Title
Sea Witch (Sea Witch #1)
Book Details
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publication Date: July 31, 2018
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
ISBN: 9780062438775
Book Description
Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.
Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.
A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.
Author
Sarah Henning is a recovering journalist who has worked for the Palm Beach Post, Kansas City Star, and Associated Press, among others. While in South Florida, Sarah lived and worked through five hurricanes, which gave her extreme respect for the ocean. When not writing, she runs ultramarathons, hits the playground with her two kids, and hangs out with her husband Justin, who doubles as her long-suffering IT department. Sarah lives in Lawrence, Kansas, which, despite being extremely far from the beach, happens to be pretty cool.
Connect with Sarah on her website, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.
My Thoughts & Takeaways
I thoroughly enjoyed Sea Witch by Sarah Henning. Henning incorporated real Danish history including the tradition of Danish witch-hunting in this retelling of where the story of The Little Mermaid originated. She also incorporated more realistic witch vibes than the typical Disney abracadabra type witchcraft.
While it was hard to put down towards the end, I was pretty much hooked from the beginning. But, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily action-packed. I’m just really intrigued by anything witchy, ocean related, and fairytale retellings so this was bound to be a hit for me.
I’ve always loved The Little Mermaid but I was intrigued with Ursula too. So, it was really cool to get this origin story about how she came to be who she was but also who she was beforehand.
I enjoyed Evie, the MC of the story, a lot. She was relatable and kind, which makes it all the more interesting that she ends up being the Sea Witch. I also really loved Nik, Evie’s best friend. There was nothing cringey about him – no typical bad boy YA tropes about him. Which I like a good bad-boy character too, but I really liked Nik’s character.
Looking forward to reading the second half of this duology soon.
