Monday, January 26, 2009

I have the chops?

Dear Readers,
Lots of you have asked for more blogging about SEVEN TEARS INTO THE SEA and so I thought I'd show you a review which ran recently on BOOKISH. I really like it a lot. This is a perceptive reader & I'd love to contact her, but I haven't had any luck.
The title for this entry comes from the end of the review, where the writer says : This definitely isn't Farley's "Phantom Stallion" series, and it shows that she has the chops to carry off something better.
I don't know about better, but different! Those of you who've read both the Phantom series & 7t, what do you think?
I didn't notice any spoilers, but read on at your own risk.....



Seven Tears into the Sea by Terri Farley


I actually read this book a couple years ago, but it happens to be one of my favorites--so, here I am, reviewing it!

Book Description: Gwen, 17, has returned to a small beach community seven years after the scandal that forced her family to flee. Now she's spending the summer working at her grandmother's inn and hoping to put the past behind her. The very first morning she's there, however, she meets Jesse, a boy who claims he already knows her, and knows what happened all those years ago. Overcome by her attraction to him, Gwen spends more and more time with him and realizes that he has secrets he isn't telling her. Her grandmother's tales of selkies foreshadow what is to come, and readers will probably guess the outcome long before Gwen does. If they can get past the sentimental title that belies the real story, the romance and mystery will keep them reading until the very end. Expect this to be popular where retold myths and fairy tales are in demand. (Amazon.com)

One of the reasons I stumbled upon this book is because I was in search of a good story about selkies. Selkies are one of the lesser-known mythological creatures out there, but definitely more fascinating than many. Seal-to-human shapeshifters, they actually shed their sealskins to go from one form to another. They're also, as Gwen points out to a couple of tourists, pathologically beautiful and seductive. (But without the whole dead thing vampires have going on.)

Jesse, the hero of Seven Tears, definitely has these traits going for him. But at the same time, Terri Farley gives him a strangely naive, childlike personality--as if he hopes that everything will work out, but is wise enough to know otherwise. He's definitely not the arrogant bad boy you see in most romantic fantasy stories today, though he's no weakling, either. Jesse is different, and I love that Farley marked him as one of a kind in her book. This is why Gwen is originally drawn to him. He doesn't care--or even know, really--about our society's way of life.

Gwen's an endearing heroine, being pretty practical and independent for a girl who is falling for a selkie. Although I think that the "incident" of seven years before--which, though not really that terrible, sounds like it is--could have resonated more with her, she's definitely not an idiot. She's a girl falling in love with the impossible, but not stupidly.

Seven Tears is written for a teenage audience, and it, like Stephenie Meyer's books, is pretty chaste, considering the YA books we see today. There's kissing, and plenty of passion, but it doesn't go in-depth--and it definitely doesn't make you feel like you're reading a cheesey romance novel. The side characters of Gwen's grandmother and Zach are interesting as well, though I think that Zach's ending in the story could have been more specific. The book is well-written, and has a bittersweet, but believable, ending. My mother read this book, and loved it just as much as I did, so don't let the teenage label stop you from trying it out. This definitely isn't Farley's "Phantom Stallion" series, and it shows that she has the chops to carry off something better.

Recommended buy for fantasy and romance lovers.

Rating: Four and a half out of five stars.


Permalink to this blog post

Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:36 AM

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Comments: That is so great! I haven't read Seven Tears yet, but after this review, I want to soooooo bad! I'm gonna ask my mom if we can go to Barnes 'N Noble today, or tomorrow, 'cause right now it's snowing, so I can get it! Yahootie!
  Sounds good! I will try to read it some time. :)
  Hi from Anna:

wow; Kelpies and Seklies; these are new words to me; as a child I used to read many stories of "Critters turing into people;
a story of a Prince who was turned into a Bear; the only chance he had was if a Maiden married him; a maiden married the Bear; under the Bear's Fur was a Prince in golden clothing; a happy ever ending story

I think animals are similar to people; animals are very smart; they can find their own food from trees and shrubs; I think we as people could learn much knowledge from our animal friends;

I guess I'll be traveling to a horse rescue in connecituct soon;

so I may not be on line for a few;

thanks for caring about the critters; y'all are great people !

anna in conn. age 57 (i'm old; LOL)
Thanks ! Howl; Neigh; Meow; bow wow
  I haven't read it yet but I'll get it from the library. I dont know if you can get much better then the phantom stallion series. also i'm not big on fantasy or romance.
but I'll try it out.
  HI!
If any of you do read 7 tears, please let me know what you think!
The book I'm working on right now has a slightly similar atmosphere...T.
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