for the last days of summer.
maddi_md's review against another edition
3.0
This is my first book about mermaids (well not mermaids since they’re sirens) but mermaid type creatures. I had high hopes for it; I thought it would be a fun read about the dark and evil mermaids with a splash of summer lovin’. I was a tad disappointed. The book is not bad, in fact the storyline is pretty interesting but I just couldn’t get into it.
The PoV mainly jumps between the two sisters; Gemma (16) and Harper (18). These two are total polar opposites and so are they’re love interests. I really enjoyed the contrast between the two characters; they gave a different perspective of what was going on which was a bit fun. I really liked the relationship between the two sisters; they’re love for each other is really cute and admirable (I’m a big sucker for cute sibling relationships). But at the same time, Harper’s mothering of Gemma really did bother me at times. She’s an 18 year old who’s grown up way too quickly and feels she has to look at for her sister but sometimes her babying was really annoying! I could totally empathise with Gemma over her frustration sometimes. Both their love interests were pretty cute as well, they were of the pretty simple “hey I like you” sort without too much drama or angst. And while I did enjoy the switching between the view points of both sisters, I did not at all like it when it switched with other characters. For example there were moments when the point of view switched between Gemma and Alex with no transition mid-chapter. I hate that!! It’s confusing and kinnda takes me a second to really catch up.
Then we have the three beautiful and mysterious girls; Penn, Thea and Lexi. I didn’t really get them. I thought that maybe they were written a little over dramatically. Right from the get-go the whole town is completely suspicious of them, even speculating that they murdered their fourth friend. This just seemed a little bit ridiculous to me! First off; it’s a holiday town so they get a lot of strangers around this time. Second, strangers would often come and go so jumping to the fourth chick has been murdered seems a little too quick. Also every time they were in a scene I felt they came off a little too obvious and over-the-top.
The pace of the story also really bothered me, it was really slow and not much happened until about the 60% point and then it slows down again until about 90%. I didn’t like this; I really enjoy books that jump straight into the action. This one just gave too much background and had too much preamble for my taste.
This is a take-it-or-leave-it type of book. There were some great parts but overall I think it felt a bit flat.
The PoV mainly jumps between the two sisters; Gemma (16) and Harper (18). These two are total polar opposites and so are they’re love interests. I really enjoyed the contrast between the two characters; they gave a different perspective of what was going on which was a bit fun. I really liked the relationship between the two sisters; they’re love for each other is really cute and admirable (I’m a big sucker for cute sibling relationships). But at the same time, Harper’s mothering of Gemma really did bother me at times. She’s an 18 year old who’s grown up way too quickly and feels she has to look at for her sister but sometimes her babying was really annoying! I could totally empathise with Gemma over her frustration sometimes. Both their love interests were pretty cute as well, they were of the pretty simple “hey I like you” sort without too much drama or angst. And while I did enjoy the switching between the view points of both sisters, I did not at all like it when it switched with other characters. For example there were moments when the point of view switched between Gemma and Alex with no transition mid-chapter. I hate that!! It’s confusing and kinnda takes me a second to really catch up.
Then we have the three beautiful and mysterious girls; Penn, Thea and Lexi. I didn’t really get them. I thought that maybe they were written a little over dramatically. Right from the get-go the whole town is completely suspicious of them, even speculating that they murdered their fourth friend. This just seemed a little bit ridiculous to me! First off; it’s a holiday town so they get a lot of strangers around this time. Second, strangers would often come and go so jumping to the fourth chick has been murdered seems a little too quick. Also every time they were in a scene I felt they came off a little too obvious and over-the-top.
The pace of the story also really bothered me, it was really slow and not much happened until about the 60% point and then it slows down again until about 90%. I didn’t like this; I really enjoy books that jump straight into the action. This one just gave too much background and had too much preamble for my taste.
This is a take-it-or-leave-it type of book. There were some great parts but overall I think it felt a bit flat.
melissasbookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
I give this book 3 1/2 stars. This book falls into the guilty pleasure category. It was a lot of fun because it wasn't the typical mermaid story. The mermaids in this story are sirens, as in the killer kind. I listened to the audiobook version and really enjoyed the narrator. A few people have criticized the book saying it's difficult to tell which point of view the author is writing from. The audiobook version completely takes away this issue.
The narrator really made the sirens sound creepy, so much so that I was cringing from time to time listening. This story leaves on a cliffhanger so of course I have to read the second book. I would recommend it to 15 year olds and up. There is one intense kissing scene, but it is under the influence of siren song. There is very little swearing (only 3 or 4 mild words) and only two somewhat gruesome scenes (description of dead bodies).
The narrator really made the sirens sound creepy, so much so that I was cringing from time to time listening. This story leaves on a cliffhanger so of course I have to read the second book. I would recommend it to 15 year olds and up. There is one intense kissing scene, but it is under the influence of siren song. There is very little swearing (only 3 or 4 mild words) and only two somewhat gruesome scenes (description of dead bodies).
brandym103's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book! So much different than what I expected and definitely kept me pulled in!