This one was ok it tosses you into a new world of mermaids. I really loved the city of Thessalonike! The politics in this story were fabulous I loved learning about their social classes. Reading this I was never lost but I do think the author could have been a little more descriptive on certain things to make the world come alive. I also think that the characters needed just a little more development. A few other things were left out as well about how water to land living works so I would have liked some back information about that as well.

This one although a good story lacked the depth to be an amazing story.

I was excited to read this because of the beautiful cover and the description. For the most part, I was happy with the book. Though I felt that the underwater city of Thessalonike and some of the supporting characters still needed more details to help readers visualize a bit better. Hopefully, since there seems there may be at least a sequel, this can be remedied. Will spread the word to my mermaid loving friends and will read again.

This has all the classic elements of a great YA fantasy novel. There's mystery, there's magic, there's a society divided into factions and there's murder. I started this book thinking it was going to be laughable and that I would be entirely disenchanted by page four. But, like a current, this book swept me along and I found myself reading the whole thing in a day because I had to know what happened! Add to that the (possible spoiler alert?) massive cliffhanger of an ending (end of possible spoiler) and you have yourself a recipe for a book, the sequel of which will definitely end up in my TBR list on goodreads as soon as it can!

The plot is pretty darn cool. I loved the elements of internal conflict in Jade as she struggles with the complications of noble society and the implications her actions could have on the rest of her family while still trying to be herself. In fact, you could probably take away the under the sea element and this would still be a halfway decent YA novel. But it's the fantasy element of having mermaids and naiads that makes this extra amazing. There are little touches, like how mermaids might administer medicine through the gills, or how mermaid clothing would work, or how there would certainly be a small amount of trade with 'overlanders' that make it clear that the author has really thought about how this society would function.

The romance was the only thing that might not suit everyone as there is a slight element of 'insta-love' that is disguised by 'we used to know each other as children' but I think this can be fleshed out in later books and it was certainly nowhere near as cringey or awful as these things have a tendency of being. Her romantic interest was also pretty awesome -at least in my imagination.

This is a strong opening to a series that could get a whole lot more amazing as it goes on and the underwater world expands in later books. The setting is interesting and captivating as it feels so different to the vast majority of fantasy books that I have known or loved, mainly as they are so often set in a forest. If you're at all on board with this mermaid trend that seems to be turning up everywhere (again?) then I recommend having a read of Breakwater, it'll quench your thirst for unique fantasy settings.

My rating: 4/5 Stars

Breakwater is due to publish on the 30th of May 2017 but is available to preorder now if the fancy takes you.

By the way: I received a digital advanced review copy of Breakwater from the publisher (Fathom Ink Press) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, all my opinions are my own and I wouldn’t recommend this if I didn’t think it was worth reading.

Breakwater is the debut novel by Goodreads author Catherine Jones Payne. I was provided an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. So here we go:
First off we can talk about the beautiful cover. It catches the eye right away, the full voluptuous hair and gleaming tail of one of fantasy most elusive creatures, the mermaid. I love the pink hair and the multi-color tail, I also enjoy that she and the mermaid community is not white.
Now we can move onto the book itself, I just REALLY enjoy this book’s cover. The story here is fairly standard coming of age story, with some politics and drama. The writing is not overly complicated and pacing is well done. Often times, I felt it difficult to put down as the story built and I needed to find out what happened next.
I feel I would have enjoyed some more description of Jade and the other mermaids, the pictures we get are mostly eye and hair color, only a few mentions of tail color or anything about the town, the buildings, or the other creatures. Maybe it is just my personal feeling but I wanted to enjoy the beauty of the mermaids themselves as well as their ocean world, and it was hard to do with such little description. There is also Jades bond with the sea creatures which is lightly touched on but not deeply explored, maybe in a second book? Finally the book ends on a cliffhanger, leaving plenty of room for a sequel or a possible series. Now I will be waiting for the follow up.
Overall I really enjoyed Breakwater and I will look forward to more in this series and more from Ms. Payne.

3 stars for trying to be original with mermaid characters, however the pacing was too slow, the "action" or drama not big enough to keep an interest, and overall it was really slow reading for me, it just didn't do it to keep my interest. I requested this book because I mostly read YA and I love everything mermaids, but unfortunately, for this read, I was really disappointed.

Leaving 3 star reviews on Goodreads and Amazon

*I received an ARC of Breakwater by Catherine Jones Payne from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This was an interesting read, think Law and Order with mermaids. The main focus of the story is about a trial for murder that involves the fiance of the main character. Jade is a seventeen year old mermaid who is engaged to a captain in the mer guard. At a party at her fiance’s house, she finds him holding the body of a dead naiad girl. Tor, her fiance, admits to killing the girl, and thus sets the story in motion.

