Seventeen-year-old Marei lives on Alabaster Island, a remote tropical isle inhabited by twenty-one families. Nobody under the age of eighteen has ever left to visit the mainland. The island and its strange customs are all that Marei and her friends know.
For years, Marei dreaded the Binding. On that day, each teen must write his or her choice of life mate. But with her childhood sweetheart drowned long ago, Marei has no boy in mind. And so she leaves her paper blank. This sets off a chain of events that ruptures the bedrock of her life and leads her to question the only home she’s ever had.
She encounters a mermaid, beings thought to have gone extinct. The mermaid tells Marei to leave the island and offers to help. When a handsome teen from the mainland becomes stranded after a supply drop, Marei falls in love. Her secret plan to flee becomes an obsession.
But the mermaid has a hidden agenda of her own. Now Marei must confront the shocking reality that lies beneath island life. The choices she makes threaten to upend her fate and that of her island community forever… but only if she can escape alive.
If you like Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Cassandra Clare, Dylan Farrow, Melissa Albert, Michelle Madow, Maggie Stiefvater, Shannon Hale, Kiera Cass, Kami Garcia, Carrie Anne Noble or Adrienne Young, you won't be able to put down the wildly addictive Mermaid Curse Series.
M.S. Kaminsky writes young adult urban fantasy and sci-fi with dashes of suspense, mystery and romance. His most recent release, The Mermaid Curse Series, reveals the enigmatic origin of mermaids in a gripping fantasy that spans generations of women.
When MSK is not writing he can be found with his husband attempting to tame the white water rapids of upstate New York or weeding in their garden. So far the rapids (and the weeds) are winning!
In some cultures various forms of arranged marriage still exist. The idea fascinates and scares the crap out of me. Some people get lucky, but not all matches are made in heaven...
Book Excerpt
Alabaster Island: The Mermaid Curse
For the first time, I felt at peace with my choice, or, more accurately, lack of choice. There was no boy I loved the way Mom and Dad loved each other. Kassandra lived alone, as did Mayor Marlow. Perhaps I would too. As I walked, my mood improved, and I became somewhat hopeful. It might not be necessary to pair everyone. Perhaps some of us would be left single.
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