Break Wide the Sea by Sara Holland (Phoenix Flame) is the first installment of a captivating, darkly romantic series containing aquatic fae and a tidal wave of betrayed love and ruinous curses.
Eighteen-year-old, "dark blonde"-haired Annie Fairfax is cursed. "In the old days," when finfolk magic was stronger, "they could curse an entire... bloodline." The Fairfaxes, who run one of Kirkrell's prosperous whaling companies, are one such family, doomed by a monstrous "heartbreak" curse that passes through the generations. A brokenhearted Fairfax becomes a scaled, clawed creature blinded by bloodlust.
Annie's curse activated six years ago when her parents drowned in a finfolk attack and Annie took control of the Fairfax Whaling Company. Whalers hunt Livyati, magical whales prized by the seafaring people of Kirkrell. However, Livyati sightings are decreasing as finfolk attacks increase. At least Annie has stalwart fiancé August by her side. When half-finfolk captain Silas Price seeks Annie out to tell her the curse can be broken, he insists she must agree to stop killing Livyati. If she doesn't, devastating war with the finfolk is inevitable. And, Silas says, Annie desperately needs to lift the curse soon--August is about to betray her.
Holland's oceanic setting is inherently high-stakes, and the author capitalizes on the danger and romance that long days and nights on a whaling expedition afford. Holland undoubtedly succeeds at the difficult task she has set for herself: create a compelling plot with a main character who is, in her own words, "weak and avoidant and fragile." Hand this title to fans of Tricia Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King or Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author