Review: Florence by Ciye Cho

Title: Florence

Author: Ciye Cho

Source: ebook from author for review

goodreads...

Seventeen-year-old Florence Waverley is out of her depth. Literally. Kidnapped and taken below the waves to the mer world of Niemela, she is the ultimate gift for merman Prince Kiren: a human familiar tied to his side. But nothing is what it seems amid the beauty and danger of a dark ocean.

Every Niemelan has a role to play, from the mermaids who weave towers out of kelp to the warriors who fight sea monsters. But in trying to survive, Florence will end up in the middle of a war between the mer and the Darkness. A conflict that will push her between two brothers: Kiren, the charmer inexplicably drawn to both her and the monsters; and Rolan, the loner who has been pushing her away since the day they met. But in order to take a stand--and find out where she belongs--Florence will have to risk it all: her life, her heart... and her very soul.

My take...

I am a huge fan of mermaids and mermen. So when I got asked to review Florence, I jumped at it. Unfortunately it started off a little shaky for me. At the beginning, Florence is talking about her classmates while on a school trip snorkeling. She calls the girls Nymphs. Now I knew that the book would be about merpeople and all, but when Florence called the girls that I wasn’t sure if she was actually referring to them as (water) Nymphs or if she was figuratively calling them that. And when she saw the merman who kidnapped her it was almost like she wasn't that scared of him. Do humans know about merpeople? Do you get what I am trying to relay here? I guess what I am saying is I wasn't sure if merpeople were a secret from humans at the beginning of the story. It wasn't until she woke up under the sea that I fully understood she really didn't know about them at all before this moment. So yeah, to say I was a little confused is an understatement.

And another thing is the story was kinda slow for the first half. The author is going on about different classmates of Florence, so much that I assume they will play a role somehow in the book. But they don’t. It just sorta ends there when she gets kidnapped. I am guessing some of it is used to give some background about our girl Florence, but actually it left me a little bewildered.

Once Florence is awakened, she starts getting acquainted with life under the ocean and the ways of Niemelan. But through the whole first half I never really connected with Florence. I guess because we only got snippets of her past, I felt I really didn’t know her. It wasn’t until the second half of the book that I actually start liking her. I guess you can say she just floated through most of the book before I took any interest to her as a character.

I enjoyed the other characters of the book though. Especially Rolan, even though he came off hardheaded and untouchable, I knew I would love him. Kiran was a sly one that I found liking at the end thanks to his actions. Although, it might have been one of those ‘a little too late’ moments.

I had to push through the first half before it finally got good for me in the second half….only to have it end too abruptly for my taste. It wasn’t really a cliff hanger per say, but it just ended. Not a lot of closure. So I am assuming this book will have a sequel since a lot was left unanswered.

I understand a lot of people rated this 4 stars or above, but for me it just didn’t click. So I can only rate it a good 3 stars. It wasn’t horrible; I was just confused a lot and couldn’t get a good reading flow going. Hopefully you will give it a go and you will enjoy it more than me.