Between the Land and the Sea(Marina’s Tales #1)Author: Derrolyn AndersonPublisher: Self-published, 2011
Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off the coast of Aptos, California. In just a few weeks after moving to the small beach town, sixteen year old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature. If she can only manage to survive her increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just be able to unlock the mystery of her past to learn how to appease the mysterious forces that seem to want something from her...and maybe even find true love along the way.
My Review:
Marina lives a comfortable life with her father. Thanks to her rich next door neighbor, Aunt Evie, she has never wanted for anything. But as her father’s work takes him away, and she is sent to spend a year with her aunt Marina’s life will become a whole lot more exciting. Now that Marina is living close to the sea, strange powers start emerging in her and it seems it’s all because of her mother. A mother who apparently had been a mermaid. Wanting to know more about her heritage will put Marina in a whole bunch of troublesome situations, but that won’t stop her from finding out what is her birthright. Will she be able to resist the siren call of the sea? Or will she succumb to the cold waters of the deep?
A nicely descriptive and clear prose; this story will take you along for a sweet ride. Though it took me a while to get into the story, I eventually found my pace and the pages just flew by.
Marina has been tutored all her life and with the constant traveling around the world, she has spent most of her time with adults and not kids her age. Also, growing up without a mother, and with a semi-workaholic dad, she has always had to fend for herself. Her first instinct is always to keep things to herself and try to solve them alone. When her mermaid problems escalated to life-threatening, she prefers to lie to her friends than to get them into danger. But she eventually learns to trust others.
Ethan is just so sweet and caring. I would have loved him even if he wasn’t a hot surfer dude, with a to-die-for body. Theirs is a sweet romance that develops at a lovely steady pace. I liked how he didn’t care what others thought of him dating Marina, and how he appointed himself her bodyguard at night not caring to even sleep to guard her. That’s dedication right there.
The mermaids I just loved! There was always a sense of enthralling danger to them that had me torn between wanting to join them and wanting to stay as far away from them as I could. I wish I could have gotten more of them.
There were a couple of things that kept sucking me out of the story though. Some parts I felt overly descriptive of things that really didn’t add to the plot. Other parts I felt needed more dialogue. The show, don’t tell rule, as in having them talk it out instead of just having Marina say “I told him/her this and that and they responded with this or that”. Also since it’s written in first person POV, I was expecting more about Marina’s thoughts (inner dialogue) instead of her description of the things around her, and what she is doing.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and I have to thank Derrolyn Anderson for sending me the book. It was my pleasure and this is my honest review. After having read the short Epilogue I can say that I’ll most likely continue on to read part two The Moon and The Tide.
Favorite Quotes:
“It was time to let my freak flag fly.”
“You should have left it alone,” he said sternly.
“Have you never seen a seal pup?” I asked him sarcastically.
