Rating: ⭐ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This has been on my 'To Read' list for a while now, and I never really knew if or when I would pick it up. When it was handed to me at the library, I thought it was time to give it a try and I'm very glad I did.
A tail like this can only begin with, Once Upon a Time there was a mermaid. She longed to know what was beyond her ocean life. Beyond her home, her people, herself. But she was told that exploring would only cause trouble for if she were to get caught her mermaid life would be no more. But she didn't care what they said because she was captivated by the beauty that hovered on top of the water instead of below it. She always tried to keep her distance because she thought humans would never understand her kind and would only abuse her. This all changed when she got caught in a fisherman's net but he couldn't bear to keep her. She was shocked that he had let her go and knew she should swim far, far away from him. But, she was drawn in by his lonely eyes and seemed to be caught by more than his net. She had to meet him, to know him, to figure out why his eyes spoke to her in that way. So she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff just above the ocean for years living happily together, until one day the fisherman rowed out to his beloved sea and did not return. He had to be out there and so she searched and searched, unaware than another fisherman had seen her true form, but never found him. She waited for him, desperately hoping the sea would give him back to her but it never did. Still she would wait by the ocean everyday and soon rumors began to linger down the coast that a mermaid lived up in Maine. This rumor traveled all the way to P.T. Barnum who was looking for magnificent, eye-drawing attractions for his American Museum. Once he'd heard the rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea, he knew she was the key to making a fortune. Amelia agreed to play the part as Barnum's mermaid but she believed she could leave any time. But once Barnum has the mermaid in his money-making scheme, he's determined to never let her go.
Everything about this book was great for me. First off, I love mermaids (being a red-head child and loving Ariel, it only makes sense) and second, it was a good, fast-paced, interesting book. It wasn't a childish story like I was expecting and I'm more than fine with that! If anything, it's better not being a children's book. Christina Henry made it a point in the novel to create the mermaid unlike the mermaids people usually expect, such as Ariel, which was refreshing and part of what made this book enjoyable.
The only reason this was a four star book instead of a five star was because of the ending. I enjoyed the rest of the story so much that when the book abruptly ended I was so disappointed. It could've been written much better and there are missing parts that should be there but aren't. This has nothing to do with the possible cliffhanger(?) but Henry could've written this ending out better so it didn't seem so abrupt to the reader.
I'm hoping there is a sequel to this since there was a kind of cliffhanger.
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