Review Detail

Between the Land and the Sea is my first mermaid book (if you're not counting The Little Mermaid picture books). Honestly, I liked it but there were a few things that didn't exactly click with me.

The overall plot is interesting. I really like the concept but I wasn't totally satisfied with the execution. I'm really split in half on this. While I feel like half of it was done well, the other half left me wanting. For me, the ending was a little anti-climatic. I was expecting it all to be a much bigger deal. The author did a pretty good job at building it all up but when it came to the resolution, I felt like it wasn't big enough.

The characters also left me feeling conflicted. I liked Evie and Martin (Marina's neighbor and father) but they weren't in the book that much. Cruz (the cousin) and Megan (the friend) were nice additions to the cast of characters but, again, I was left feeling split on this. While at first I really liked them, the more the book continued the more ups and downs I had. Overall, sometimes I felt connected then other times I felt disconnected. This was pretty much how I felt with just about everyone though, which is actually disappointing because I really wanted to love the characters.

As for the writing, I think that was mostly the reason why I'm left still wanting. The characters' reactions weren't always believable or they felt out of place, which I think is really what kept me from liking them as much as I wanted to. I also felt like some key plot elements were revealed too easily or too soon.

Marina and Ethan's romance was light-hearted and cute. I enjoyed it and I really liked Ethan most of the time. My only issues with him were that sometimes, like the others, I felt like his reactions were out of place. As for Marina, she is one tough mama. I mean, you don't usually come across female leads in books set in the real world that are so tough. But I never really felt connected to her. I wanted to but, again, I just didn't.

Overall, the story concept is interesting and great but the delivery wasn't done as well as I wanted or had hoped it would be.