Reviews of Between The Land And The Sea

mm I don't find where to start ... let me think ... Ok! THIS BOOK TOTALLY DID IT! xD

This has been my first book of mermaids and totally convinced me that I should read more like this one.! Waou! you know I'm not kidding neither exaggerating when I write that was super-hiper-good!!

the way it was written completely charm me because it was super-easy to read, there was no confusing part, everything was clear. the plot fascinated me from the beginning, was like it had something that caught my attention from start. It made me imagine the whole scenario and made ​​me fantasize about the mermaids.

The characters were well described, each has its charm. I really like Marina her strength, the love she feel for Cruz and Meghan, took her to defend them and take the best of them. Oh my Gush! and lets begin to talk about the guy, his name is Ethan he WAS sooo cute,special, a hard worker nothing like the other dummy-surfers, he was thinking in his future, He love soo much Marina and care alot about her.

The End was sooo romantic *.*

Was a successful book, I'm super-anxious to read the next!!!
I would totally recommend it xD

Read from February 23 to 26, 2012

Delightful, engaging YA Mermaid Story.

Marina has traveled the world with her father, but when he is headed to Afghanistan he refuses to allow her to join him like usual. Instead, she must spend her senior year with her aunt and cousin and attend public school for the first time in her life. She leaves behind San Fransisco, and heads to Atpos, and much smaller town by the sea. Is drawn to the water, and quickly sees hauntingly familiar eyes in the water, almost as familiar with her own reflection. Could it have been a scuba diver or a surfer playing tricks? High School is hard enough without having already humiliated herself in front of the hottest surfer at school, let alone worry about mythological creatures....

Overall, I REALLY enjoyed this book. I even stayed up late the final night I was reading just to find out what happened. The ending seemingly buttoned up a little more quickly than I would have liked. Foreshadowing to the sequel was good, almost too good- I was expecting a few "revelations" during the first book that did not come to pass. Sweet and innocent, but does not suffer, in my opinion, from the "love at first sight" syndrome; the story allowed time for the romance to begin and grow at a normal pace. As it is a YA story, don't go into this expecting hot and heavy romantic action; but there is still romance aplenty. This is a book you can give to a teen without worry of inappropriate or too adult themes.

I liked the variety of characters. Just because it had surfers and on a beach, they were not all blonde, ripped magazine cover teenagers. The main character was brunette, there was even a 'plumper' redhead friend... there was not an over-use of stereotypical, cookie-cutter characters. I really appreciated the diversity.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone that enjoys YA, likes a mermaid story, or even just paranormal/urban fantasy in general. It was a charming book definitely worth reading, and I will most definitely look at getting the sequel see how it continues...

Review originally posted to Hands and Home blog Feb 28, 2012 http://www.handsandhome.ca/2012/02/between-the-land-and-the-sea-by-derrolyn-anderson.html

The Story: I really had no expectations when I began reading this book as it was my first mermaid story and with the exception of Disney’s Ariel I had zero frame of reference. I am happy to say that from the very beginning this book had me hooked.

Marina is a 16 year old who has travelled the world with her father and lived an extravagant life with her Aunt Evie. Nothing however could have prepared her to move to Aptos with her bohemian Aunt and edgy cousin while her dad travels to Afghanistan for work. Marina tries to navigate her way through the trials of high school and run ins with the “popular” crowd (a completely foreign concept to her) all the while wishing to understand her draw to the sea and her mysterious connection with a Mermaid named Lorelai.

I was particularly impressed with how well Anderson was able to portray Marina’s lure to the sea. It was psychological, emotional, physical and completely out of Marina’s control which I have to admit had me on edge more than once. I kept waiting for something sinister to happen and was beginning to become suspicious of almost everyone in the book (probably due to the fact that I have been reading far too much paranormal YA these days!).

The Characters: Marina was a great protagonist and I found that I really liked her. She was smart, confidant, and most of all genuinely kind and likeable. If I had one complaint it would be the focus placed on all of Marina’s designer clothes and accessories. I understand that her relationship with her Aunt Evie and therefore her extravagant gifts (and her appreciation without obsession of them) was a big part of who she was, but it got a little old after a while.

I really, really loved Ethan. Finally a male YA character who is not a jerk. Seriously, Ethan had the smoldering looks and popularity but he was also caring, hardworking and thought for himself rather than following the stuck up crowd that he hung out with. I loved that Ethan was a character that did more than surf and wander idly through his days. He had plans and wasn’t afraid to work for them. In my opinion this is the kind of character that we should hope to see more of in YA. There was an edge to his personality which, combined with all of his positive characteristics, made him most definitely swoon-worthy!

The Romance: Would you believe it if I told you that this is a YA book that does not fall victim to the curse of instalove. While the attraction between Marina and Ethan is nearly immediate, it actually takes them quite a while to get to know each other, trust one another and develop their relationship into anything serious. There are definitely sparks and they are believable because it took more than one look for them to develop. Ethan is the epitome of the sweet, caring guy but he has enough roughness to him to make him appealing. He is a good guy with a little something that could be dangerous lurking under the surface – and I think we will see more of that in the next book.

