A Writers View

Crown of Coral and Pearl is a young adult novel about twin sisters and their tangled destinies. There’s Zadie, the twin who wants nothing more then to stay in her hometown and marry the boy that she loves, but whose beauty has predestined her as the bride of the mother kingdoms crown prince. Then there’s Nor, the twin who has dreamed her whole life about something more then just working and settling down, who’s unfortunate scar has shackled her to her hometown for good.

Desperate times call for desperate measure and the twins hatch a plan to Parent Trap the whole thing – and swap places!

Unfortunately, the tale is far from smooth sailing. Zadie’s actions have caused the parents of the boy she loves to deem her unsuitable for him. And Nor has discovered that not only is the crown prince’s brother far more lovable, but the crown prince himself is downright murderous!

With the tides turned against them, will these two sisters ever have a happy ending?

I had such a fun time with this book!!

And I’m about to give out some SPOILERS, so if you want to avoid those – then just scroll to the end, subscribe to my blog and then get yo’self to a bookstore to buy your own copy of Crown of Coral and Pearl!

First off, I loved the concept of an ocean city. Like, a literal, on the ocean, in the middle of the water, floating city! As a desperate ocean girl myself it had me going, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Secondly, I am such a huge fan of anything knights and ladies and castles – so all in all, the setting was a total *chef’s kiss*!

I am so excited to read the sequel, but before I do, I’ve got to share my thoughts.

So, here’s what I wanted to happen, what I thought was going to happen, and what I’m sure is going to happen.

Firstly, what I wanted to happen – I wanted there to be MORE TALIN!!! There were plenty of swoonworthy moments between Talin and Nor, and I just wanted there to be a liiiiiitle bit more. For example, I wished that Talin would’ve physically fought Ceren (multiple times) over Nor. I know, I know, there was the whole diplomatic situation going on and he was trying to avoid execution, of either himself or Nor, but still I would’ve liked to see a bit more chivalry out of him.

Secondly, I was so sure for a hot minute there that Ebb’s brother, the one that she was so hush hush about, was going to turn out to be Ceren. It would’ve made sense! And then, that would’ve meant that Ceren’s spy was Ebb. That the one person that Nor felt pretty confident was innocent, simple, and on her side was actually the worst one of the bunch. Ultimately, I’m glad that Ebb wasn’t a traitor, but it would’ve been such a ‘duh, duh, dun!’ moment!

And lastly, Ceren is most DEFINITELY alive!! There’s no way that he’s dead. He had just told us how Nor’s blood had finally made him healthy, and over the course of the whole book, we’d gotten to learn about how it was the exposure to the blood coral that had given Nor her own extraordinary healing abilities, so, there was no way that the blood coral would kill him. That, and she left before confirming that he was dead. It’s the classic murder rule – no body, no death, that b’ is still alive. Only one chapter later it is revealed that another character who was presumed dead, with no body, is in fact alive. So yeah, Ceren is totally alive!

Ranking systems are hard for me because, I want to give everybody and everything 10 out of 10 every time! But, I’m going to try to be accurate and serious for a moment, so… All in all I give this book 4.7 pearls out of 5!

Good job @mararaewrites! I can’t wait to read more of your work! 🙂

Ciao!