Reviews of Between The Land And The Sea

Between the Land and the Sea is a fun, enjoyable story that I would read again.

Marina has lived her entire life traveling the world with her father. She lives in San Francisco and lives a life of luxury thanks to her neighbor "Aunt Evie". The summer before her senior year of high school Marina's father sends her to live in Aptos, a small town along the ocean. He wants her to attend public school and be around people her own age. She immediately reconnects with her cousin Cruz and her aunt Abby. Marina quickly adapts to life at the beach and becomes instant friends with Cruz's friend Megan.

After an near drowning Marina meets Ethan. Things seem to going good for Marina until she starts to feel drawn the ocean and the mermaid that she meets. It's then that strange things start happening to her and the people that she cares about most. There is also her family secret about her mother that I found interesting.

I really enjoyed this story and the characters. I liked how Marina and Ethan's relationship took some time to develop. I loved Cruz and Megan, they are too funny. I did at times feel that the story got lost on the side things. There was a lot of talk about fashion, what designers Marina's clothing and accessories were. Overall though a great story. I am looking forward to finding out what is next for Marina. This e-book was provided to me by the author for review. This did not affect my review in any way.

A book about a half mermaid, half human teenage girl with a difficult choice to make.

What I liked:
Both the male and female leads were sensible characters and it was like a breath of fresh air.
The humor in the story, mostly because of Cruz and Megan made the story more fun.

What I didn’t like::
The same ol’ trope about the hottest guy in the school falling for the new girl has been done too many times.

If you want to read a sweet, funny YA book without love triangles (or vampires), check this one out.

This was an interesting twist on The Little Mermaid story. Marina did not know she was half mermaid and did not even know how to swim until her father sent her to live in a beach town with her aunt and cousin. She ended up loving it there, despite her initial misgivings. She met new friends, learned how to swim and surf, discovered her heritage, and met the boy of her dreams. There were some bumps and scares along the way, but she dealt with them well and courageously. I liked the ending, but not the epilogue. It suggests a sequel. In my opinion, this book does not need it. The epilogue was confusing because it was supposedly an excerpt from the next book. We did not have enough background to understand exactly why it was in there - it seemed to start in a strange place, especially considering the ending we had just read. I am not sure why it was called an epilogue instead of just a teaser for the sequel.

I like the originality of the author's presentation of this story. There have been so many other renditions of The Little Mermaid that it could seem boring. But, this was a fresh new perspective. It was almost a backwards Little Mermaid. I enjoyed reading it. However, there are a number of suggestive innuendos, a bit of swearing, and some intense moments.

First sentence: "The surfer sat upright on his board, blue eyes intensely focused as he scanned the action at the breakers."
P. 99: "No one joined us, and pretty soon it became apparent to me that Cruz and Megan were social outcasts."
Last sentence: "Listening to each other breathe, all we needed was simply to be together, earth and water in perfect harmony."

From Smashwords: The first installment in the "Marina's Tales" series, "Between The Land And The Sea" is a sweet romantic suspense. After she discovers a mermaid lurking in the deep waters off the California coast, Marina survives one dangerous adventure after another. Along the way she finds first love, discovering just how strong and brave she really is as she uncovers shocking secrets about her unusual past.

This book was pure fun to read, although it would have been better if I could have read it while lying on a beach, hearing the sea in the background. The story has got twists enough for wanting to keep turning the pages, and the main characters are all friendly, talented, sympathetic people. It didn't even bother me that there were mermaids involved. I just put off thinking, and enjoyed the story.
In short, a great summer read.

If I had seen this book on a shelf, I would have passed it by. For one thing the cover looks like it should be for younger kids, and second, Mermaids are not the type of book that would interest me. At first glance I thought that the idea of mermaids for a book was corny and unbelievable, but are they anymore farfetched than werewolves or Vampires?

But since I found it through my new book club and it was offered by the author for free (thank you by the way), I tried it. Being an indie author myself, I wanted to give it a chance and I'm really glad I did. It changed my opinion on mermaids.

The story was good and kept me interested, the characters had contrasting and original personalities. I loved that Cruz and Megan chose not to conform in order or make school bearable. Marina was loyal and protective and not afraid to stand up for herself. Ethan was dreamy and the perfect love interest.

Overall a good read.

Between The Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson
5 STARS
I was really into the story and cared about what was happening in the
characters lives. The characters where believeable.
This is the first of four books in the series. I look forward to see what
happens in the rest of the books.
Marina has traveled around the world with her father. She has never
gone to school just had lots of tutors. Now her father is going to
Afganastan and thinks it is to dangerous to take her with him. He is
sending her to live with her Aunt Abigail and cousin Cruz for a year.
Cruz is six months older than her, a senior in high school. He loves to
design womens clothes. He is a outcast in high school as one really
good friend.
Marina is going to her first school as a senior and taking most of the
same classes as Cruz. Marina with her tutoring is a head of most of her
classes but her father wants her to go for the social life of a school for once.
Marina mother died in child birth and her father never talks about his
wife. In fact has no pictures of her but tells Marina that she looks like her.
Marina has never lived by the ocean and doesn't know how to swim.
She almosts drowns from a sneak wave and a mermaid saves her and looks
a lot like her.
I really liked this book that I was given in exchange of honest review by
Librarything.
03/30/2011 PUB

“You don’t see yourself at all, do you? It seems to me that you’re good at everything you try,” said Ethan sincerely.
“I had a dream I could breathe underwater,” I said flippantly, “Maybe I’ll go swim with the mermaids.”
Ethan turned to look at me with shock in his eyes.
“Just kidding,” I said, alarmed at his reaction.



