Title: Ripple
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Release Date: July 26, 2011 (hardcover)
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 272
Source: Bought

Overall: 3.5 Stars

Summary:

Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. Each day she goes to school like a normal teenager, and each night she must swim, or the pain will be unbearable. She is a siren - a deadly mermaid destined to lure men to their watery deaths. After a terrible tragedy, Lexi shut herself off from the world, vowing to protect the ones she loves. But she soon finds herself caught between a new boy at school who may have the power to melt her icy exterior, and a handsome water spirit who says he can break Lexi's curse if she gives up everything else. Lexi is faced with the hardest decision she's ever had to make: the life she's always longed for - or the love she can't live without?  

My Thoughts:
I've been looking forward to reading Ripple for quite some time now, so I was really happy to finally have the chance to read it the other night! My ultimate favourite novel by Mandy Hubbard is still You Wish, but Ripple does still beat out her debut novel, Prada and Prejudice, I'm glad to say. I was eager to see Hubbard flex her writing talents by tackling the paranormal as compared to her previous lighter contemporary novels! And while the novel wasn't entirely what I'd expected it to be like, I still had a fun time reading it!

I felt so much sympathy for Lexi and what she had to deal with on her own for two long years. On the night of her sixteenth birthday, her affinity for water as a siren came into power all of a sudden... and she unintentionally killed Steven, the boy she'd been secretly in love with for awhile. Since that night, she has isolated herself and pushed everyone away, including her best friends, fearing for their safety while also living with the guilt that someone had died because of her. She's a very lonely girl who could use some comfort in her life, so when Cole starts trying to reach out to her, you just know she has to give in at some point. 

I just wish we could have seen their romance unfold some more before Erik had to enter the picture! It doesn't necessarily become a love triangle afterwards, but Lexi latches onto Erik with a feverish desperation that his words are true and her curse can be broken. Cole was a sweetheart... and I just didn't want to see Lexi break his heart! 

As someone who has read very few novels which feature any sort of sea-related paranormal creatures, I would have liked to have seen the mythology of sirens and nixes explored more in Ripple. I only know the basics, so it would have been fascinating for me to learn more about them. Instead, we were left with a few entries from an old journal and questionable explanations left by Erik to quell our thirst for some more knowledge. I thought it would have been nicer to see more of an inquisitive side to Lexi in learning about her heritage, instead of trying to regain the affections of people who had treated her poorly in the past.

Don't get me wrong, I really did like Ripple... but, I guess, there was still some aspects missing that would have really pushed me over into completely falling for the novel. That being said, Mandy Hubbard has most definitely weaved a heartwarming story into the pages of Ripple! If you're looking for a paranormal novel with an underrated creature such as a siren, while at the same time, searching for a touching storyline... then I think you'll really enjoy Ripple! I can't wait to see what type of novel Mandy Hubbard will write next!