The Short tale of "Everlasting"

Morning! Today's book review is brought to you by the letters M and N for "Mediocre" and "Not bad,". Those are the terms I'd use for Everlasting, by Angie Frazier. It was a fine book, that kept me interested, but over all it was just kind of "eh." It's a historical fiction,(a fave genre of mine. In case you were wondering) set mostly at sea in the 1860's. It's told in first person by Camille Rowen, a 17 year old girl, from a wealthy family. Camille is destined to marry a man that she has no real feelings for, but whom sees as a good match. Her fiance, Randall is a good man, and madly in love with her, but unbeknownst to Camille has a large investment in her Father's shipping company. A company which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Once Camille learns this, she becomes even more motivated to marry Randall, out of loyalty to her father. She sets her mind to it, regardless of the absence of love. Also regardless of the charming attentions of Oscar Kildare, Her father's young first mate. Camille sets out to sea with her father and his crew for the last time before her marriage and tragedy strikes! I won't give away anything too vital, because I don't believe in spoilers. :) The Characters were good, relate-able characters but as far as their development is concerned, it seemed as if I had met them before, in another book. There was some growth by Camille, but very little was done to give Oscar or her father more depth. But like I said, it felt like I had met them before, so there wasn't really need for it. This is a big issue for me. I really enjoy meeting new "people" when I pick up a first time read, and while it was comfortable in a way, I missed the challenge of becoming friends with them. Of overcoming the obstacles of faults and falling in love with the attributes and strengths that life, real or fictional, brings. I guess the best way to say it is that it made me care less about the characters. One thing that I do think the author did a FANTASTIC job of was creating the world around the characters. Whatever venue Camille and her friends wandered into was as clear as day in my "mind's eye". There were sea ports, ships, oceans, towns, wilderness, that all captured my attention, and I really think that was what kept me turning the page. I was dying to see where they would go next! The plot wasn't too bad. The book gave off shades of classics like Treasure Island, and other swashbuckly novels(patent pending on that term), but fell short on that front, for me. Camille finds herself in search of a stone that promises immortality, or rather, could raise people from the dead. I felt like the plot was slightly neglected in favor of the AMAZING surrounding description, and the adequate dialogue. Frazier is not breaking any new ground with this plot line, so I think that it really should have been developed on a deeper level, maybe with a few new twists in order to maintain the interest of the reader. Over all the book was good. It was fairly fast paced, and interesting. I would recommend it to someone looking for a light book, and a quick read. I'd also say go in to it with no expectations, in order to get the most enjoyment out of it. I give it a 3 over all.(or horse on the animal scale. I can't quite get that out of my head.:}) Thanks for checking out my blog! I'll have another post up sometime in the next week. Bye!