Review: Between the Land and the Sea

(Marina's Tales #1)
By: Derrolyn Anderson
Published: March 19, 2011
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: YA
Pages: 248
Source: The author
Format: Ebook
Rating: I really liked it.

Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off the coast of Aptos, California. In just a few weeks after moving to the small 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 only manage to survive her increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just be able to unlock the mystery of her past to learn how to appease the mysterious forces that seem to want something from her...and maybe even find true love along the way.

My Thoughts
When I first started reading the book it took me a little bit to get into it. I think I had a rough time because of the different style of writing but once I got into the grove of things, I couldn't seem to stop reading. The story is about Marina who goes to live with her aunt Abby while her father is away in Afghanistan for work. Shortly after her encounter with the mermaid Lorelei, Marina almost drowns by walking along the waters edge of the beach when a "sleeper" wave comes along and takes her out. Luckily for her though she was not only rescued by the mermaid, Lorelei but Ethan, the hot surfer guy, comes to her rescue as well. The whole story focuses on Marina and the mystery behind her heritage.

I liked all of the characters of the book and felt that the author did a really amazing job with not only developing the characters but keeping them in the picture as well. Way too many times, an author introduces secondary characters and then seems to forget about them later in the story. However in this book even the small characters keep reappearing throughout the book. In this story you meet the mean girls at school, Marina's cousin Cruz and his friend Megan, Marina's "aunt" Evie, Lue who is Ethan's employer and Long his friend. And throughout the entire story these characters keep popping up.

I of course liked Ethan. At first you might think he would just be one of the mean popular surfer guys but he is nothing like a cliche surfer. I thought it was cute when he talked up Marina to her art teacher and then switched into her class so that he could have an excuse to be closer to her. He even takes her out on swimming lessons and teachers her to swim after she almost drowned in the ocean.

If you like to read YA then you need to give this book a try.

My favorite part
Marina starts having these dreams about the mermaids and she begins sleepwalking to the beach. She tried barricading her door with furniture but every time she has managed to move the furniture without waking up. Everyone is worried that the mermaids are trying to call her into the water and to prevent that Ethan decides to spend the night at her house for a while to keep her from leaving. I just thought this was sweet because obviously he wasn't getting a lot of sleep by being on "bodyguard" duty but he was willing to do it to keep her safe. Like I said I thought Ethan was a sweetheart.