The story is set in a fictional underwater city of Thessalonike. The mermaids, or mer as the author calls them, live with another two-legged race called naiads. The naiads originally come from a river kingdom, but had to leave when their river started dying. The mer of Thessalonike allowed the naiads to move into their city years ago, but they have never been equals. The naiad’s have the ability to manipulate water and even fashion their clothing from it. The mer are jealous of this ability.

When the trial starts the tensions between the mer and the naiads rise. Jade befriends Pippa, the sister of the murdered naiad. Together they try to prove that Tor is a murderer and that his family is hiding a secret.

What I liked about the story is that it had an intriguing twist for a mermaid story. The murder trial involving mermaids was interesting. The characters felt real and the dialog was great.

I wish the world building had been a little more detailed. I would like to know how the naiads are able to walk on the ocean floor. Also Jade talks about her gills, but you never really know where they are located. Just small things that could easily be fixed if there is a second book. Also the book ends on a cliff hanger. It didn’t seem like an ending to me so hopefully this is the first in a series.

This book has an expected availability date of May 30th 2017.

This book was a quick, enjoyable read. I've read very few novels dealing with mermaids, but this was one of the better ones I've read. It presented some social issues, such as systemic racism, to the forefront, and I enjoyed reading about the struggles between characters of different backgrounds, races, and social statuses. I wished the novel would have focused a bit more about the emotions of the victimized community and a little less on the social struggles of the main character, but it was still entertaining.

Overall, a good read that I would recommend to many, especially if they are fans of mermaids!

Breakwater, by Catherine Payne, was a read. It wasn’t horrible, but it was disappointing for those of us who like complicated stories. A good read for those who like short serial reads, this book follows Jade, a mermaid, in a mermaid world, whose fiance kills a human-like naiad, and must be tried for murder.

I had hopes for this story, it started out interesting, and then it wasn’t. At only just over 150 pages, there wasn’t a lot of room for development. It was a decent evening read, just disappointing for me.

I recommend this for those who like short stories or mermaids. Yeah.

Breakwater is story of Jade, mermaid (yeey :D) in the city of Thessalonike. She is daughter of kings adviser, so her social position is quite high. There is a lot of nobility in the city, it matter who you hang out with. Besides Mer there are also Naiads living in the city. The usually live in the rivers, but they were forced out and seek refuge in the city of Mer. Well, there are not treated well, more like servants.

She is engaged to son of powerful family, more because of sense of duty, than love.

One night she witness Tor (her fiance) do something horrible. Even though her mother advises her to not do anything about it, because of political reasons, she reports him and all the hell break loose.

Breakwater made me cry so much, especially during last chapters. It is just so unfair.

I love the story, but I have to say I am not in love with lead female character. Her strength doesn't convince me. It cowardice to do stupid stuff, that are not right, just to keep peace. It is harder to do right thing. I also don't live that she is so easily swayed. "Well I want you to marry a murder, because reasons. Pretty please." "You really want me to. OK. No problem." Ahh. Besides that, I really love the story and would love it, if there were more books.

I love the setting, it seems realistic, I also love the political intrigue. Details are amazing. Though I have to say I still wander how the... khm... go to the bathroom.

Really great book.

I have to say I am blown away by the cover of this book. It is gorgeous and it's what drew me in to wanting to read it in the first place. I am a huge fan of mermaids and I don't really read many stories about mermaids so I was excited to start this. I have to say I was let down by the story. It didn't pull me in as much as I hoped it would. I didn't hate it but I wasn't in love with it. It's basically about Jade who finds that the boy she is suppose to marry killed a naiad and she goes to report him which causes all these problems.

I think I didn't like this book as much because at times the main character would do things that annoyed me. I also at times felt like things were getting repetitive and I didn't end up enjoying that. I do have to say the character does end up developing and she ends up changing over the course of the book but her beginning scenes left me frustrated at times. In the end I don't think I really had a favorite character.

Overall I really felt like something was missing because I do feel this story has a lot of potential to be really enjoyable it just didn't do it for me. I did like that the ending landed on a cliffhanger. I wasn't expecting that. I did not realize this was the first book in a series. I may check out the next just to give the author another chance. I am a bit curious to see how things will play out.

<b>(I received an ARC of this book on NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.)</b> – I’m sorry in advance for the puns… they just happen.

If you’re going to write a book about refugees, please just write a book about refugees. Don’t mix it up with questions about monarchies and class structure and domestic abuse. Just write the dang book.

Breakwater is ostensibly about our brave protag, Jade, who sees all of the problems in her society and needs to Change Things and Save Lives. When she sees her fiancé holding the dead body of a naiad (the refugees), she suddenly realizes that treating other humans like animals is wrong! Unfortunately, Jade is also super self-centered, and continually keeps showing her privilege in stupid, careless ways, even though #woke characters call her on it. And of course all of the other characters continually tell her how courageous and selfless she is, so she gets to keep living in her privileged little bubble.

Here are some gems of Jade’s ignorance: <spoiler>

<b>“I understand,” I said. “I really do. I—I lost my father quite suddenly to violence a few years ago.”

