Sinking: Book One of the Sinking Trilogy by Sarah Armstrong-Garner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
First off, a special thanks to the author who provided me with a copy of this lovely book! Seriously though- that cover is GORGEOUS and perfectly reflects the story inside.
I really enjoyed this overall. It reads much like a historical fiction – though of course it has magic! I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet weekend read full of romance and mystery.
The story is reminiscent of ‘The Little Mermaid’ – except that we know nothing about the main character (she doesn’t remember her past either) so we discover her secrets as she does. Basically Jocelyn washes up on shore in Ireland in front of a random house – and the lady of the house finds her and takes her in. Her intentions for Jocelyn are unclear at first – but it seems that she only wants to see what benefit she can gain from the girl. We also have some other interesting characters mixed into the plot, including one that reminds me from Gaston (from Beauty and the Beast.)
As I said before, Jocelyn has no memory of her past or even who (or what) she is. The selling point of the story was the mystery – not just figuring out her past – but figuring out the meaning behind the ocean’s whispers. Someone is clearly searching for her, using the ocean as a messenger. It seems like he’s a past lover… constantly calling to her. In addition to that, Jocelyn meets Adrian (basically Eric without the prince title) and starts falling for him. This is only the first bit of the book- so clearly a lot happens – but that’s all I’ll say for now. Except that the ending is a cruel cliffhanger, so be ready. (Okay I always complain about cliffhangers but at the same time it makes things so much more interesting.) I can promise this though- you’ll get the answers you are craving – so it won’t leave you hanging in that respect.
The settings were a major highlight for me. It starts out in Ireland (how cool is that?!) and then takes us on a journey through the seas and onto another beautiful part of the world that I won’t mention yet.
I did have a bit of a rough time with the narrative. It is told from an omnipresent POV which felt a bit jarring when jumping from character to character. I think it might be a “it’s not you, it’s me” situation as I haven’t really read many books told in this way. I had a harder time connecting with the characters. I really just wanted to be in Jocelyn’s head and experience everything with her – but we don’t have a ton of perspective from each character and I disconnected more than I wanted to.
The pacing was a bit slower than what I’m used to. All that to say- this was still told beautifully and had several SUPER cool creative elements such as the mermaid’s eyes and the necklace she wears.
My only other complaint was the insta-love. It wasn’t exactly straight up insta-love, but they fell for each other without getting to know much about one another. It felt like it happened too quick without enough development. Either way, I was still rooting for them… except when this mystery ocean dude was calling to her… because HELLOOOOO that mystery (insert winky face here).
To sum up- this was a great experience and I’m excited to see where this series goes. I’m hoping for more character development and I honestly can’t decide which guy I like (okay but I love it when that happens..) so I’m totally on board to pick up the sequel as soon as it is released.
(Oh, check out my instagram for pictures of the beautiful physical copy!)
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