Review: The Eternal Sea (Everlasting #2) by Angie Frazier

Title: The Eternal Sea

Author: Angie Frazier

Series: 2nd in Everlasting

Pages: 368

Published: Availble June 1, 2011 by Scholastic

ISBN: 9780545114752

Source: Around The World Tours

Description: Romance and adventure are just around the corner . . .

After the thrilling journey that led Camille through the dangerous discovery of love, secrets, and a magical stone that grants immortality, Camille has everything she wants. She's escaped the men who wanted her dead, and now she is ready to build a new life with Oscar, her one true love. But things are not to be so simple. Oscar is acting strangely, and before they can even board a ship from Australia back home, to San Francisco, Camille learns that the journey is not over. If she does not follow the magic of the curse of Umandu, her life and Ocar's could be in grave danger.

I Give This ...

 

I'm not entirely sure why I wanted to read this one.  I wasn't overly impressed with the last quarter of so of Everlasting. But, I enjoyed the premise of the story and knew it wasn't over.  Therefore, I decided to give this newest installment in the series a try.  Since I didn't have my hopes up, it far exceeded my expectations.

Camille seems much more grown up in this book.  She went through a lot in the first one, so I was expecting it.  It just seemed like I enjoyed her character more.  She's trying to figure out her place in life and were she really belongs.  She has to do this without her father and mix in a long lost half brother.  Too add to the confusion, Oscar is not acting like the person she feel in love with.  In fact, he's pretty much ignoring her.  

Turns out the stone isn't through with Oscar and Camille.  You obviously can't get something for nothing and the stone wants payment for Oscar's life.  I enjoyed the paranormal aspect more.  Their journey leads them to Egypt and even the underworld.  Along the way, we learn that not everybody is friend.  And, sometimes the crew knows what more than they let on.  Love can grow cold without a soul, and friends can become more than that without meaning to.

I loved were this book takes us.  From aboard a ship crossing the Indian ocean, to a sand storm in the Egyptian desert, and the Underworld itself, this story has it all.  It was a vast improvement over the first and I found myself reading it well into the night.  It's dark and sinister as times, but also has hope and love.  Now, I truly want to read the next in the series! 

Everlasting by Angie Frazier

 
Title: Everlasting

Author: Angie Frazier

Published: June 1, 2010 by Scholastic

Pages: 336

ISBN: 9780545114738

Source: ARC from Around The World Tours

Description: Sailing aboard her father's ship is all seventeen-year-old Camille Rowen has ever wanted. But as a lady in 1855 San Francisco, her future is set: marry a man she doesn't love in order to preseve her social standing. On her last voyage before the wedding, Camille learns the mother she has always believed dead is in fact alive and in Australia. When their Sydney-bound ship goes down in a gale, and her father dies, Camille sets out to find her mother and a map in her possession - a map believed to lead to a stone that once belonged to the legendary civilization of the immortals. The stone can do exactly what Camille wants most: bring someone back from the dead. Unfortunately, her father's adversary is also on the hunt for the stone, and she must race him to it. The only person Camille can depend on is Oscar - a handsome young sailor and her father's first mate - who is in love with Camille and whom she is inexplicably drawn to despite his low social standing and her pending wedding vows.  With an Australian card shark acting as their guide, Camille eludes murderous bushrangers, traverses dangerous highlands, evades a curse placed on the stone, and unravels the mystery behind her mother's disappearance sixteen years earlier. But when another death shakes her conviction to resurrect her father, Camille must choose what - and who - matters most. 

I Give This ...
 

I have conflicting thoughts about this book.  The settings and locations were awesome.  I liked that the book was set in the mid 1800s.  I think it did a good job of depicting what life might have be like for a upper society young women.  I liked the fact the book takes place in America, the ocean, and Australia.  It gives the book an different sort of feel because of the varying locations.  I especially enjoyed that part of the story were the are aboard the ship sailing to Australia.  The author is great with the descriptions.  The entire part of the book dedicated to the sinking of the ship really made me feel like part of the story.  My problem was the searching for the stone.  I didn't feel the magic of the lore behind the stones.  It never felt believable, let alone plausible.  I also was a little indifferent to the characters.  I never felt attached to them.  Nor did I feel I understood their emotions or their actions.