Moonstruck, Vol. 3: Troubled Waters by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle

 
Moonstruck, Vol. 3: Troubled Waters by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle

My Rating: ★

Saddened that her best friend won’t be around for the annual mermaid festival, Julie is content with attending with her girlfriend, Selena. All is going well until they meet up with Selena’s friend and roommate, Skyla. Things start to go south, especially when it becomes clear that something is lurking around the corners watching Julie’s every move.

I absolutely loved the first volume. While the second volume was a big rocky, I still liked it and was looking forward to seeing where the story went. Sadly, this volume is a huge miss for me. While the artwork was absolutely stunning as always, we find Julie and Selena in a bit of a pickle of their own making. I assumed they’d grow together after the last volume, but it’s revealed that they’ve been rather awkward with each other rather than communicating in the time between the two volumes. It’s very clear that their relationship is thriving on their lack of communication, anger management issues, and topped with a good amount of jealousy.

Unfortunately, it turns out I don’t enjoy following Julie and Selena after the first volume. There isn’t much character growth and they both seem to keep taking steps backwards. It also quickly becomes apparent that rather than looking at herself and noticing what her toxic traits are and working on them to better herself, Julie blames those flaws on being a wolf. The whole story ends with her making a very hasty decision that isn’t going to solve anything for her because she’s focusing on the wrong things.

While I didn’t like the main plot, I did love the side characters, who don’t make much of an appearance this time around. Maybe I would’ve felt a little better about this volume if some old favorites were around with the new characters to break up just how awful this relationship truly is. You’re not going to see me happy for Julie and Selena if they get back together, which appears to be the endgame. I’m not sure where this series is going anymore or if I’m interested in the next volume after this because this book was a hard miss for me. All I know is that Julie and Selena should go to therapy and work on themselves before getting back together or entering new relationships.