Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

RIPPLE
Mandy Hubbard
YA PNR-Mythologic Elements
Paperback; 272 pages
July 21st, 2011 by Razorbill/Penguin


            THE FAERYS VIEW


Ripple by Mandy Hubbard explores the Siren theory in a completely new light from the recent rash of siren books that have taken us by 'storm' lately. Ms. Hubbard’s managed to capture a young girl’s nightmarish secret life and describe it through her eyes in a way that you really feel what she’s going through. 

Lexi’s story is told in the first person, starting two years after a dreadful occurrence that led to her boyfriend, Steven’s drowning and the end of life as Lexi knew it. At Lexi’s 16th birthday party given to her by her bestest friend since childhood and also Stevens sister, she comes into her siren powers and feels an urgent pull to go into the ocean. Nothing is the same after that midnight swim.


Lexi soon figures out that she must swim nightly and finds a secluded lake up in the mountains where she knows she can’t kill anyone with her ‘song’. That is until Cole, Steven’s best friend shows up there just as she’s stripping down. He doesn’t see her but she fears her hiding place isn’t as safe as she once thought.


Since the death of Steven, Lexi’s guilt and fear of harming another has kept her distanced from everyone; once an extremely popular and outgoing girl, she is but a shell of that person now. Those that were once her best friends now say nasty things to her and treat her unkindly.
Cole is the one person left in school who doesn’t treat her like she has the plague or like she’s a murderer. He's extremely good-looking and hangs with the popular crowd but Lexi has seen him look at her with sympathy in his eyes.


Enter Erik, a handsome new student that bears a striking resemblence to Lexi, someone who says he knows her secret and claims he can help her and take away the siren part of her but there’s a big catch. Before Lexi realizes it, she’s caught in a sort of love triangle. She is really falling for Cole, the one person who really never gave up on her, he’s the boy that put’s the flutter in the flutterbee's in her stomach and spending time with him reminds her of who she used to be-even when he knows her secret he stands by her.
Then there is Erik, handsome and polite, the one who says he can ‘cure’ her of being a siren. Lexi doesn’t know who she can trust, if anyone. I don’t want to give to much more of the story away, there is so much more to it!


This isn’t just a story of a siren; it’s a story of Lexi and her struggle with the guilt she’s endured, her selfless forced isolation and the fight to keep her hidden from others as she swims. Lexi has given up everything to hide from others in order to distance them from her. This is a story of her struggle but it’s also a story of treachery, deceit and murderous intent. From whom you ask? Well, read the story!


I would recommend this book to any and all friends and family, young and old. It has all the fixings for a great Young Adult Paranormal Romance but it entails mystery, intrigue and danger! Ms. Hubbard’s done an excellent job making her characters so realistic that you feel as if you know them. The storyline itself is unique and the plot twists were fantastic.


The Faery says READ THIS BOOK!!!