• The Atlantis Bloodline by C.A. Gray
3
The Atlantis Bloodline Book Cover The Atlantis Bloodline
C.A. Gray
Young Adult, Paranormal, Contemporary Romance
Independently published
February 17, 2020
Kindle, Paperback
482

When sweet Ada Edwards meets the mysterious Kaison Hughes, lead singer of the biggest band in the world, she can't understand what he sees in her. Despite everyone's warnings about him, she's rapidly falling in love. But it's obvious he has a secret, and he's not all he appears to be. Kai's life isn't his own, and his fame isn't the half of it. As a member of a secret organization known as the Elioud, descended from the Atlantean daughters of the Pleiades, he's been commissioned with a task: to reintegrate the lost line of Maia into their ranks. It just so happens that Ada is the one they've been looking for. He doesn't know what they intend to do to her, and he doesn't care. All he wants is the prize for a successful mission: one unqualified wish, which he intends to spend on his beloved sister's freedom. There's just one problem: Kai's falling in love with Ada, too.

Fantasy should still be believable…

The Atlantis Bloodline by C.A. Gray is written as a teen/YA contemporary romance/fantasy; blending first love with a heroine discovering she is the long, lost heir to royal race from Atlantis after the world’s most sought after rock star takes a romantic interest in her.  Sweet, trusting, innocent Ada Edwards is a high school student who works at a coffee shop to help support her and her father while also regularly feeding a homeless man instead of eating herself.  To the rest of the world Kaison Hughes is a heartthrob and rock star but, he is also the son of a vicious member of the Elioud, a secret organization of magic wielding beings that are descended from Atlantis and include some of the world’s power brokers among its members.  Kaison hates his father and the Elioud but will do anything to save his beloved older sister, who was “sold” into horrible marriage as political pawn, even if it means finding and turning over the missing heir of a daughter of the Pleiades.

As with many things in life it is not so much the idea that is the wanting but the implementation.  The Atlantis Bloodline could fall into this category.  The typecasting of the main characters as static stereotypes who would probably never meet in real life but who fall in love quickly even though their personalities are polar opposites is not unheard of in YA romances.  However, the introduction and development of Ada and Kia’s relationship is not convincing and seems very forced.  While the basic premise of the story is intriguing there are a number of components of the plot line that are unbelievable even for a fantasy genre and really distract from its believability.  One example involves Kia’s sister who just happened to create two mermaid suits before her magic was suppressed when she was married off and she just happened to have them when she needed to show Ada the underwater kingdom.  It’s as if the author got to a scene and needed something to make it happen so she just had the character conveniently have it, since this is a fantasy after all, even though it seems totally random to have.  There are a number of other similar events that the author seems to expect the reader to accept, that not even a fantasy genre will support in a reader’s mind.

While I know it may seem as if I am panning The Atlantis Bloodline, it was really not a terrible book. Gray has a very easy to read style and does a great job of world building.  She quickly entices the reader into the story and moves the plot along at a pace that will keep a reader turning the pages.  For me personally, it was entertaining in that the over portrayal of the characters and fantastical scenarios morphed into a parody of YA fantasy romances.  I’m sure that was not Gray’s intention but it’s where my mind went.  My three stars are mainly for the fact that The Atlantis Bloodline is very appropriate and intriguing for younger readers, many of whom may be new to fantasy romance and who may not even find the critiques from the perspective of an older/seasoned reader noticeable.