The rating is generous. ( )

It was torturous- almost quit, had to listen to it at 2+x reg speed and it still didn't go fast enough. It made me feel like I was living my teenage depression years plus trauma stacked upon trauma that everyone was just like, get over it to the main character. She has suicidal ideation and attitude against any therapist and is allowed to drive around town on her own after the recent death of her mom in a car accident and dad hides behind his work and food instead of helping her. Um, yeah, I and then add a lifelong stalker that is supposed to be a love interest. Creepy AF. Add in a bestie that helps bully the suicidal girl Anne several more murder attempts. A few good moments with a girl friend are not going to to the balance of negativity, child torture, and murders enough for me to read part 2. I managed to finish it and was so relieved, I wished I was drowning instead of the characters so I could stop this misery. If you liked your angsty, depressed teen years with a dash of murder, attempted murder, stalker turned creepy boyfriend, and tweaked mythology then this might be the story for you. ( )

The novels are written in the third person point of view, but they carry Eureka's frame of mind, her detachment, but the underlying emotion that is bottling up. It made for a very different type of novel that kept you at arms length from the characters, which I wasn't used to. I'm used to jumping in and loving all over these great characters. It wasn't this way for Eureka though. Then we are introduced to her best friend Brooks, whom has a mad crush on her - but again is at that arms-length position, from both Eureka and me as a reader. I wanted to root for him, but just when you sort of like him something happens.

Finally there is Ander. Whom we get a glimpse of at the beginning of the novel, so we know he is off-the-charts weird factor. And their introduction is again bizarre. I understand he was HOT, but this guy, yeah the believability of this guy and the love factor was a bit creeptastic.

But, the thing about Lauren Kate's writing, all this creepy, off-the-charts weird stuff that is happening she wraps it up in the angsty, well-written, descriptive novel and makes it work. It was enjoyable to read, even though I wanted to throttle the characters at times and question the plot as it veered this way and that. Some of what Kate introduced was ridiculously stereotypical, the mean girl, jealous would-be boyfriend stealer, the silly outgoing friend, the doting would-be boyfriend best-friend and the creepy stalker paranormal hottie love interest, but yes it did make the book enjoyable to read. The underlying story was unique, yet the implementation played on the usual Young Adult tropes, so yes the book was good, but it didn't blow me away.
( )

If you can believe this, I bought Teardrop when it came out... And it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. I kept looking at the book and I wanted to pick it up, but I just never did. It kind of breaks my heart, since this is totally the book I would have loved way back when... But I did finally manage to grab in when I decided it was nostalgia time! And, thankfully, I wasn't disappointed!

Was this my favourite book in the world? No. It was kind of whiny at times, and I know I was supposed to feel bad for the main character... but at times, Eureka was unbearable. A fair amount of the characters frustrated me, but I let that slide since this is a YA fantasy where everything doesn't have to make perfect sense. She acts like how I expect a teenager to act - they are all self centred and their world DOES revolve around them. She was depressed and needed help, and honestly her family could be a bit of a nightmare. Her friends were also very stereotypical, and not in a good way. An African-American friend who was just into sex and a good time? Eh... Felt like a bad stereotype, but high school girls can act like that... A best friend who's into her but also kind of seeing another girl and totally leading them both on? What a jerk! Typical? Totally was at my house school. Boys sucked! So, I'll give it to Lauren Kate... Sadly, it the drama was fairly realistic (sadly, meaning my high school was stereotypical like this one... and I wish that wasn't the sad part).

The plot itself? Eureka being "the chosen one" that will somehow help (or hinder) finding Atlantis? Super cool plot wise! It's a different mythology that I'm pumped to see brought forward in the YA world. Getting to the plot? TOOK FOREVER. It was painful how long it took to getting to the lore, which is why it took many attempts to jump back into this book. I seriously wanted to love it, and at times I did... but at other times, it was too slow (and the unbearable characters made that so much worse).

The book leaves off on a horrible cliffhanger that frustrates me. The book didn't end with some sort of fulfilling statement, it just left lots of unanswered questions. I don't want to come to the end of the book and feel forced to read the sequels. I should have some sort of conclusion that allows me to continue if I want to. Sure, at book two keep the cliffhangers, but not at the intro book. That annoyed me and I just... don't want to keep reading? If I stumble upon the book, sure, but I won't go out of my way.

Overall, this book was not my favourite. There is a lot of positives - the cover is GORGEOUS, the lore is super cool, and I think Lauren Kate's writing is very addicting. The slow pace, annoying characters, and slow to start lore is what is steering me away from these books.

Two out of five stars. ( )

Existe una antigua leyenda, hoy casi olvidada, que habla de una joven cuyas lágrimas de desamor hundieron un continente entero.
Ahora Eureka tiene en sus manos un libro que cuenta esa fascinante historia: lo ha heredado de su madre, que desapareció arrollada por una ola gigantesca. Poco a poco, a través de sus páginas, descubrirá que las coincidencias entre su vida y la leyenda son demasiadas para ser fruto del azar... Además, la inesperada llegada de Ander, el extraño chico de ojos turquesa que huele a mar y lo sabe todo sobre ella, le enseñará que las casualidades raramente existen y que su llanto tiene un poder tan inmenso que puede incluso cambiar el curso de la humanidad...