Tag: #Nature

Undine’s Blessing by Tessa Hastjarjanto

On By @f33lthesunIn #YA1 Comment

Blurb

A dutiful daughter, a mystical archipelago, and a hidden power waiting to command the tides…

Marella spends her days caring for her sick mother and selling her father’s fish. Bound by duty and love, she dreams little of adventure. But when her mother must travel to the city for treatment, her father takes her out to sea, despite her fear of water.

A storm steers them to Emberrain, home to a tribe of magical nymphs and a place of secrets, where Marella discovers a startling truth: her father is a frequent visitor to these mysterious islands. Soon she learns that Emberrain isn’t the only secret he had kept from her.

Marella has the power to control water and communicate with aquatic animals.

Overwhelmed by the magical but dangerous islands, and the secrets of her father, Marella must learn to harness her powers to save herself and her new aquatic friend before they are separated from their parents forever.

Undine’s Blessing is a journey of wonder, where fears are faced and mysteries unravel, and a young girl learns that true adventure begins when you dare to embrace who you truly are.

Review

Undine’s Blessing is a fairy tale like story that mixes human and magical worlds through Marella and her father.

Marella’s childhood is spent looking after her poorly mother and doing chores to help them earn enough money to get by whilst her father takes his boat out for long periods, fishing and bringing back intriguing fruits they have never seen before. Where do they come from? Her father is evasive on that.

Marella is caught between her over protective mother and her adventurous father. She questions why her mother does not want yer hear the water but her wish to obey her mother clashes with her joy of swimming and her father’s wish to see her enjoy life more and not be bound to the home by chores.

When he takes Marella on one of his boat trips, she discovers where the fruit comes from…a magical land of nymphs. But what dark secrets lie beneath the surface? How can this place be linked to Marella’s apparent affinity with water and water based creatures?

You will have to read this to find out. Join Marella in this wonderfully crafted world as she discovers her talent for water magic and takes on the village elders to help nature recover from their actions.

About the Book

Length: 298 Pages

Genre: Fantasy

Age Category: Young Adult

Date Published: January 27, 2024

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/3A6CTUC (Canada) https://a.co/d/cFNzg3k (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/iR6Injk (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199001923-undine-s-blessing 

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/acdc824e-225e-40be-9778-03566593b1cb

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists (16 in 2024) and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads. 

Storm Child by Ele Fountain

On By @f33lthesunIn Upper KS2+Leave a comment

Blurb

Maya’s life is about to be upended. After her dad’s fishing boat is ravaged by a relentless storm, Maya’s parents make the decision to start over-by moving to a tropical island. But making a change doesn’t always make a difference.

Far from her friends and her quiet seaside home where she spent all her time surfing, Maya is swept away by a storm much larger than herself. As Maya begins to realise that paradise is not always what it seems, can she bring her family back home again?

Review

I am a huge fan of Ele’s previous books so jumped at the chance to review Storm Child.

Maya’s family own a stately home and have their own beach, where Maya and her friends meet to surf and roast marshmallows. However they are struggling financially, so when her father loses his fishing boat to a storm their income goes with it.

Her parents decide that moving to a tropical paradise, following in her uncle’s footsteps, is the answer. Maya is not happy as she will be leaving behind everything she loves.

It soon becomes clear that despite their enthusiasm, her parents do not have a proper plan to earn a living, they end up trying different things and Maya becomes frustrated. She struggles with not being able to surf, her parents are not there for her as they are working all hours. This adds to her emotional overload at having to make a new start and try to make friends.

Maya meets Kalani, a local girl who hates tourists, and becomes more aware of how the expansion of tourism is harming the environment and the impact it has on the indigenous people, as well as animal and marine life.

When her stubbornness and poor decision making puts herself and Kalani in danger, Maya has to make a decision that will affect everyone. Will her parents agree with her?

Once again Ele has written an engaging story that also carries a strong message about the environment and the negative impact humans have on it, whilst giving us hope that positive action can be taken to negate this.

Thanks to @PushkinChildren for the ARC in exchange for this blog review.