Title: Teardrop
Series: Teardrop #1
Author: Lauren Kate
Genre: Young Adult, Supernatural, Fantasy, Mythology, Romance
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ASIN: B00ARHAAYM
Release Date: October 22, 2013
Source: Wentworth Library
Links: Goodreads ☆
Amazon
Never, ever cry. . . .
Eureka Boudreaux's mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn't, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before.
But Ander doesn't know Eureka's darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance—a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one understands. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea. Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth . . . and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined.
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TEARDROP tells the tale of how Atlantis fell and the one girl who can bring it back into reality. But don't go thinking that the return of Atlantis could be a good thing. Far from it. There are those who desperately want to bring Atlantis back, and those who will do anything to prevent it's rising. Caught in the middle is Eureka, a girl who is just trying to make it day-to-day after her mother's death. What Eureka doesn't realize is that there is a very good reason why her mother told her to never, ever cry. The rise of Atlantis, while it sounds good, could actually mean the destruction of the world as she knows it.
At the core of TEARDROP is a love story. And the love, jealousy and heartbreak is what caused the fall of Atlantis. A girl was engaged to marry the king, but then fell in love with his brother, and they ran away together. But they didn't make it away before tragedy struck. And the tears of one girl sunk the entirety of Atlantis to the bottom of the sea.
What's interesting is how this origin story parallels, but then also intersects with the present. I'm not really sure if that makes any sense. It's like one moment the past and present are mirroring each other, and then all of a sudden the past and present clash. It's kind of confusing sometimes because so much happens in TEARDROP. There is a complexity to the story that keeps you engaged, but also makes you go "Huh?".
The story does start out kind of slow and feels drawn out, but it's definitely worth it to tough it out, because the story gets much, much better once Eureka receives her inheritance.
The Guys: Of course, there is a love triangle, so there are two guys to talk about. I'll start with Ander, since he's the first one we meet in the story. In the prologue, we know that Ander has feelings for Eureka and has been, for lack of a better work, stalker her her whole life, but then we find out that he's with the people who want to kill her. Basically, although he loves her, he has to kill her, and that torments him. Then fast-forward to the present, he's still following her around, but he's apparently not with the baddies anymore. But there is always the question of is he just playing her or is he sincere? I'm still not really sure if I like him or not.
Then we have Eureka's best friend Brooks. He's always been there for her and has been her rock in her times of trouble. But then all of a sudden he starts acting totally unlike himself. Being mean and spiteful one moment, then being his usual caring and concerned self. I don't want to give too much away about what happened to him, so I'll just say that after being hit by a huge, unnatural wave something bad has taken him over and Eureka is determined to help him. I don't usually root for the best friend, but I really liked Brooks, so for now, I'm Team Brooks.
The Girl: Eureka is a broken person after losing her mother. She has no real interests anymore, and only has two friends left, but she has kept her promise to her mother. She hasn't cried, not once. What she really doesn't need is the fate of the world on her shoulders, but that's what she got when Ander entered her life claiming her life was in danger. I kind of had a love/hate thing going with Eureka. In the beginning, she's kind of a downer. I can understand being sad that your mother is dead, but there is a point where reading so much depression and sadness becomes exhausting. It wasn't until toward the end, when she starts finding herself again and accepting her new reality, that I really started to like her. She became strong again.
The baddies are actually all Atlantean in origin. There is Ander's family. They are on the side of preventing the rise of Atlantis at any cost. They are actually very horrible, and their thinking is that the only way to prevent the rising is to kill all those that are descended from the woman who first sunk Atlantis, and anyone who gets in their way of accomplishing that. It doesn't matter if they are men, women, or children. There is a particularly graphic death scene that just flies at you out of nowhere. You think that they will just do some threatening and posturing, but then BAM, nope. It's very cringe-worthy.
The other side of the coin is the King of Atlantis. He wants Atlantis to rise at any cost. Any cost. Not much is known about him yet, but he is very real, and he is out for blood.
As I mentioned before, there are love triangles in TEARDROP. That's not really a surprise since Lauren Kate is famous for her love triangles. But I should probably mention that there is not one, but two love triangles in this book. There is the epic story that's the origin of it all, between the King of Atlantis, his brother, and the girl they both want. Then there is the one that could bring about the destruction of our world, between Ander, Brooks, and Eureka. The interesting thing is that Eureka's situation mirrors the original tale, and not just how you would think. It's about who they are and how they relate to the first triangle. I'm really looking forward to seeing more about how they are all connected.
I have to say that I think Ander got more of a chance with Eureka in TEARDROP than Brooks. Brooks just ran out of time too quickly to get the chance to really even tell Eureka how he feels about her, much less anything else. So I would really like to see more between Eureka and Brooks. I mean, Ander is okay, even with his stalker tendencies, but at this point I really want to see Brooks win the girl.
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It should be pretty obvious that most of the action in TEARDROP takes place either in or on the water. The opening scene in the prologue starts everything off. Ander and his family are preparing a huge wave to crash into Eureka's mother's car to kill them. Then there are a bunch of unnatural waves happening where they never have before, and storms and flooding like they've never seen. The one scene toward the end of the book, takes place almost completely underwater, thanks to Eureka's Thunderstone. But that end scene is really freaky for me because I can't swim, so just the thought of being stuck underwater, even with a Thunderstone, freaks me out. The entire book is definitely a very watery adventure. I'm really looking forward to seeing where it takes us.
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