Midnight Pearls

Title: Midnight Pearls

Author: Debbie Viguie

Series: Once Upon A Time

Number of Pages: 198

Date Read: 7/20/15

Genre: Fairytale Retelling

Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)

In a quiet fishing village seventeen years ago, one lone fisherman rescued a child from the sea. He and his wife raised the girl, Pearl, as their own daughter, never allowing themselves to wonder long about where she came from -- or notice her silver hair, usually pale skin, and wide, dark blue eyes.

Pearl grows from a mysterious child into an unusual young woman, not always welcomed in the village. As all the other girls her age find husbands, she has only one friend to ease her loneliness. One very special, secret companion: Prince James.

But their friendship is shaken when trouble erupts in the kingdom -- a conspiracy against the royal family combines with an evil enchantment from beneath the sea. Now, just when Pearl and James need each other most, bewitching magic and hints about Pearl's past threaten to tear them apart...forever.

My Review:

This was a really good, interesting and different retelling of the little mermaid. Its basically has the same events as the original tale but instead there are two princesses and two princes. It was really cool how the story was split up into between all the characters with each taking some aspect of the story. 

Pearl is the main character of the story. She is found in the ocean at the age of four during a storm by the fisherman Finneas. Finneas took her from the ocean and brought her home to his wife. They raised Pearl as their own child. They knew she was different but they didn't want to know where she was from or if she was human. They just loved her as their child. Fast forward and by the 2nd chapter Pearl is 17 years old and different from everyone in the village. She has silver blond hair, large eyes and pale pale skin. Pearl has one friend, Prince James. Her parents don't know about their relationship. They had been meeting on the beach by Pearls home every week since they were seven and they are best friends. Marriage proposals for both Pearl and James as well as a plot against the king's life are included in the plot. 

Pearl is a very sweet girl. She feels that she is different but she doesn't know how. Her parents don't talk to her about how they found her or speculate on what she is. She feels a call to the ocean but remembers being told by someone that if she goes in the ocean she will die. She does not want to get married and wants to keep her cozy life with her parents by the beach. I liked her a lot. 

There are three other characters in the book as well, Prince James, Kale and Faye. I know what you're thinking, Pearl and James fall in love and get married...WRONG! I'm not going to say anything but there are many twists in the romances and marriages in this book. Kale and Faye are merpeople and they are royalty in the merworld. Pearl is too but she doesn't know it. I liked Kale and Faye well enough but they came on kind of strong and they also came out of nowhere. I thought it was only gonna be Pearl and James in the book but then these two show up. There was so much "love" in this book. But the storyline was good. 

I loved how each of these characters took on parts of the story. I'm not going to go into who took what part of the tale but all parts of the original were in it including the sea witch and the deal she makes. I also though it was very interesting and creative in the way the mermaids acted on land. Its like humans in water. We can't breathe underwater and in this book merpeople can't breathe out of water. Just like real fish. I thought that was cool and different. 

All in all a good retelling that I enjoyed alot. 

Rating: A+