Page Princess: SCALES by Pauline Creedan

Title: SCALES
Series: Scales #1
Author: Pauline Creedan
Publish Date: 05.26.15
Publisher: AltWit Press
Category /Genre: N/A, Paranormal Romance
Recommended for: 12+ mature teens
Received from: Pauline Creedan (in exchange for an honest review)
Tour by: NKuhn Author Services
Goodreads link: Scales
Date completed: 06.21.15

Description from the publisher:

Verona is a bottom feeder. She is the one mer in her clan who is considered the ugliest and least intelligent. Growing up with the constant bullying and abuse wasn’t the worst of what her kind had in store for her. At seventeen years old, she must now endure “The Reckoning.”

The scales will measure her worth to her clan. Will she endure thirty days as a land-walker to gather information and knowledge to appease her clan and return a valued member? Will she wait three years, until she is twenty, and find a mer of her kind to accept her and marry her? Or will she suffer exile for the rest of her life?

* * *
All summer long, join the authors of the “Falling in Deep Collection” for unique tales of creatures from the deep!

From mermaids to sirens, Miami to Athens, dark paranormal romance to contemporary stories with steam to folktales, the fifteen award-winning and best-selling authors of the “Falling in Deep Collection” are bringing you mermaid tales like you've never seen before.

Every week beginning May 26th, 2015, we'll be releasing one unique, never-before-published novella! Each novella will feature our favorite creature of the deep: mermaids.

The Falling in Deep Collection (May – September 2015 Releases)

Scales by Pauline Creeden
Ink: A Mermaid Romance by Melanie Karsak
Of Ocean and Ash by A. R. Draeger
Deep Breath by J. M. Miller
At the Heart of the Deep by Carrie Wells
The Mermaid’s Den by Ella Malone
The Water is Sweeter by Eli Constant
The Glass Mermaid by Poppy Lawless
An Officer & a Mermaid by Blaire Edens
How to be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes
Cold Water Bridegroom by B. Brumley
A Beyond the Sea Prequel by Emily Goodwin
Immersed by Katie Hayoz
Siren's Kiss by Margo Bond Collins
To Each His Own by Anna Albergucci

Never miss a release! Keep in touch with us online at http://eepurl.com/bdRtbD

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This is a prequel in a new series. They will need to be read in order.

I felt so bad for Verona (Her mother named for the city of Romeo and Juliet). She has been labeled as a bottom-feeder by her clan, meaning that she is not intelligent and/or too emotional. Because of this, she has been bullied since she was very young and is now subject to exile. To rejoin her clan, she would need to either spend a month on land returning with knowledge not yet known about the humans, or be claimed by a mer-man as his bride. Her father has filled her with fear of the land-walkers and it is very unlikely that anyone will claim a bottom-feeder. This leaves her with permanent exile as her only option, struggling between the fear of being discovered by the bullies, the sharks, or the humans.

Now, imagine yourself being put to a similar test based on who you were at say 15 or 16 years old. Released from home with nothing more than the shirt on your back. You have no survival skills, no money, nobody to turn to for comfort, entertainment, or protection. How long would you last? What would you do?

Though there were times that I was frustrated with Verona for not doing what I might do in the given situation, I was also filled with sympathy for her fears and trepidation. This isn’t my story, it’s hers. Her only respites are her visits with the wild horses of Chincoteague Island and stealthily watching soap operas through the back windows of Betty’s house.

There is not a cliff-hanger, but I was still angry when I came to the end of the book. I have a burning need to know what happens to Verona.

This is the first book that I have read from Pauline Creedan. I’m hoping I’m invited to read SALT when it’s ready.

Grammar/editing: ungraded – book received as an unedited ARC / errors excused

The Scales series: