Rising by Holly Kelly

Synopsis

In a war between the humans and the inhabitants of the sea—humans will lose. Xanthus Dimitriou—the most lethal Dagonian to rise from the ocean—is on a mission to save mankind from annihilation. But first there’s one small thing he needs to do. Kill a young woman in a wheelchair.

Killing her doesn’t start out as part of his plan. He entrenches himself deep in the human world. Aligning himself with his enemies, he prepares to send them to Triton to face their punishment. Then Sara Taylor rolls onto the scene. Xanthus knows at once she’s a criminal. And her crime? Being born. She’s a human/Dagonian half-breed, an abomination. Killing her should be an easy job. All he has to do is break into her apartment, slit her throat, and feed her body to the sharks. Simple, right? Wrong. If only she weren’t so beautiful, so innocent, so sweet... Saving the world may have to wait. It appears he has a woman to save. But protecting her may cost him his own life.

My Review

Being a part of the Clean Teen Publishing street team comes with the wonderful perk of being able to read and review their books before they are released.  My favorite part about this perk is that their books are always so unique.  I have not read a book from them that reminded me of any other book I have read.  Their authors have such original ideas and they translate onto paper (or ereader screen) wonderfully.

Rising is no different.  I have never read a book about mermaids (and in this case Dagonian) since The Little Mermaid.  What I loved most about this book was the Greek mythology tie-in.  You can tell that Holly did her homework before sitting down to write, and did not just throw together random bits of information. There was action, adventure, new beginnings, and a whole lot of shenanigans.  Fun. Fun. Fun.

Now, I will warn you that this is not a sexually explicit book, so some things are left to the imagination.  It was actually one of my favorite parts of the book - well after reading the book and having conversations with a few others who read the book.  Trying to decide how certain things would work in this type of situation. Holly happened to see this conversation and decided to inform us so that we weren't quite so confused.  She explained that the female anatomy of a "fish" (as I so eloquently put it) is the same as ours, but everything is in the front.  She continued, "When it comes to males, you don’t really see much unless they are… you know… Need I go into detail? If you don’t understand, go ask your mother." Ha!  

About Holly Kelly

I'm a mom who writes books in her spare time: translation--I hide in the bathroom with my laptop and lock the door while the kids destroy the house and smear peanut butter on the walls. ;) I was born in Utah but lived in Salina, Kansas until I was 13 and in Garland, Texas until I was 18. I'm now back in Utah--"happy valley". I'm married to a wonderful husband, James, and we are currently raising 6 rambunctious children. My interests are reading, writing (or course), martial arts, visual arts, and spending time with family.

Stalk Holly

Rising will be available on September 6, 2013 on Amazon!


For more information on Clean Teen Publishing, please visit their website!
For information about their adult division, please visit Crimson Tree Publishing!


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