Title: The Mermaid's Mirror
Author: L.K. Madigan
Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Released: 2010
Summary: Lena has always been drawn to the sea. Her father used to surf the waves, but after a severe accident he has never entered the water again. Lena has been allowed to swim and wade in the water, but has been forbidden to surf. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena has been having weird feelings and some nights she has sleepwalked all the way to the beach. Her parents are worried for her and seem to be keeping something from her. One day, Lena's longing to surf has proven to be too much, so she starts to secretly take lessons. Then in an act of bravado and overconfidence, she decides to surf at Magic Cove, the place where only proficient surfers ride the waves. Lena almost drowns, but is saved by someone or something that presses an old-fashioned key in her hand. With that key, Lena unlocks the secrets about who she really is and what really happened to her mother who died when she was four. Lena's uncovering of the truth leads to a shocking journey of discovering who she really is.
My Thoughts: Writing a summary/synopsis for this book was hard. I didn't want to give anything away because spoilers can be mean. This book is a hard one to place. I liked it overall, but there were some parts that I didn't like. I was excited to read a book about mermaids and I liked the surfing aspect that was portrayed in the book. While reading the book, it reminded me of a couple of movies. The surfing aspect reminded me of Blue Crush while the mermaid aspect brought to mind an old Disney Channel movie called The Thirteenth Year and The Little Mermaid story. It was an interesting combination to read about.
The first 100 pages were a little hard to get into. At times the writing seemed too young. I also didn't like the relationship between Kai and Lena. It felt very childlike except for the more grown up kissing scenes. The middle part of the book was really good and engrossing. Lena finding out who she really was made for really riveting reading. I didn't like all the decisions and sneakiness Lena embarked on, but was intent on finding out what was going to happen.
The ending sort of killed me. I didn't like it, it was too final. Making her have to choose definitively between two worlds just seemed too mean. I wished that she was able to have the best of both worlds instead of having to leave one behind forever. And having to leave Nix- gahh so not right.
Overall, I have very conflicting emotions about this book. It was good, but the ending was not to my liking at all. This book is a great summer read though because while reading, you can hear the waves crashing on shore and smell the salt in the air. The mermaid aspect to the story is very interesting too, although at times the merpeople felt too alien and it was hard to connect with them. It was a good book though and if mermaids are your thing then you should definitely give this book a shot.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5
beachy and mermaidlicious!
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