Meh.

[checkers65477]

It has taken me forever to finish Undine by Penni Russon.  I kept putting it down for a day or two before I'd remember, "Oh, yeah, I'm reading a book.  I should finish it, I suppose."  It just didn't hold my interest, and although I liked aspects of it, on the whole I was disappointed.

The magic/fantasy part of the story was weak and I kept wondering when something was going to happen.  I had heard that it was the first in a series of books, and it seemed as if the author used the entirety of the first book to set up the story at the expense of the plot.  Trout was more likable than Undine and he had a spark of something I really liked.  I hope the author doesn't torture him with his unrequited love for Undine throughout the other books.  He deserves better than that.  A reviewer on Amazon called Undine a Mary Sue character and I think there is some validity in that.  The book had a small bit about a creepy online character thrown in for a few pages, but nothing ever came of it.  Undine's mother was not very well developed and struck me as cold and strange, but her father was interesting--mysterious and more complex.  I think a big part of my dissatisfaction was from so many unexplained story lines--Undine's parents' relationship, how the magic works, what happened to the bay, etc.   Some random kittens were thrown in at the end.  

What the author did well, though, was describe the feelings of the teen characters in a way that was real and brought back similar feelings from when I was that age.  At times her writing reminded me of Deb Caletti's Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, and I wonder if she could write a great realistic fiction book.  The Australian setting was well-described, and made me want to visit there even more.