Between The Land And The Sea Review

Title: Between The Land And The Sea

Author: Derrolyn Anderson

Publisher: Derrolyn Anderson, 2011

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Rate: 3/5 – It Is Okay!

Get it here: Kindle UK & US.

I received this book to review for the ReadIt&Reap program in the ShutUp&Read group (www.goodreads.com)

Marina is used to travelling the world with her father, however, when he is to help the unfortunate in Afghanistan she is sent to live with her aunt and cousin. She has never attended regular school before so she is happy that she gets to spend her senior year of high school with her cousin, so she will not be alone. Marina feels the ocean speak to her and she is intrigued by it. She is soon to discover a truth about herself she never would have imagined.

I really wanted to like this book, as I have never actually read anything with mermaids before, so I was really excited. However I found myself to dislike Marina because it felt like, in my opinion, that she just had it all; travelling the world – been places we others dream about, and a rich fashion icon who buys her everything, and she is down to earth. I know that this is possible, and maybe I am just jealous of her, but she just seemed fake to me, but that is my opinion, mine alone.

I do like how the mermaids were portrayed, did not know our human words, and how childlike and free of worries they seemed. And the fact that she did not fall for the hot guy immediately and the fact that there never were such cliché descriptions as “his tongue explored my mouth” that you tend to see in every story involving teenage love.

I liked the writing, however, the content seemed to concern too much everyday life information. She had a nightmare, woke up, spoke to her friends, drove around, and went to bed – over and over again. I would have loved the ending to be different but then again this book is part 1 of a series, so the ending I want may as well come later on.