The Writing: When Derrolyn Anderson approached me to review this series I had not read many indie authors and had never read a mermaid book so I was going blindly into this read. Since that time I have read quite a few books by indie authors and was impressed by the caliber of Anderson`s writing – and not just as an indie author but for any published author. There were a few speech elements that I found distracting and a little annoying (for if you read the book you will probably see what I mean) but other than this bit of stylistic nit picking I think Between the Land and the Sea was a really well written book.

Final Verdict: I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to any fans of YA, paranormal fiction and mermaids!

I received a review copy of Between the Land and the Sea from the author (thank you!!!) in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a great read! I really enjoy mermaid books because there always so much talk about beach life, surfing, and their lives are always completely different than mine.

I enjoyed getting to know Marina and Ethan. The two seemed like a good pair even though I couldn't understand what kept Ethan around in the beginning. She wasn't that nice to him and was really awkward whenever he was around. It bothered me that for over half the book we didn't get one little inkling of how she felt about him. I was assuming she liked him but was avoiding her feelings but that was just me guessing how she felt. After a while though I really liked them together.

I thought the way the mermaids were calling to Marina was original. I liked that she had powers even though they weren't ever really explained why she has them. Hopefully we find out those details later in the series.

I was a little confused because the story seems to be from Marina's POV or at least we would know what she was thinking but every once in a while we would get what someone else was thinking and that bothered me a little. Also some of the conversations didn't seem to flow naturally or I felt like I was missing a couple of lines.

I loved that Cruz and Meghan seemed like real people. I also loved Aunt Evie - she was so much fun!

Overall, an enjoyable read that I will be reading the next book of. If you are a fan of mermaid books I would pick this one up!

While I was reading this book, I thought, oh, my god, this was book about me. My name is Marina, too. I love the ocean, too. I am curious person, too. Even I'm not a teenager anymore, and I don't dress like a diva like Marina does, this was a book about me. LOL!

The main character is Marina, a sixteen-years-old girl, who lost her mother at birth. Now she travels around the world with her father. But, she has to settle down, hang out with friends at her age and go to normal school, so her father leaves her with her aunt and cousin. She doesn't like it first, but when she meets Ethan, it's a whole different story. Her whole world changed when she had almost drowned, and there, near that old boat, she saw a mermaid, yes, a mermaid, with a face like hers, eyes like hers, calling her "sister".

And now, her whole world turns upside-down.

I found myself really enjoying this book. I liked the writing. This is my first mermaid book , but it won't be the last. This is young adult book, not much for my age of thirty, but it was entertaining. There were romantic elements in the book, but this book can't be classified as romance. I was expecting more paranormal stuff, but that was it. My opinion is 3,5, but if I have to choose whole number, 4.

I fell in love with the story of Marina from the beginning, since I'm an avid lover of the beach, the storyline sucked me right in (kinda like the mermaid did Marina)..Ethan was a great guy, Cruz, Evie Abby & the rest of the characters were so enjoyable & funny...Derrolyn did an excellent job bringing out the characters so the reader could feel every detail ...from fortune tellers to mermaids, this book was an excellent read

I purchased series 2 & 3 this week also

So, Between the land and the sea... what do I need to tell you to get you to read this?

Marina is a truly astonishing character, I felt like I was reading about one of my friends. Her thoughts and reactions were fairly realistic, which made this whole story more believable. There's nothing worse than reading about someone who finds out something incredible, and instantly believes it without any sort of mental anguish and struggle to understand. Marina did this brilliantly. I felt like I was experiencing this with her (sort of like a little shadow following her around).

I didn't fall in love with her, probably because she was a bit hard-headed and stubborn and that annoyed me, but I WANTED to experience it with her.

One of those things I would like to have experienced was Ethan... ooh boy! Derrolyn, I hope a real version of Ethan exists somewhere for you to drool over! Ethan was pretty much the epitome of male perfection in my eyes. He was handsom, strong and caring. He shared his emotions and didn't get all macho. If I had one complaint, it might be that he was a little too perfect, it did seem to make everything wrap up nicely. He seemed too eager to please Marina, and that lost him some points in my book. I mean I'm all for a guy worshipping his woman, but that was a little too... erm, cheesy?!

My all time favourite character in Between the land and the sea was Cruz (though I HATE his name!). He is probably the character that drew the most emotional response from me. I could really relate to his struggles, and grinned like a fool when he was experiencing some of his well earned rewards.

Mermaids aren't really high on my list of supernatural beings to read about, but Derrolyn you have piqued my interest and I fully intend on adding book #2 to my 'to be read' shelf right now.

Thank you for the incredibly well written story you have shared with us all.

This book is adorable and delightful. Marina doesn't know she's from the sea as her mother died giving birth to her and her father just doesn't talk about it. They live in the city where her neighbor lavishes her with designer clothes and hand bags and fancy cars, and, kind of like a wealthy benefactor from an Austen novel, is always there when Marina needs to dress or drive to impress. While her scientist father spends a year in Afghanstian, she is sent to live with her eccentric tofu eating aunt and her goth designer son. As Marina learns about herself and her past, she helps those around her find their true selves. This is especially true of her relationship with her cousin Cruz and his friend Megan. Through Marina they both learn that outside their small town they are normal and wonderful.

I enjoyed that this book is set in a real town (that I would love to visit someday), you can see pictures on Anderson's official blog.

I also enjoy how Anderson writes a story where the main issue isn't the fact that Marina is part mermaid, but the fact that she was never told. I also like that her relationship with Ethan, a delicious blonde surfer boy, is forged through the water and a mutual secret.

This book has a cliffhanger and happy ending at the same time with everyone wrapped up in self assurance and coupledom.

You know come to think of it, if Jane Austen were a modern woman who wrote about mermaids (fun to think about right!?) I bet she would have written a book like this one, or at least she would have been inspired by it.

I look forward to reading the rest. I hope there are only four.

There are a handful of issues that bug me (for instance, Marina's father, who is not existent throughout the book, wins the Nobel Prize and I'm supposed to care and how many times can we have hospital stays, really), but they do not, in any way, harm the story.

My Rating: 4.0 / 5

First thoughts:
This is a story which you'll want to read within a few hours and it's so wonderfully written that it's possible to achieve this. Since I had a lot of other things to do, I needed a little bit more than a day, but whenever I had time to read, I would pick this up and try to be a part of Marina's wonderful world again. Such a lovely novel!

More detailed:
Between the Land and the Sea is a story about a young girl who is thrown into the world of high school and crushes, while having to deal with the realization that she might have a close link to the paranormal world she is slowly discovering. It's beautifully written and I loved seeing Marina grow comfortable in Aptos, making friends and slowly finding out more about her heritage.

Marina is a very likeable character. Between the Land and the Sea is told by a first person narrator from her point of view and it's easy to relate to her feelings and to see the world from her perspective. I love how much she cares for the people who are close to her and how she has no problem to stick up for them. She's a very good friend, daughter and niece and overall a lovely main character.

All the other characters are really great, too. Ethan, Marina's love interest, is very down-to-earth and cares about other people just as much as Marina does. They're a good couple and I'm really looking forward to see how their relationship will develop in the future novels.

The other characters that we get to know better are great as well. I'm mostly thinking of Cruz, Marina's cousin, Megan, Cruz' best friend, and Abby, Marina's aunt. They all share Marina and Ethan's good character traits. But I have to admit that I would have preferred to see some flaws. They're so perfect - it's like they never make mistakes and I hope to see some more character development in the sequels.

But besides this, I really liked this novel. I haven't read many mermaid stories yet and I'm completely intrigued by the world Derrolyn Anderson has presented us so far. Hopefully Marina will find out more about the mermaids in the sequels since I'm definitely looking forward to see more of their world. All in all, Between the Land and the Sea is a wonderful novel that you should give a chance, if only to witness this beautiful style of writing.

Mermaids! I am a big fan of mermaids, and Between the Land and the Sea is an awesome addition to the genre. I loved everything about this book, and am so glad I had the opportunity to read it.

This book has a bit of a slow start, but is hard to put down soon after the beginning. Things develop at just the right pace to keep anticipation levels up right until the end. Other things happen in Marina's (the main character's) life besides mermaid stuff, and I found it all fascinating. There is a good mix of mermaid, mystery, and real life.

This book does characters right; they are all three-dimensional. Marina's cousin, Cruz, is one of the coolest, most original characters I have seen. We also really get to know Marina well...and most importantly, the hot love interest is very well-developed (and boy, don't let me talk about him too long...I may never stop). Even the dialogue between the characters is very genuine. Bottom line: don't expect to find any flat characters here.

The romance in this story is sweet and tender, giving the reader just enough to be tantalized, and leaving just enough out to be carried away by imagination. Marina and Ethan's relationship is so real, I was surprised. There's no insta-love; things develop slowly and neither is interested in jumping into the relationship too quickly. They interact as an actual couple would, and even have arguments that are resolved realistically. Sure there are times when one of them goes to extremes, but it is always done in reaction to the fantastical events in the book. I'm actually not sure when I've last seen a relationship this real in a book. Kudos!

One thing that I kept noticing is that there are a lot of sentences that had an archaic use of the word 'for.' Example: She stopped, for she had seen the place before.... Every time I hit a sentence with this usage, it brought me out of the story. This is more of a personal pet-peeve, though, so others might not even notice it.

Also, the ending happened pretty quickly and after all that had happened working up to it, I would have liked just a little more. It was still satisfying regardless, and I am very excited to read the next book in the series. Overall, this is the perfect book to curl up with on a summer day.

*This review was originally published on my blog: The Reading Fever
*I was provided with an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.