Book Review: Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Sea Witch

Author: Sarah Henning
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (July 31, 2018)
Hardcover, 368 pages
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Summary
Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

Rating: 5 stars

Review
I fell in love with Sea Witch, and I fell hard. I'd kind of like my heart back please, and maybe some tape or glue so I can try to piece it back together? Thanks.

I kept thinking I knew what to expect next from this book, and then no. No I did not. It's written in the first person present tense, which I don't really love but Henning makes it work for her with a few minorly awkward seeming areas. Interspersed through the main story being told in Evie's (present tense) voice, there are flashback chapters told from an omniscient view that alternates focus on various major players. Just when I'd start to get comfortable and smug, thinking I knew what was in play and what was coming next, there'd be one of these expository chapters that would reveal the inner mind and motivations (and machinations) of various characters. Then suddenly it was like my whole world was tipped on its axis and I was like "Wait, what? WHAT?!?!" I just... I can't... This book... *sigh*

Just amazing. Words can't express the level of amazing this book is. Are we sure this is Sarah Henning's debut novel? And, um, can she please have a whole dragon hoard of almost-finished novels that will be ready to publish very soon that are just as mind-blowingly amazing as Sea Witch? Because I have definitely added Sarah Henning to the top of my auto-buy list.

Evie is a great character and, having heard that this is sort of an Ursula (from Disney's The Little Mermaid) origin story, I kept trying to figure out where she'd go to the bad. I have a soft spot for villains, especially believable villains who are the hero of their own story, or who fall while trying to do the right thing. I love the complexity of the relationships between them all, and I had some major second-lead syndrome going on too.