From Goodreads: Jen is looking forward to spending an entire summer studying abroad on a cruise ship and she knows the experience will change her life. Then she sees something she wasn’t supposed to see, something she can’t explain. Jen finds herself thrust into a world she never knew existed and her life will change more than she imagined. That is, if she can survive the dangers lurking on the ship.

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I have always wanted to experience a semester of schooling aboard a ship.  But, because I have a fear of the ship sinking, I’ve never followed through—I’ve never even been on a cruise, to be honest.  Instead, I opted for educational semesters in Europe, Asia, and South America, so I can’t complain in the least, but… the semester aboard a ship—that’s the one that got away.

Kirke presents a magical world aboard this ship, one of vampires, merfolk, water and fire elementals, witches, and werewolves… and I can only imagine how much fun it would be to be on a ship with all these colorful characters.  However, Jen herself put a damper on my mood when it came to all the festivities and issues: Jen always seemed to need saving.  She didn’t listen to others and, on many an occasion, got others hurt because she wouldn’t listen and then wouldn’t be able to take care of herself. I’m more of a strong female lead enthusiast than a damsel in distress one, and so I held some animosity towards Jen and her inability to do anything throughout much of the text.  The other characters were great, and I enjoyed them very much, but Jen just wasn’t my favorite, which is a shame as she was the main character.  However, by the end she does learn to take care of herself a little bit—she’s growing, as it were—and I think she’ll be a much stronger character in the next installment.  Three stars.

I purchased this novel from Amazon.