Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.
Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse?
With Ezra's help, Hester investigates her family's strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean-but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.


The cover for this book caught my attention immediately, the mermaid is so beautiful. The one thing about this book I wasn't super excited about at first was the jumps between time. It was kind of hard for me to really get into the story when it constantly jumped back and forth. Once I was involved with the characters, it didn't bother me as much.
Hester is both naive and smart at the same time. There were times when I was reading that I wanted to yell at her because she was doing something stupid. I guess that's a good thing right? That means the author has gotten me so invested in the story and characters I feel like I know them.
Syrenka and Ezra are so sad to me. They had such love for each other, but it seemed as though fate would never let them just be. She did everything in her power to be with the man she loved, but sometimes that just isn't enough. I wish the book spent more time under the water with Syrenka and her sisters, the relationship between them was interesting.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who like's ghost stories, and mermaid stories.