Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson
Publisher: Self-Published
First published: March 19th, 2011
Source: Received from author
Pages: 261
Goodreads Summary:
Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off the coast of Aptos, California. Just a few weeks after moving to the 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 manage to survive her increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just be able to unlock the mystery of her past and learn how to appease the mysterious forces that seem to want something from her... and maybe even find true love along the way.
/ 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.
Have you read Between the Land and the Sea? What did you think about it?
Do you plan to read it?
Carina
