Author: Carrie Anne Noble
The Mermaid’s Sister is a story of two girls adopted by a good fairy who raised them. One washed ashore wearing shells around her head, and the other one was brought by a stork. Now, they are both teenagers. Maren is transforming into a mermaid. This brings a whole set of troubles because she needs water, so Fairy and her sister keep buckets of water for her to dip her toes in, but later, a big bath is needed when she grows into a proper mermaid.
As they wait for spring to come to bring Maren to the ocean, she starts shrinking and falling sick, she starts to lose her voice, and her transformation starts to lead her to descend to demise. Clara and her family friend sisters grew up with O’Neill, then took Maren on a journey towards the ocean. I thought this would be a story of bringing Maren to the ocean and then coming back to visit her, so the focus would be more on mermaid stuff, and how it plays out when Maren comes to other merfolk and that we would learn about her life in the ocean, which would make book even more on the fantasy side. But it turns out, most of the book is about the journey to the ocean, including the whole crew being kidnapped by ruthless circus owners who use Maren as an attraction to make money whilst making Clara and O’Neill modern slaves who also have to perform and do chores such as cleaning and cooking. I really did enjoy that part and was disappointed, particularly since this turned out to be more of a love story between Clara and O’Neill. Maren loves O’Neill, but Clara loves him too and hides it, so this goes back and forth in Clara’s thoughts, which I did not like. I was disappointed with the book, albeit the title is The Mermaid’s Sister, so it is my lack of attentiveness to details that led to this disappointment. I read the book title and description but got drawn to the mermaid part of the story because I love legends about mermaids, so I lost track of what the story is about, and then ended up stomping my feet towards the end of the book anxiously waiting for the circus stupp to disappear and for Maren to come to the ocean, at last. This was not explored in sufficient detail and was rushed, but again, the book is not about a mermaid; really, it is a love story of her sister, with a mermaid being a sidekick.
So, if you are into love stories, read this book because it is well written with rich descriptions and thoughts that feel real. It is also a structured book, not a psychological one, and we learn everything through the narrator’s point of view, which is really written in an appealing way, with lots of detail. Truth to be known, this is one of the best love story books I have ever read; it is just not the genre I particularly like. So, if you are into mermaids, then perhaps this is not a book for you, because you might be disappointed to find a well-written love story instead. If you love legends about mermaid sightings, check this video:
Thank you for reading!