I’m interviewing M.A. Church today on my LJ as part of her blog tour with Creative Minds Promotions for Beneath The Surface. There’s also a rafflecopter giveaway, and my book review is below:
TITLE: Beneath The Surface
AUTHOR: M.A. Church
PUBLISHER: OmniLit / All Romance eBooks, LLC
COVER ARTIST: Erin Dameron-Hill
LENGTH: 37,000 words
RELEASE DATE: April 01, 2016
BLURB: A whole different world exists beneath the surface.
The last thing Nisha expects while patrolling his territory is to find his mate, but his instincts tell him the handsome human diving into the surf is the one meant for him. Two bites and Kannon will be joined to him forever. But when Kannon’s father disrupts the mating process, Nisha releases his claim, hoping beyond hope his mate will one day return.
While free diving with his father, Kannon is bitten by a seductive merman. Although he swore to never go near the ocean again, the pull to return to the water and his mystery man remains strong. Finally, after fifteen years away, an impromptu wedding brings Kannon back to the Seychelles, and his destiny.
Kannon only plans to stay on the island for a week, but this time Nisha won’t let his mate go without a fight. Merfolk and human culture collide as the embers of Nisha and Kannon’s mate bond ignite, and Nisha must complete the mating before it’s too late.
Buy Link: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-beneaththesurface-1995078-143.html
Review
I haven’t read anything by this author before although she’s been on my TBR list for a while so when I was offered a review copy by Creative Minds Promotions I said yes please. That and it was about mermen….
Although this isn’t a long story and I read it in one sitting, the author does a great job in writing three dimensional interesting characters and world building within the constraints of a novella length.
One of the big things that stood out for me with this story was the way in which the author set up the mer culture. These are not just men and women with tails who can take human form, but who come from a society with a very different way of thinking about courtship and relationships. One of these differences was dealt with very well in the story, and when Nisha acted in a way that as a reader made me twitch, he is pulled up on by one of the human characters and told it’s not acceptable.
I also liked the fact that their transformation from mer to human form isn’t instant or painless. The politics of the mer world play a part too with not everyone in their society agreeing with Nisha’s choices and it that added to the realism of the world building.
Nisha and Kannon are both interesting characters with their own histories to work through, and I liked reading about characters who are a bit older. Nisha is much older—by human standards—and Kannon is 33, although we do get a glimpse of him at the beginning of the story fifteen years before that.
Although this is Kannon and Nisha’s story their friends and family also play a good sized role. I liked Brett and Brooke and the glimpse at their relationship and story. I really hope Beneath The Surfaceis not the only glimpse we have into this world as I want to see more of Marcus in particular—he was fun, and I’d love to read his story one day.
I’d recommend Beneath The Surface for readers who like to read about relationships between people from different worlds, interesting characters and world building, and mermen. 4.5 stars out of 5.