“What happened?” Alexander asked in a low, soothing tone. I bit my lip.
“So many things. Everyone was rude to me. And then Felix said that the king’s agreed to expel the naiads from the city.”</b></spoiler>

Even if you don’t buy the multicultural reading of the book, you’ll still find that this author does a lot of <i>telling</i> instead of <i>showing</i> in this novel:

<b>Dependable, perceptive George! It seemed like he always knew the right thing to say!</b>

I just… can’t.

I was lured in by the beautiful cover and awesome title, but disappointed by the way things played out. Oh, yeah – and it’s book one of a series, so it’s not even over when it’s over.

Breakwater plunges you in to a world inhabited by mermaids. In this underwater city of Thessalonike, social classes are held and ruled over by the King. A human like species, called the Naiad, exists as the lowest standing class of this hierarchy. This story will immerse you in to the struggle of the oppression of the Naiad and the issues of injustice from the higher classes.

Though I enjoyed Breakwater for the most part, I felt like I was missing more imagery and details about this underwater world. I wish the characters had been a bit more developed and that I would have gotten a thorough explanation of how life works under the ocean and how the Naiads are able to walk on the ocean floor. This was a quick read, and the story really caught my interest after the first few chapters, but I still felt that it lacked depth.

The character of Jade was enjoyable enough, but, again, I felt that she needed more development. She was brave and held good morals, but she didn't stand out to me enough. I would have liked to have seen more of a connection between her story and her namesake's story. I also felt that her father's story was lacking details since it was used as much of her motivation.

The story line of the love interest took an unexpected twist. The ending of the book was definitely not expected and left me believing that there will be a sequel. I enjoyed the book enough to say that I would pick up the sequel to find out what happens.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC for my honest opinion.

This book was a good read. The story is told in first person point of view. The plot involves treachery, sacrifice, and a little romance. It is the calm before the storm, when tensions are rising, which cause others to act out.
Jade is a mermaid in the underwater city of Thessalonike. She is engaged to Tor, a captain in the king's army. When Jade witnesses Tor holding a dead naiad, she is in shock. When Tor tells her that the naiad was trying to blackmail his family and that he did not mean to kill her, Jade still feels she needs to report him. Jade has strong morals of right and wrong. By having Tor arrested, she creates many enemies and even her friends cannot afford to be seen with her. Jade ventures into the naiad territory and befriend's the murdered naiad's sister. Jade also comes into contact with Alexander, a merman whom Jade went to school with and was her first love. Jade testifies at Tor's trial and Tor tries to make Jade appear as a woman who wanted a tryst and Jade is betrayed by someone she considered a friend. The verdict of Tor's trial has many unforeseen consequences that put a lot of pressure on Jade and her family. Jade has been attacked and called a naiad lover. However, when Jade discovers the true reason behind the naiad's murder, she knows something must be done, even if she has to make many sacrifices. The naiads make a decision due to the restrictions the king has put on them and it affects Jade's plans to leave the city.
The story ends on a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see what direction the author is taking the story and if Jade will find the courage to seek her own happiness.

Before I launch into a review, can we talk about that amazing cover?! Love!

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Catherine Payne's Breakwater. Surprised because the first 10 minutes of the book left me skeptical. As the summary discloses, our story begins with our heroine, Jade, finding a murdered naiad in the arms of her fiancé. But before we get right into action, we catch a tiny glimpse of Jade's character through her inner monologue that gave me cause for concern.

"Of course, she’s not as well-connected as I am. I can’t assume it’s as easy for her as it was for me."

It made it a little hard for me to not picture Jade as Regina George from Mean Girls.

Regardless, I continued reading. To my pleasant surprise, Jade's character matures as she is forced to stand witness against her ex fiancé and aid the naiads who are facing growing animosity from the mer as a result of the murder. She loses some of that naiveté she displayed in earlier chapters when she realizes that not all is black and white. That the guilty can and do walk. The escalating hostility toward the naiads really hit home for me. You cannot help but draw parallels to the growing racial and religious conflicts in the US. The fear that turns to rage and violence. The violation of human rights.

Payne paints a beautiful story of political injustice and a heroine trying to follow in her father's footsteps to right wrongs against a community who does not merit them. The underwater world was a bit murky to me (Thessaloniki is a city in Greece, so I assume we're in or near the Mediterranean?). Pun intended. But I don't think that took away from the plot or the mystery around Anna's death, and I'm sure we will see more of this world as the series develops.

Unfortunately, I wasn't convinced of the romance between Jade and Alexander. Like Jade's relationship with Tor, we are not really privy to how and when they first fell in love. Once he comes back into her life, it felt like a switch was just turned back on and she was back in love. So I didn't really feel anything when the ending was revealed. However, I can forgive that considering the intended audience (YA).

Overall 4 stars for Breakwater! I look forward to the next installment after that ending!