Forbidden Sea

by Sheila,A Nielson

[nannah]

Ahh, I have mixed feelings about this one. Overall, those feelings lean towards positive ones, and I'll definitely keep this book and read it over and over. But it feels like there's two worlds to this book, and one I love, and one I didn't (luckily the one I loved had way more scene time).

Book content warnings:
drowning (just in case)
child abuse

Two years ago Adrianne and her family lived in a huge house beside Lord Durran on Windwaithe Island, enjoying all the luxuries wealth provides. Then, after a horse riding accident, Adrianne's father died, and without his job as Lord Durran's horse master, Adrianne's family quickly fell from one of the richest to one of the poorest.

One day when Adrianne and her sister are out on the rocks by the sea, they encounter the infamous Windwaithe Mermaid of legend. Adrianne thinks she's after her sister, but when she attempts to save her sister, the mermaid marks her wrist with dark welts that won't go away. Is it really Adrianne the mermaid is after, and what does she want with her?

The book reads very smoothly, and I found myself staying up to read more--and reading while eating, reading while watching stuff, and reading while doing most other stuff. It's a very addicting book! I think the book's protagonist, Adrianne, has much to do with that. Which is as it should be, as she's the soul of the book's entire plot. Adrianne has so much heart, but she's also got a fire and rudeness that's impossible not to like.

Here's where the book's "two worlds" come in. The first is the actual island itself, where Adrianne and the (mostly rude) island folk live--and live to bully her for being poor and grubby. Her interaction with these people (and her one really good friend, Denn Young) is painful to read, but the fact that she still stands up to it makes the novel impossible to put down. She's a person I wish I could be.

The second world is the world of the Windwaithe Mermaid. Whenever she comes into the scene, the dialogue becomes stilted, and things start to feel unnatural, and not in a good and eerie sort of way. More like a way in which I realize I'm suddenly reading a book instead of being immersed in the scene's action and movement. Things are too fantastical in this world (and a bit cheesy). I know it's meant to be a stark difference from the dull and cruel island, but it's a world that's even fluffier than Disney . . . It's only a matter of taste, though.

In the end, the book left me feeling immensely satisfied and with a big ol' grin on my face.