Author: Barbara O’Neal
When We Believed in Mermaids is a story of two sisters. I purchased the book because I thought it would have something to do with fantasy, which I felt like reading, but I was wrong and found myself in a surprise, reading about a search for a lost sister. The book is definitely not my type of genre, so on that basis, I did not enjoy it, but someone who loves these family/romance books will likely enjoy this book and probably find it well-written due to detailed descriptions of landscapes (which, as I am learning, American authors are particularly good at).
When We Believed in Mermaids is a reference to childhood stories and plays two sisters enjoyed when growing up in California in their broken family. Their childhood is marked by neglect and abuse, and when the older one dies in a train accident – followed by drug addiction as a result of childhood and youth marked by abuse – the other one is left to continue studying medicine, develop a career, and support their mother who attends AA and stops drinking whilst trying to mend the relationship with a younger daughter. 15 years after an older daughter Josie died, both Kit and her mother see her on a TV, and it appears Josie happily lives in New Zealand, so Kit goes to New Zealand to look for her lost sister.
Josie is now called Mari, happily married to a rich entrepreneur, and has two children. She also healed from addiction and has formed a perfect little family, except her whole life is based on a lie. So, When We Believed in Mermaids follows Kit’s endeavors to find her sister, which is nicely intertwined with the life stories of both sisters and their distinctive perspectives on their childhood, parents, growing up in a broken family in California, etc. There is also a story of Dylan, a guy who mysteriously washed off from the ocean and who was also clearly abused in his previous life but has taken to be a fatherly figure to two sisters who spent childhood adoring him and not always questioning whether it was good or normal for parents to leave children with an unknown teenager and whether it was OK for children to sleep on the beach, drink when very young and be generally left to their own devices. This was all very nicely written, and the author paints a good picture of landscapes and life stories, but emotions are somewhat missing for my taste anyway, particularly respective to childhood neglect and abuse.
Also, I had an issue with Kit going to New Zealand to look for Josie/Mari when things could have been done online or with the help of a local detective that could have been hired remotely. There was no need to look for her sister by calling the surfing club or looking around Auckland. But if Kit had not gone to Auckland, she would not have met a Spanish singer, and we would not have a love story. Nothing wrong with this romance/family book (When We Believed in Mermaids), but it was not for me. I need to read book descriptions better, but in my defense, I never said in my CV that I am attentive to details 😊
Thank you for reading!