Title: Evergreen (Mer Tales #2)
Author: Brenda Pandos
Release date: June 29, 2012
Publisher: Obsidian Mountain
Pages: 275
Source: Author

A kingdom on the brink of war.
A king on the fringes of insanity.
A family running for their lives.

Ash and Fin’s only desire is to be together and dive into their happily ever after, though their conflicting worlds work to pull them apart. Neither is ready to convert to the other’s life: become a human or a mer. Little do they know that somewhere in Natatoria a secret holds the fine fabric of everyone’s lives together. If the truth is discovered, Ash and Fin will no longer have the luxury of waiting. They’ll be forced to choose. But will it be for loyalty or love? Or will someone else make the choice for them if they can’t decide?

Enter the watery world of treachery, greed, and the binding mer kiss as the story continues with Evergreen, book two of Mer Tales.

Brenda Pandos continues to impress me with every book she writes.  I adored the Talisman trilogy from Brenda Pandos but I think the Mer Tales series is even better!  Everything about her books just keeps improving.

Ash and Fin are one of those couples you both love and hate.  They are super cute together and nothing could come between them.  It’s clear how much they love each other and how they would do anything for the other.  However they are a little bit clingy and needy.  Ash and Fin can barely be separated for a week before they are dying from loneliness and despair.  Admittedly being apart for them is very different than a regular couple.  Since they are now promised to each other they actually ache when they are apart.  The need to be together is pretty much all consuming and it’s almost all they can think about.  It’s a little annoying to read about but it’s not your typical “oh I’m going to die without him/her.”  I do think there relationship is a good one and they are so sweet.

The world of the Mers is really starting to build in Evergreen.  There was some basic world building in Everblue but not as much as I had hoped for.  Once again there wasn’t enough world building to completely satisfy me but more history was revealed in Evergreen and I was pleased with the direction of the story.  Based on the ending to Evergreen it seems like the underwater world of the Mers will be the central focus of Everlost and I’m very excited to see what Brenda Pandos does with that world.  From the glimpses of Natatoria in the first two books, I think it will be a very awesome underwater world.

A few more characters are introduced in Evergreen and some of the old ones are rather different than before.  Both Ashlyn’s parents and Fin’s parents are a little less likable but that is only because of how they treat Fin’s and Ashlyn’s relationship.  They are good parents and they care for the children and it’s nice to have parental figures as a focal point of the story.  Colin and Alaster are back and they are just as evil and conniving as ever.  Everything they do is just terrible and they are some seriously messed up villains.  The refugee Mers in Florida are some of the new characters and they are a mix of characters.  Some are rather mysterious with unknown motives and others are just a little annoying.  They could all use some development but I have a feeling that will come in Everlost.

The story is very fast paced and picks up very early on in the book.  It takes no time to get back into Ash and Fin’s world and it’s nearly impossible to stop reading.  So much goes on in Evergreen but there is still so much more to come in the third book.  I’m happy to say that the ending was not a total cliffhanger and while the wait for the next book is going to be hard it won’t be terrible.

Overall, Evergreen is a fabulous follow-up to Everblue and if you haven’t checked out this series yet I recommend it.  Brenda Pandos is a great author and I’m eager to read more from her.