For as long as she can remember, Addie McKay has had an intense fear of the sea—which made growing up with the Atlantic Ocean as her backyard rather difficult.
But something has changed. Lately she has found herself strangely drawn to the ocean. It's as though the sea is casting a spell over her, calling out to her, and she can't help but feel that it coincides with the arrival of the mysterious stranger in town.
Addie's never had a reason to step foot in the ocean until one night she's forced to dive into the salty depths. There she makes a startling discovery and exposes a hidden threat looming beneath the surface.
Now, Addie knows there is more to her lifelong fear of the water than she ever imagined possible—and that it may be the only thing keeping her from being swept away by the sea.
Erica Cope lives in the Midwest with her husband, three children, three dogs and three cats (she has a thing for the number three). She has an unhealthy addiction to coffee, a bad habit of binge watching shows on Netflix and eating pretzel M&Ms for breakfast. When Erica isn't writing you can find her pretending to play her guitar, reading or baking something delicious.
I have been dying to read Sea Swept since I first heard it was going to be about mermaids. I mean, who doesn't love mermaids? I initially read the companion novella, Riptide, which introduces us to the world of Kestia and sets up the conflict for Sea Swept. There are some spoilers in Riptide that allude to the events in Sea Swept, so I recommend reading it only if you don't mind learning about the back story.
Addie McKay appears to be a perfectly normal girl with an intense fear of the ocean. However, after being forced to jump into the water, she discovers that she is in fact a mermaid from the kingdom of Kestia. What follows is a wonderful story of self-discovery filled with action and lots of cute moments between Addie and her "bondmate", Lachlan. You'll just have to get Sea Swept to know what that means. ;)
I absolutely loved this book. It was beautifully written, well-paced, and had some great moments in it. The description was wonderful, and I loved all the mermaid jokes in it. Erica Cope is such a wonderful storyteller and I can't wait for more from her.
Not good, not bad. A quick little read to cleanse the palate so to speak. I enjoyed the whimsy of the story, but the main character lacked gumption and didn’t really build as much as I thought she could have. But, this isn’t exactly a serious story, so that can be forgiven.
My daughter will love this - has it all. Teenagers, mystery, mermaids, true destiny etc... Very sweet. Similar to Indigo series but more "grown up" i.e. tween
If I had known that "bondmarks" and destiny would be such an important and ever-present part of this story I would have skipped it altogether. The romance in this story is extremely underwhelming, using the 'soulmate' angle as a crutch to avoid character development.
This has to be one of the most repetitive books I've ever read. The first half of this book is Addie saying "I'm terrified of the ocean, but sometimes I feel drawn to it" over and over again. The second half alternates between "I need to go back, my feelings for Lachlan aren't real" and "I won't be able to defeat the villain" ad nauseam. A good editor could easily slice out half of this book without missing any plot beats.
The villain is laughably bad. It's almost funny how easily she's beaten after (apparently) terrorizing an entire populace for a generation. It makes all the earlier navel-gazing of the book seem especially egregious. Dozens of chapters are spent on the MC contemplating her feelings for the guy she just met, while the first and last confrontation with the evil usurper gets a few paragraphs.
Addie McKay has an unnatural fear of the water that keeps her locked up in the tower of her lighthouse more so than near the beautiful shores. But when a mysterious hunk makes his debut in her small town, she finds herself drawn out to sea, and to him. Once she lets her guard down and allows herself the opportunity to really live, she finds that her world literally begins and ends with the sea that she has kept at bay all her life.
Erica Cope has once again done a fantastic job of exploring a world that isn't frequently traveled. I love how Erica builds drama and a purpose so that her stories are about more than a teen romance. Yes, Lachlen is hot and dreamy and everything a merman should be, but Erica is good about keeping the focus on his need for her to help save his kingdom. Lachlan's the kind of guy all of our teen book boyfriends need to be like: a strong sense of patriotism and a desire to help his girl grow into the woman she's supposed to be. Oh, and with a extra helping of gorgeousness, too. ;) Well done, Erica!!
This is one of the most wonderful story I have read in a long while. Honestly the way the author writes was like having a movie playing in my head. Her descriptions were so vivid, yet they weren't over the top. I went into this story completely blind. I had never read anything by Erica and I knew nothing about this book. I had not read the synopsis or any reviews.....so yep totally blind. This story and the characters were totally enchanting and I loved every second. Beautifully written and I'm so thankful to have found this wonderfully talented author.
I think this is my first mermaid story? I've always been a bit reluctant to read mermaid stories because, I don't know, they seem kind of cheesy. But this isn't cheesy. I just love Erica's stories. She has this uncanny gift for storytelling. She makes you feel like you are the protagonist. I loved all the characters, Lachlan, Lindsay, Bailey, Sarah. Lachlan is probably my newest book boyfriend. *fans self*. If you are looking for something enchanting, fun with great writing and relatable characters, I seriously recommend Sea Swept as your next read
After much thought, I've decided not to rate Sea Swept. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this book and I love young adult but I've just hit a point to where some young adult books can be too young and this one was for me. It made it harder for me to connect to the main character and I ended up skimming a lot. But mermaids! That was a plus and I hope to read more books about them in the future as well as more by Erica Cope.
This book was really interesting and I really liked it for the most part. My only problem with it was how repetitive it was. About every five pages we would hear once again how afraid Addie is of the water and friends trying to pressure her to go in anyways. Then at the end of the book they just skimmed over everything really fast and it was like this happened so that's it, oh well, when it should have been much more emotional.
I guess I was just expecting a little more. The story was incredibly simple with limited characters and descriptions. It was a great quick read but not one of those books I'd read again because of how much I liked it. It felt more like an author's daydream instead of an incredible story.
The story was so well written and flowed so nicely. The adventure parts were fun. One of the most important parts were that Addie would do what her heart felt instead of thinking logically and making things complicated!
I enjoyed this book. It wasn't too serious and paced well.
The story and characters held my attention, but neither made me feel something deeper than mild entertainment. Although I felt the ending was a little too open.
I Loved this book. I want more! It was a great short book about mermaids. I liked the adventure and how detailed her writing is. I was able to picture everything perfectly clear.
The Little Mermaid meets The Thirteen Year. Not much of a original or unique intake on mermaids, but an interesting and entertaining read. Sweet story of finding where you belong. 3.5 Stars