I loved the concept for this book!
The creatures weren't anything I've seen before and I enjoyed learning about them and all the different kinds of magic that exist in this world. Eila is a cute character, she's a good friend and tries to stand up for others. She can be a bit impulsive and make rash decisions, but she's young and it's fun to watch her figure things out. I loved the friendships in this, especially MJ. He's adorable and would do anything for anyone.
I loved the twists in this and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked Whale Publishing for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow, I Am so stunned.This is such a wonderful book
I have been flying through the pages.I love the characters, I love this great storyline and the romance, oh you never knew what hut you.

And I have been so excited to see that this Series is already written, so I Bought the second book and I am quite sure I need the third one tomorrow.

Pure addiction folks.
So a great thank you for letting me read this book.

The supernatural / paranormal ideas in “Undertow” were original, the characters were easy to like and the build up to Eila figuring out her identity was paced just right.

But.

I have three issues with the book, presented below in order of seriousness.

a) It features a clichéd love interest, handled in a clichéd way. Apparently Eila needs a knight / bodyguard.

b) “He leaned in closer and my heart spazzed.” No. No. No. It’s a nasty word, originating from “spastic,” which is, in turn, a derogatory term for those with Cerebral Palsy and similar. The writer may have intended it to mean ‘faltered,’ ‘misstepped’ or ‘spasmed’ but the reason “spazzed” is even synonymous with those verbs is because of its offensive ties to disability discrimination.

c) I was so disappointed with how Eila’s sexual assault was handled. Eila’s own thoughts about Teddy’s actions were, “I knew he was drunk and hopefully wouldn’t act like such a moron when he was sober, but the alcohol was clouding any decent judgment he had.” The predator’s friend justifies his behaviour: ““Sorry, Eila. He has a low tolerance for beer even though he’s a big guy”” and ““And he’s not that type of guy. He’s going to feel like an ass in the morning.”” When Raef, the only character who realised the gravity of the situation, hints it was sexual assault (he doesn’t use those words but he does “vibrate with anger”), the victim plays the whole thing down: ““Actually, he tripped and fell on me, and then got other ideas.””

What. The. Actual. Hell.

It is possible to be young, male, intoxicated and manage to avoid sexually assaulting someone. The whole tone of blaming the alcohol and justifying his behaviour is sinister and sits uncomfortably in an era of Me Too, Brett Kavanaugh, Harvey Weinstein, Brock Turner. The alcohol didn’t pin Eila down, kiss her without consent and attempt to touch her genitals... Teddy did that.

I’m disappointed in K.R. Conway. It is good to reflect the world in literature and to include the horrifying experiences readers may have. But to normalise and dismiss sexual assault as party-high-jinx is doing a disservice to her readers. And it soured any enjoyment I had of reading the novel.

Wasn’t really a fan of this sadly and it sounded good, think found the heavily twilight influence just too much. Not for me sadly

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

When Eila inherits a million dollar Cape Cod home, the teenager and her guardian immediately move to escape their draining life. She doesn't know what awaits for her on the beach, however. After nearly drowning, her life is flipped upside down as she discovers that the past doesn't always stay in the past, and people aren't always who they seem to be.

This book was a fun, quick read. It did remind me of the Twilight series a little (stupidly hot guy, weird friend that turns canine, forbidden love) but it was done so well that I wasn't mad at the similarities. I like that the first book feels solid on its own, but definitely feels like part of a series, and got my excited to read the rest of the books in the series as well.

Undertow is the first book in a YA fantasy series by K.R. Conway. Released in 2014, it's 390 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. The ebook version is available on most platforms for free to download and read as an introduction to the series which is up to 4 books (plus a prequel) currently.

This was a readable and entertaining YA fantasy with a strong romance subplot and female protagonist. It's full of the type of high school drama and cars/boys/homework/cheerleader/potential world changing apocalypse drama endemic to the genre. There's quite a lot of snarky dialogue which caused me to roll my eyes now and again, but overall it's well written and perfectly readable. (Note: the things I found less-than-stellar about the book will likely be a positive for the intended audience; it's been decades since I was young, and I don't think I've ever been an adult).

I liked the world building. The author has provided a rich background history and captivating world for her characters. The plotting was a little slow in the first half of the book but picked up and accelerated around the 45% mark.

I'm intrigued enough to pick up the next couple books in the series to see how it develops.

Four stars, it'll be interesting to read what comes next. As a bonus, readers don't have to wait for the author to finish the follow-up books

If I'm to be completely honest, there was little I liked about this book, and a lot that I couldn't stand about it. I wrote a long-winded review over on Good Reads in my usual style, but I won't be posting that here; it's not the right place for it to be posted as it's quite long and rambled, but it's there all the same.

I struggled from start to finish to get into this book for various reasons. The main reasons were that the story was told to us, but it was rarely actually shown, and it wasn't engaging because of this; I want and need to see what I'm being told otherwise it's meaningless words on a page with nothing to back it up with. The plot itself didn't kick in until about the forty-five percent mark, not a lot happened beforehand to justify this slow start, and not much was set up to the series to show for it, either, which also made it difficult to get into. I also found it extremely odd that the main villain of the book was mentioned only once, never shown, and that the main character, first-person narrative used a disturbing 'joke' as a means to make this person stand out to the reader, but that was all we got before the big 'reveal'.

