Let me be clear that two stars is generous. After all, I did learn quite a bit about dolphins and the community of ocean born sports enthusiasts. I also found the budding relationship of two beautiful teenagers to be endearing.
I am afraid that is where my mediocre praise ends.
The characterization, or lack thereof, in the novel was completely one dimensional. Perhaps even less. All the characters fit into one of two categories; those who fit into The Guard run community of Pinhold and those who are the misfits. One character was perhaps straddling that line. There was a small range of stated interests among these characters, but there was not a bit of development of those interests. Interestingly, the character that I felt had the most depth (a shallow depth, mind you) was Helix, the one character that no one particularly liked. Mica, Cami's brother, was approaching a sort of depth of character right before he was thrust into a coma and turned into a plot device - a non-character for the remainder of the novel.
I could even get past the poor characterization if the story was captivating. Alas, it was not. There were two plots: that of the mysterious causes for Cami's peers losing consciousness while engaged in ocean activities. Almost half of the five (?) sets of twins born in the same year ended up in this confusing state. (And by the way - did the five sets of parents all get together and coordinate the naming of their children? Really?) This plot, while interesting in concept was poorly executed, underdeveloped, and left wanting. The plot twists were transparent. The first twin falls under a coma, Cami bonds to a dolphin, some weird underwater lab is discovered in a weird way, and Kaleb shows up. Plot solved. Blech.
The second plot was the romance between Cami and Blake. But, there was a complete lack of reason for the romance other than the fact that they were both beautiful and have hormones. When did Blake begin to see Cami differently? What did he think of her unexpected and sudden interest? What does he like about Cami? What does anyone like about Cami for that matter? (I never felt compelled to really like her.) Was Kaleb really such a non-entity that she never questioned how he would be affected by her relationship with his brother? What emotions did she feel when Kaleb showed up looking like the boy she'd been idolizing? Or, just that he was there at all? And for heaven's sake, why did Blake and Cami never talk when they were left alone? Really, why did they never talk?
So, characterization - strike one. Plot - strike two. Strike three is the awful editing. Names were incorrect. Pronouns were wrong. The text was littered with words that didn't quite fit; as if spell check was allowed to auto-correct the entire novel. Honestly, I was convinced that the editing had been left up spell check. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the novel had an actual editor. Worse than those glaringly obvious mistakes were the ones that just showed a lack of care. Conversations were referenced that did not take place. A character who had not even been introduced into a scene would begin a conversation. Characters who exited a room would inexplicably be back in that room a paragraph later. From one paragraph to the next, with out any obvious break of any kind, the story could have a time shift and a scene change! These instances added together, with their complete lack of style, made the story choppy and confusing. I read and reread several passages to make sure the mistakes were not mine. It was time that I simply lost. In this case, the editor either didn't have enough experience to edit this novel or didn't have the manners to care what the reader came across - akin to giving the reader the middle finger.
I do not know how others have given this novel 4 and 5 stars. I find it disturbing.