The book alternates between past and present in a small fishing town in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the shifts in time and multiple POVs are handled with skillful aplomb. More than a hundred years later, 16-year-old Hester searches for the mystery behind a tragic curse that has haunted her family for generations. In the late 1800s, a mermaid named Syrenka makes a terrible mistake in judgment as she seeks companionship. I found this dark fairy tale to be wildly exciting and utterly gorgeous, however, and I think it will find its audience in readers who enjoy literary fiction or more mature YA. What I wasn't prepared for was an unconventionally striking story that will definitely not appeal to someone looking for a typical YA paranormal book.

Her eyes were too large, clear green, and had horizontal, slit-shaped pupils, reminiscent of an octopus.ĭid your pulse quicken when you read that paragraph? Mine did! I had a feeling I was going to love this book, because it blends several different things that I love: mermaids, the nineteenth century, and ghosts. Ezra startled, dropping his pencil into the water. It was a woman-as pale and luminescent as a ghost, with swirling white hair.

Take a photographic tour of the Monstrous Beauty world as Elizabeth Fama stops by The Midnight Garden to kick off her blog tour! Plus win a finished hardcover of the book.

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama