Reviews of Between The Land And The Sea

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.

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 is a tale of Marina's struggle to find the truth about her mother. Her father sends her away to her birthplace, Aptos, where she reconnects with family and makes new friends.

Marina's change in attitude throughout the story came as a surprise. In the beginning she acted like the whiny, spoiled brat she claims she doesn't want to be. Once she settles down and gets comfortable in Aptos her fierce, protective, and selfless side comes out. Despite her fears, Marina navigated through high school like a pro, putting the bullies in their place and sticking with the outcasts.

The mermaids were kind of scarce in the story. They weren't right at the forefront but always talked about, being the center of Marina, Ethan, Cruz and Megan's speculation.

Between the Land and the Sea is a story for readers who love mermaid folklore and characters who understand the value of love and friendship.

*ebook provided by author through Shut Up & Read's Read It & Reap review program.

I have yet to read a mermaid book that I don’t like, and that remains true after reading Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson.

Marina has never really gone to school, growing up with tutors and home-schooling, traveling with her scientist father. She’s liked it that way. It gives her time for her art and to grow closer with her “aunt” Evie, fashionista extraordinaire. But her father has decided that while he must go on yet another trip, it will be safer for Marina– and better for her, if she goes to live with her Aunt Abby and cousin Cruz in Aptos, California and attends high school.

The beginning of this book moved pretty slowly, so it took me some time to get into it, but once things got moving, I was sucked in. Marina was developing relationships with those that she’s growing to love on land, like her family and the adorable Ethan. But once discovering that there’s a mermaid– maybe even mermaids– that only she can communicate with in the nearby waters, she didn’t seem to be able to stay away.

I always enjoy seeing how authors interpret mermaids to suit their novels, and I loved how Anderson describes the child-like brand of mermaids that Marina encounters. I particularly loved how Marina’s brain– sometimes scientifically wired, thanks to her father– tries to figure out exactly how mermaids would be biologically classified.

It seemed at times that this was a bit more plot-driven than character-driven, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. On the contrary, this was a fun read and (if you’ll pardon the pun) I look forward to splashing into the sequel.

Overall rating: 3/5. Delightful and fun. If you want to dive into a mermaid book for a bargain (only $0.99!), this one’s for you.

Marina has always lived a life on the road with her scientist father. When he decides she should spend her last year of high school with her aunt in "regular school", Marina is not happy. But shortly after she arrives in the pretty beach town strange things start happening. Marina almost drowns twice, and comes face-to-face with a mermaid. Maybe this year won't be so boring after all.

This is a very sweet story. There is surprisingly a lot of action, mixed in with very unique characters. Marina's cousin Cruz is definitely quirky and lovable. He is a fashion designer in training, and is delightful to meet. His exuberance and energy leap off the page and left me smiling everytime he entered the scene.

I found Marina's closed nature and difficulty in opening up to and accepting help from her family and friends very frustrating. It made sense based on her lifestyle and experiences growing up with her father, but it was still very frustrating.

I was confused about the family structures present. There were no two parent families, only single parent families, with the missing parent either dead or run off. Everyone was in this situation, and it just seemed a little extreme. I was also concerned with the cluelessness and absense of the existing parents. Marina's father was easy to accept since he was on the other side of the world, but the rest of them? You would think that all those single parents would be a little more tuned into the happenings in their children's lives.

Overall, this was sweet and unique story. The mermaids were not quite what I expected, in a good way, and the storyline itself was different and fresh. This is a story that will appeal to a variety of ages.

Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson is an exciting and thrilling young adult mermaid story. Surprisingly, I haven’t read that many books on these particular supernatural creatures, so I was looking forward to diving into the story.


Marina is a strong heroine who prides herself on being independent. Sometimes her closed-off nature gets her into trouble, because she doesn’t want to burden others with her problems. Like all good characters, Marina isn’t perfect. She has flaws, but tries to work through them. I certainly wouldn’t say that she is over her independent streak by the end of Between the Land and the Sea, I expect it is something she will struggle with throughout the whole of the series.


This being a young adult romance book of sorts, Marina’s relationship with Ethan takes up a lot of the book. However, it doesn’t overwhelm the story. There are plenty of other plotlines that keep the romance from taking over things. Plus, their relationship develops at a reasonable pace. Marina doesn’t throw herself at Ethan and Ethan earns her trust over a period of time. They also have ups and downs, which keeps things realistic. After all, these are teenagers – moods swings, hormones and all.


As far as the secondary characters go, there were some I loved and some that were just so-so. Abby, Marina’s aunt felt very familiar to me, she reminded me of a lot of my friend’s mother. She was a bit offbeat and incredibly kind. However, Marina’s cousin and his best friend fell a bit flat for me. I felt like they were one-dimensional and they did not really make a big impression on me. I also felt like at times Cruz’s (Marina’s cousin) storyline pulled the focus off of Marina’s. Cruz’s storyline certainly had a different tone than Marina’s and it disrupted the flow of the book.


Another element of the story that kind of threw me off was the sheer perfection of Marina’s world. At times things were just too difficult to believe – and I don’t mean her aquatic heritage. Marina was just too perfect – she’s a brilliant, beautiful globetrotting teen who has a wildly successful father (he wins a Nobel peace prize) and an unbelievably rich “Aunt” who lives to dote on her with lavish gifts - I am talking about prada, Gucci and sports cars. Then, her cousin, Cruz, is supposedly this undeniably talented teen fashion designer (who Aunt Evie takes under her wing). I just think that Marina’s real world is too far-fetched. These portions of her life are supposed to be rooted in reality and I just can’t say that I bought it. The unrealistic aspects of her life certainly affected the overall feel of the story and I think that to a point, it hindered it.


That being said, I did enjoy the fantastic portion of Marina’s life and things that directly pertained to it. I thought that her relationships with and reactions to the mermaids were incredibly intriguing. I don’t want to give plot points away, but things get dark and dangerous and I thought Anderson did a great job with the pacing. That’s why I had a hard time with the “realistic” portions of the book – they created a light, fluffy tone, when I much preferred the darker feel of the mythical side to the story.


Although I had a few issues with the book, I really did enjoy Between the Land and the Sea. Marina was an interesting character who is forced to deal with some very exciting and complicated challenges. Ethan was a decent love interest and I cannot wait to see their relationship develop further. The book had a few pacing errors, but when it was solely focused on Marina’s storyline the pacing was spot on. I am looking forward reading the sequel, I cannot wait to see where Anderson takes things from here. This was definitely a great start to a series!

RECEIVED FROM: The Author For Review


***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***

Marina is about to start her senior year of high school in a new school, the first she's ever actually attended, and for the first time without her Dad there to support her. Marina's father is a agronomist who's spending the year in Afghanistan to help them develops ways to feed their country, while Marina is going to Aptos, California to live with her Aunt Abby and her cousin Cruz in their little seaside town. She believes her life is over until she encounters a sexy boy named Ethan and an ethereal mermaid name Lorelei. Soon she's drawn into the little seaside town and the mysteries of the ocean it borders, embarking on a dangerous quest to find out who she is and where she comes from. Will she survive to discover the answers she seeks?

The summary isn't the best description of the book, but lately I seem to find myself staring at a blank screen forever just to try to find the right words to both summarize and review the books I've read. I don't know if it's having a blog that's creating this loss for words in my writing or just some temporary mental block, but hopefully it goes away soon. Anyway back to the review.

This book is really more of a 3.5 stars than 3 but I don't do half ratings since I copy my reviews to my different profiles it's easier to stay with solid stars since that's what the other sites use. I actually only found two things that I think detracted from what is an otherwise well written and interesting story, however one of them was just so big that it dropped my rating considerably.

The first thing that bothered me, and this is actually the smaller one was that the characters seemed to have this inside joke that was never explained to the reader. There's multiple scenes with giggling characters where I didn't really understand what was so funny. To the characters in this novel there's apparently something hilarious about the statement "That's what she said." I didn't get it and there's nothing worse than being on the outside of a joke. Okay well there is, but it still sucks when you're left out.

The thing that I thought was the major flaw with this book was the Mary Sue tendencies of the characters and their lifestyles. They weren't quite perfect but they were darn close, at first I wasn't going to ding this book so hard for this, but it was her father winning the Nobel prize that kind of put it over the top for me. Marina has traveled extensively attending online school because her father is not only a brilliant agronomist (a job that to be honest I'd never heard of before reading this book.) but also holds a faculty position at a prestigious university. Apparently he's powerful enough that Marina can get her own way on all her classes just by mentioning his name to the school guidance counselor.

She herself is brilliant and is only attending high school because her father feels she's too independent and needs to learn to be around her peers. It's pretty apparent that no one really expects her to learn anything new academically there. Let's not forget that's she's beautiful and mystical as well.

Her neighbor, who's pretty much adopted her to the point she's referred to as Aunt Evie, is a retired fashion model who dresses Marina is Prada and other top of the line designers just because she enjoys doing it. If that weren't enough with this flamboyant character she has a basement full of expensive cars that she lets Marina learn to drive on and oh she's the original fashion "it" girl. Not to mention the fabulous Evie spends her time searching out hidden talents in fashion and music and helping them succeed in the business. (I seriously need an Aunt Evie.)

Her cousin Cruz, though a social outcast is a brilliant but as of yet undiscovered fashion designer. His best friend Meghan is a song writer with the most amazing voice. And we can't forget that Evan the boy who falls for Marina is the hottest and most respect guy in school. He's the best surfer on the beach, works all the time to achieve his future and adores the perfect Marina.

I had planned to mention this from about the introduction of Aunt Evie, but I hadn't planned to make as big of a deal of it in my review until Dad won the Nobel prize. That's just what put it over the top for me. The only negative things really in the character's lives is that Ethan doesn't have a lot of money and his mother ran off when he was only a kid. Cruz is a social outcast, and believe his father died in a car crash when he was a baby only to learn later that his father was a married man who tried paying his mother to abort him. Meghan is overweight and also a social outcast. And finishing out the social outcast crew is Marina who's mother died in child birth. It's as if the writer has found a couple flaws she likes and just attributed them to every character.

The book however is extremely well written, fast paced and a quick and enjoyable read. The plot has some interesting twists and turns that keep readers turning the page. The only thing I think the writer needs to learn is that perfect characters may lead wonderful lives, but it's harder for a reader to relate to characters whose lives they envy than a characters who has just as many issues as they do. Overall though I really did enjoy reading this book and I would recommend it to others who enjoy young adult urban fantasy novels. It's an excellent debut novel from a writer I look forward to reading more of. There's an obvious talent in the writing and the ability to weave a page turning story. I only hope that the characters become a little more believable in future works.