Left alone after her mother dies, Mara Westray has to move
in to a new town with a father she hardly knows. He seems
like a stranger though he shouldn't be, and the rightful
strangers in the town seem extra strange, especially the
allusive boy Josh, who Mara just can't stay away from. The
longer she stays there, the fishier everything seems. Little
does she know that the big secret will change her forever.
Mystery, mermaids, and romance collide in this wonderful
book by Shana Norris. Mara is a strong girl and a stronger
protagonist. From the first chapter, you begin to feel for
her. She lost her mom, and now she is moving in with a
father she met once, years ago. She has every reason to be
falling apart, but she isn't. Though you can still feel her
heartache at the tragedies around her, she fights through
her sadness, sometimes with anger, sometimes with sheer
will. She is witty and courageous, and her love of
photography helps give her additional depth as a character.
Her love interest, Josh, is swoony and intriguing, and it
was easy to believe in their interest with each other that
thankfully develops at a slower pace than immediate.
There are infinite possibilities on what to do with mermaid
tales (and tails), and I love the direction this author
takes them. There aren't any underwater kingdoms, but who
knows what can be found in the depths on the ocean that Mara
is only beginning to understand? The mystery behind them is
fun, and I adore the lore added to it. I hope to see more of
their secrets uncovered in the second book. The plot moved
smoothly leading up to secrets I can't reveal, but it never
lost my interest.
My favorite part of SURFACING wasn't Mara or the mermaid
legends. What I loved most was the secondary character of
Sailor. Sailor is damaged and angry. She lost her parents,
and when Mara comes to town, she feels like she is losing
everything else with all the attention and love Mara gets.
Even when she first comes into the story with a chip the
size of a glacier on her shoulder, I knew there was more to
her than the first impression. Mara and her are so alike in
a way that means they can only be the best of friends or the
worst of enemies, at least for the time being. I really hope
there is more of her in the next book.
Was this book perfect? No, it had its flaws. Some parts were
a little predictable, some characters, like Dylan, Mara's
friend she meets in her new town, I wanted to see more from.
Even so, I completely loved this book. It had a charm to it
that caught me from the beginning and grew into a deep love
by the end. Maybe that's my love of all things mer-related
talking, but I'm on the edge of my seat to see what Norris
does next with this series.
Sixteen-year-old Mara Westray has just lost her mother, and
now, being shipped off to live with the father she doesn’t
know is not how she imagined grieving. She’s already
counting down the days until she turns eighteen and can
leave the tiny island of Swans Landing.
But from the moment she steps off the ferry, nothing is as
ordinary as it looks. Whispers of a haunting song on the
wind make her see impossible things, and she isn’t sure she
can trust her judgment about what is real and what isn’t
anymore. Maybe she can’t even trust her judgment about quiet
Josh Canavan, whose way of speaking in riddles and half-
truths only confuses her more, luring her deeper into the
secrets hidden beneath the ocean’s surface.
As she tries to unravel the events that led to her mom
fleeing the island sixteen years ago, Mara finds that the
biggest secret of all is only the beginning.
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