While the pervasive magic and concept of the Fates as a religious system add interest, other fantasy elements are haphazardly incorporated without enough time devoted to building a cohesive world. The writing style fluctuates from clever and original to overly verbose and often confusing in its jumble of senses. The bargain they strike sends her on a dark and magical journey throughout the land. Evangeline desperately prays to the Prince of Hearts, a dangerous and fickle Fate famed for his heart that is waiting to be revived by his one true love-and his potentially lethal kisses. Despite inheriting a steady trust in magic, belief in her late mother’s homeland of the mystical North (where fantastical creatures live), and philosophy of hope for the future, her dreams are dashed when Luc, her love, pledges to marry Marisol instead. When her father passes away, Evangeline is left with her cold stepmother and kind but distant stepsister, Marisol. There is a little diversity among the non-Greek supporting cast.Īfter praying to a Fate for help, Evangeline discovers the dangerous world of magic. The search for Atlantis and information about Greek philosophers add interest to the sweet, if at times predictable, story. Her recounting throughout of the 26 items her father left behind when he walked away from their family, and which Liv secreted in a shoebox under her bed, provides insight into his imprint on her memory, but their impending reconciliation requires a deeper dive and Liv has always stayed at the surface when it comes to Nico.

They are working on a documentary detailing Nico’s Atlantean theories for National Geographic, an endeavor Liv finds both exciting and panic-inducing. But at her mother’s insistence that she try to reconnect with him, Liv finds herself in beautiful Santorini, joining her father’s filmmaking crew and sharing a bunk in a bookstore with his assistant, Theo-a Greek teenager who charms her instantly. His latest is an invitation to visit him in Greece, and she is quick to decline. His kitschy postcards, which suddenly started arriving two years ago, only make her feel worse. The symbolism of dreaming about drowning while searching for the lost city of Atlantis, a mission her father, Nico Varanakis, has dedicated his life to, is impossible to ignore.

Recurring nightmares remind Olive-who has carved out a new, post-dad identity as Liv-about why she doesn’t talk about her father anymore.

Love and olives jenna welch