Review: When We Believed in Mermaids

ABL Review At-A-Glance

• Title:  When We Believed in Mermaids
• My Rating: 4.5
• Genre:  Fiction
• Author:  Barabara O’Neal
• Format:  Paperback ARC*
• Publication Date:  July 16, 2019

Synopsis

From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.

Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news…

Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.

After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.

Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

My Thoughts…

I have to admit that I am a sucker for mermaids.  As a Disney child, I grew up watching The Little Mermaid and dreaming of a world Under the Sea.  So any title involving mermaids grabs my attention in a way other books cannot.  That word alone invokes a sense of wonder and magic.  In this case, I believe the magic can be found in the capacity and transformative power of love.

Like mermaids, love is mythical, with powers that can’t be understood by mere humans.  In When We Believed in Mermaids, Kit and Josie share many different types of love.  Showing that it comes in all shapes and sizes. They describe themselves as soul mates and sisters, but also have romantic love, proving the depths of the heart are deeper than the depths of the sea.

This story rose up and surrounded me.  Much like the waves Kit surfed, I felt this book swell and pull me under its spell.  Javier comes in like the sea wind and almost instantly affects everything in his path.  Their love story, filled the senses, keeping me riveted to the pages, my imagination fully engaged on all levels.  The food and drink they share, the feel of each other and the water, the sites they experience together, are described in such vivid detail that I felt almost overwhelmed and simultaneously wanting.  I craved to jump into a lot of these pages to really be where they were.

What’s Missing

If a book falls short of a 5 star rating, I try to figure out why instead of leaving it to the whim of my feelings.  Sometimes, I am successful with this, sometimes I’m not.  Here, the only minute criticism I have is the middle.  At times it seemed to drag just a tiny bit, especially with the inclusion of Sapphire House.

Conclusion

This is a truly beautiful story of not only people, but of a place: New Zealand.  It’s also a wonderful example of the bond between people and our ability to use that bond for pain and pleasure.

*Special thanks to Barbara O’Neal, TLC Book Tours, and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of When We Believed in Mermaids in exchange for an honest review.