Week 19 Reviews: Sea Witch, Sea Witch Rising

From Goodreads:
Everyone knows what happens in the end.
A mermaid, a prince, a true love's kiss.
But before that young siren's tale, there were three friends.
One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch. 

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn't so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can't stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince's heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain. 

The rise of Hans Christian Andersen's iconic villainess is a heart-wrenching story of friendship, betrayal, and a girl pushed beyond her limits—to become a monster. 

From Goodreads:
"The Little Mermaid" takes a twisted turn in this thrilling sequel to villainess origin story Sea Witch, as the forces of land and sea clash in an epic battle for freedom, redemption, and true love. 

Runa will not let her twin sister die. Alia traded her voice to the Sea Witch for a shot at happiness with a prince who doesn't love her. And his rejection will literally kill her—unless Runa intervenes.

Under the sea, Evie craves her own freedom—but liberation from her role as Sea Witch will require an exchange she may not be willing to make. With their hearts' desires at odds, what will Runa and Evie be willing to sacrifice to save their worlds? 


Told from alternating perspectives, this epic fairy tale retelling is a romantic and heart-wrenching story about the complications of sisterhood, the uncompromising nature of magic, and the cost of redemption. 

My Review:
I really enjoyed reading these books! It did take me a little while to get into the 1st one, since I knew things would go bad-it's the origin story of the Sea Witch, who's the bad guy. So watching her hope and dream, and have it all crashing down, it was hard to read. But once I got over that hump, I just devoured these books!

The magic in these books was interesting to read about. Like, if it was a spell from the sea, and you didn't have sea magic-like mermaids-you used octopus ink. And that there was a balance, and to get what you wanted, you had to give in equal value. Which sometimes is difficult, if you're talking about life on land and life in the sea!

The first book, we were mainly in Evie's head, though we did get flashbacks of the gang's past in memorable moments-mostly when Anna drowned. In the second, we go between Evie and Runa, and I enjoyed that, since Evie was in the sea and Runa was on land, so going back and forth between them meant we saw everything!

The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite disney movies. The original story, I think I've read, or know the gist of, with the cutting of the hair, and the during to sea foam in the end. And Rising has a mix of the history and character and story building from the first book, and being a retelling of The Little Mermaid. So that was great to read!

Really enjoyed reading these books, they were fantastic to read!

Author: Sarah Henning
Series: Sea Witch #1, 2
Read: May 2nd, 2nd, 2020
Source: Bought/Edelweiss, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Sounded good, and they're 2020 Retelling Reading Challenge Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2020 Books! And Sea Witch is a DAC Book, and Sea Witch Rising is a End of Series 2020 Book and a Sophomore Challenge Book!
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Published: July 31st 2018, August 6th 2019

Sea Witch:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Sea Witch Rising:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars