Teardrop by Lauren Kate (review)

In the months since her mother was drowned at sea by a rogue wave, seventeen-year-old Eureka Boudreaux has been understandably depressed, even attempting suicide, but, strangely, never crying. Now living with her father and hated stepmother, Reka hopes that the start of a new school year heralds a return to normal life but no such luck: there’s a handsome but mysterious boy following her and her normally genial guy pal is suddenly relentlessly vindictive. A few more plot twists and a chance encounter with a psychic eventually reveal that Reka has the power to raise the lost city of Atlantis with her tears, but what exactly that means is never quite clarified, so Reka’s climactic sobbing fit is ultimately unsatisfying. Her breaking point is also unconvincing: it’s more convenient than credible that she would be moved to tears over the death of her stepmother, and the kidnapping of her younger siblings is an obvious plot device. The third-person narration never quite realizes how unlikable Reka truly is, and while her grief may excuse some of her more self-centered behavior, her constant criticism of others and her inability to accept criticism herself is more maddening than sympathetic. Direct readers instead towards de la Cruz’s Frozen, reviewed above, for a richer visualization of the Atlantis myth.