The tragic thing about this book is that I wanted to like it, and going in I thought I would love it coming out. I don't feed off of hype or follow trends, quite the opposite, so I hadn't had the book bigged up to me with no where to go but down if it didn't live up to expectations, all I had was the description that it was sold to me on, and I loved the concept. I still do. The actual supernatural beings have an original spin on them whilst clearly having been taken from this and pulled from that then mashed together, the end result was something a bit different, something with a unique stamp to it that stood out.

The concept was amazing; the execution was disappointing.

I never enjoy writing a bad review or leaving a low rating, in fact I feel guilty for it however much it reflects my experience, but the whole point is to be honest and I'm not going to lie. I walked away from this book countless times with no intention of picking it back up again, but having agreed to review it, I kept at it. I think I disliked it more because I forced myself to finish it than the book itself. It was such a shame, too, as the idea really was great, I was looking forward to it, and YA urban fantasy is usually the kind of thing I go for (not so much the romance, but the plot and the characters), and as much as I wanted to like this, to love it, I didn't feel any of the characters coming to life on the page. I didn't connect to any of them however much I tried, and the plot was there, but it didn't do much or go far, and I think I was disappointed in that most of all. Perhaps the following books are better and pick up all the loose threads, but series or not, I expect the first chapter of a series to be taken care of where it is with the overall plot weaving into the next, and it didn't feel like a whole, the end seemed rushed, but I don't know why, as there was enough to it, and it was kind of left on a bit of a cliff-hanger rather than wrapping it all up bar whatever goes to the next bit of the overall plot. Perhaps this book simply wasn't for me, regardless of whether or not I usually enjoy these kinds of books, and where I struggled to engage with the characters or feel anything for the plot beyond let down, others might love it. Under the right circumstances, I might attempt the second book to see if things improve, but being realistic it probably won't happen. I hope others enjoy this book where I failed to do so, and I appreciate the opportunity to read it all the same, so thank you.

Let's start with the elephant in the room: Twilight is a major influence on this, and many other books in the "girl meets mysterious and attractive male at the high school she just started attending who turns out to be some flavor of supernatural being". That being said, Conway has put her own spin on the usual storyline, adding (and creating) her own supernatural beings and the universe they inhabit. The book is well written, with prose and word choice not holding back the story or keeping the reader from enjoying the plot unwind. If Twilight and its kin are up your alley, you'll enjoy Undertow. Otherwise, you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Undertow has a fascinating mythology about people of two different kinds of supernatural races known as Lunaterra and Mortis going for it, as well as great characters.

While Eila, Raef, Ana, MJ and Kian may be typical YA characters on the surface, it's their relationships and friendship that makes the story.
That, the funny moments and the scenery of Cape Cod.

There are also some sensual moments, wonderfully timed, which I found very natural and not overly cheesy although there is some star gazing.

As mentioned above, I love the mythology Conway has written and I am excited for more, since this is book 1 of a series.
And I really hope, as strange as it may seem, to see more of bad School Queen Nikki and her PomPom Mustang Gang.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story was unique. I liked Eila and she was very personable. Enjoyed the backstory with Elizabeth and would like to read a prequel for that one. Story was steady paced. Secondary characters were interesting. I will be picking up #2 to see what else the group has gotten into.

You don’t look into a gift horse’s mouth - even if it’s a million-dollar property. With the acceptance of this gift, high school student Eila is embroiled in the turmoil of the coastal town of Cape Cod, which has a supernatural cause and is after her death. This story portrayed in "Undertow" is wrapped in an exciting fantasy novel with romantic elements and unpredictable twists that won't let you put the book down.

Undertow was a teen fantasy novel which seemed to take an age to find its feet, or reveal where it was going. A teenage girl is weirdly gifted a huge house in Cape Cod. For the first half of the novel i follows very predictable teen dramas; trouble with cheerleaders etc and lots of other cliches. Half way through the book a fantasy element is introduced and we find the girl has an ancient connection to the town, being a descendant of a famous name from the town history. It was fun in parts, but just did not have enough to lift it out from the pack.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
3.5 (but cant place it in goodreads)

Beware maybe there can be spoilers

To be sincere I like this book, but at the same time I just feel they are some things that are to similar to twilight, making me feel like I am reading a fan fiction

-Girl moves to town
-Finds out love interest is not human (one thing that is diferent is that she is "magical" too)
-Boy reads minds (Edward Cullen and his ability)

Even do I say the above I really did enjoy the book dont get me wrong after so many years it gave me the twilight feel so I enjoyed this read. What I liked is that finally we dont got a sappy emo character like Bella was, and the fact that these were not vampires but something else. I liked how it is written it has this sort of feel that im inside it.

I have seen it is the first book she wrote so that makes me feel happy that we can gent more from her writing

Undertow had me hooked from the first chapter and I flew through it to find out the ending. So, with that said I should add that it doesn't end with this one book there are more to come. Can't wait to read the next one.