Release date: October 25, 2011
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 240
Format: Egalley
Source: Publisher provided from Netgalley
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository
Ebook available from: Barnes & Noble | Amazon
For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her.I have been dying to read a mermaid book! I did wish there was more time in the water, since Esmerine is a mermaid, but I didn't actually mind. I loved the rigid society of the mermaids and what being a siren meant, though. :) Altogether, the story was really cute and a lovely quick read.
Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.
The first thing that struck me, after the beautiful blue cover, was the character's names. I loved them all! the names were so interesting, but not strikingly odd. Esmerine and Dosinia are just the sort of names I would imagine for mermaids, and they really give off the right kind of vibe for the book.
Some people have commented that they felt distant from Esmerine, which I didn't find to be true. Though a first-person narrative might have worked better, I didn't feel like there was an obvious distance. I really didn't get Dosinia, though. I thought I had a bit of a grasp on her at the beginning, but at the end of the book, I didn't get what she did or said at all. There seemed to be little connection between how she acted when she was with humans and when she was with Esmerine.
I thought the romance was really nicely done, too. There was no love triangle, a welcome relief, but real obstacles. The relationship was developed and fulfilling and just the kind of thing I like to read every once in a while.
Between the Sea and Sky is truly a novel about a girl discovering who she is and learning to make decisions not for others, but for her own happiness. It has a nice message and is definitely an enjoyable read I will come back to when I want a pick me up.
Risk a paper cut? A good addition to the ever-growing mermaid trend, Between the Sea and Sky is a sweet tale of growing up.
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