Marina :
Take me with you to Paris.
I admire your sense of character.
Romantic and strong willed ; I like it :D

Cruz :
If only you were my cousin
You talented little thing :')
Other than that, I wouldn't mind having you as a best friend.

Ethan :
Everything a girl wants in a guy :)

People I would shove in the trunk of my car :
Shayla, Heather and her posse, and the boys in art class.

Other :
Just read it.
I didn't like the ending,
But the romance was spot on

Even as I try to decide what I wish to say in my review, my head is full of the thoughts and emotions this story generated. I love the backdrop, the characters, and the plot.

This is a YA fantasy novel about a girl who is sent to live with her father's sister when his work takes him to Afghanistan for a year. Reluctantly, she leaves the city life of San Francisco for the quiet coastal town of life with her aunt and cousin. Almost on arrival, inexplicable things begin to happen to Marina. She has an affinity for the sea and meets a mermaid who bares a striking resemblance to her. The meeting with Lorelai the mermaid is the catalyst of change even more than her move. Marina has to begin living two lives. There is her public life of settling in with her misfit relations and her new school and her secret life where the call of the mermaids grows stronger with each day.

I loved the characters in Marina's story from her fabulous neighbor and friend cum fairy godmother who she calls Aunt Evie, her quirky high on life Aunt Abby, her cousin Cruz who dreams of designing fabulous clothes for the runway, Cruz's talented musician friend Megan, mysterious and wise Lue Khang, Ethan who has more to him than his looks and surfing talent, and the intriguing mermaid Lorelai. These are not cardboard, cookie cutter characters. Even the mean girl has a depth to her that was interesting to read.

The plot kept my attention as it wove around Marina's adventures with new relationships and her first time living as a typical teen to her more clandestine adventures learning the secret of her other life as abilities and yearnings start to surface. I thought it wonderful that the author wove daily life experiences in with fantasy so that the story was balanced.

I found the voice of the story fascinating with that underlying haunting bittersweet tone to it. Fun and laughter happen, but below the surface there is always that other feeling leading up to that inevitable climax of the story and the choice Marina must make.

There was only one aspect of the story that bothered me, but not enough to ruin it. This was told from Marina's Point of View so as the reader I really got to know her. There were two aspects of her character that put me off: I found her annoying on a few occasions in the middle of the story. It's possible I was expecting too much based on what she was going through, but her repeated 'I gotta go it alone and keep my secrets' mentality in the face of empirical evidence that she was not doing so hot at that and always needed rescuing by Ethan and her friends irritated me. It also particularly irritated me because I didn't like that it was her willful thoughtless behavior including lying and breaking promises to everyone that caused trouble, but yet she was the one angry and hurt in feelings after they called her on this behavior. I know I'm being vague by not providing examples, but I didn't want to give spoilers. As I said, it wasn't bothersome enough to truly destroy my enjoyment of the story just a peeve of mine.

I think this is a great book that I'll recommend to all who love a good YA fantasy and want a change of pace from the vamps, shifters, and angels.

Maybe more like 3.5 stars. Free author copy provided thru book groups via goodreads. Review also posted on goodreads and amazon.

things I liked
that she wasn't the awkward outcast who didn't think much of herself, she liked who she was even if she didn't necessarily have a large group of friends.

Ethan was a good strong character [and the experiences the author gave him surfing made the reason he believed her story a bit more understanding, otherwise it'd be like really? why the f does he believe that? ]

Cruz was great and so was Megan as side characters. I liked that she made Cruz's outward appearance not match his personality at all, i dunno why i like that but i do

things that I didn't like
The writing style, I don't know what it is about it....but it didn't absorb me into the story. I wasn't on the edge of my seat or totally entranced. I could stop and take breaks from reading and was totally fine with it.

overall
The story is good and wraps up nicely. There is only one real loose end that I saw and she probably left it loose just so that there could be other books, but I don't see the need for other books. This was a perfectly nice story and I enjoyed it. It doesn't, however, lead me into really caring about the next book. I'm sure the next story will also be perfectly nice, I may or may not read it.

Between the Land and the Sea
By Derrolyn Anderson

Marina’s father is leaving for Afghanistan too do research on agriculture but since it is not safe for his teenage daughter he sends Marina to a small California coastal town to live with her aunt and her cousin. Shortly after she arrives she is swept into the ocean and rescued by what turn out to be her other aunt, a mermaid. Once Marina finds out that her mother who had died giving birth turn her had been an actual mermaid never having attended school before seems the least of her problems.
This is a very unique book a half-mermaid girl is being lured to the ocean, what may seem innocent turns out to be sinister with nightmare prophetic dreams that have her walking in her sleep towards the ocean. I may be biased mermaids have always been my favorite mythological creatures, but Derrolyn Anderson did a fantastic job with this book she was so wonderfully descriptive there was one scene in particular were Marina had stepped on glass that I cringed with phantom pains of my own. I also enjoyed the other characters she was able to put enough background to them that they all could have their own stories but not so much to take the focus away from the main plot and Marina. Definitely worth the read and I can’t wait to read The Moon and The Tide book two of Marina’s Tales.