Awakened by Roseanna M. White

 Arden had always felt comfortable living in her beautiful and kind half-sister, Jade's shadow. Then the unthinkable happens.  Jade is taken by the Black-tale mermen and Arden has to find a way to save her. Luckily, that very day, Seidon, the kind of all the land-walkers, and half merman as well, visits their city for the first time in a generation. He must find a bride soon so he can have an heir and pass his magical powers that keep Daryalta prosperous. Arden wonders if Jade was the one destined to be Seidon's wife, and that is why the rogue mermen have taken her.  As Arden works with Seidon to rescue Jade, Seidon begins to think it is Arden rather than Jade who is the match the Triada intends for him.  He certainly hopes so.

If you follow my blog you will know that Roseanna White is one of my favorite historical Christian romance/mystery writers.  The only reason I haven't read one of her books in a while is that I had read all the ones available in my library. I was surprised, therefore, to find this YA fantasy written by her.  The question is, can she write fantasy?  Well, the things that made me like her as a historical fiction writer are all here. There are good well-rounded characters, a nice balance of the dramatic and the humorous, and a view of how faith works similar to my own. There are other things I like.  Her world building and magical system are interesting.  She also ties in some obscure Old Testament references as important plot points in a fun and clever way. The thing I didn't like was that it totally needed to be edited!  Should could have cut out 1/3 of the text and it would have been a much better book. The main thing she needed to cut out was all the times Jade is feeling insecure and Seidon tells her how wonderful she is. The first time and even the second time this happens, the reader is thinking "ah, how sweet."  But by the 10th or 20th (ok maybe 20 is an exaggeration, but not by much)  time this happens the reader is thinking, "Oh, this conversation again?  Let's skip a few pages to get past all this."  All the positive affirmations don't move the plot along so the whole story starts to drag. The audio book is 19 hours long!  I actually considered giving up on the book at about 15 hours. I did finish it. The question is, will I read the next one in the series.  The answer: only if there is clear evidence that someone hired an editor. (348 p. 2025)

note: 348 p seems like a normal length book. I don't know why the recording was so long.  Was the print just really small?