For fans of Emily Windsnap and Maybe A Mermaid, And Then I Turned into a Mermaid is a funny, heartfelt coming-of-age story, perfect for 10 year old girls and any young mermaid fan!
Will Molly sink or swim as she attempts to hide her (Very Weird) new double identity?
Molly Seabrook's dull seaside life is turned upside down when she turns 13 and is let in on the family she's PART-MERMAID! Molly isn't exactly thrilled. Not only does she already have to dress up as a fish to promote the family seafood restaurant, but now she actually is part fish? Growing up is hard enough without sprouting a fish tail in math class, or disguising your gills from the cute boy at the ice cream stand.
Follow Molly as she attempts to navigate the stormy seas of social awkwardness, best friend fallouts, and the World's Most Embarrassing Family.
And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid is the perfect fit if you're looking
A story with realistic, strong sister dynamicsMermaid books for girls 4-6A series starter for your voracious young readerA story with strong female charactersOr mermaid books for girl 6-8
I'm rating this based on its merit as a middle grade children's chapter book. This does not mean it's an amazing read for the average person (this is no Lockwood & Co. or Harry Potter) but it will likely appeal to many little girls in the 7-10 age group. Laura Kirkpatrick introduces us to an average teen whom has 3 sisters and is unpopular most of the time. Until the day she suddenly comes into her own and learns she's a mermaid. There are some very funny moments in And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid, as well as some poignant ones. Some social issues are alluded to and the morals seem to be in the right place right up until the last page...
Endings are Important I'm super disappointed that this is on the last page of this book: "Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the start of her journey into the popular group." All I could think was really?!?! Things were going fairly well. We saw our main gal's popular boy crush appear to be not so great; and our lead gal had a moment of warm fuzzy feelings for the slightly nerdy guy that likes her back. This felt like great progress towards realizing that looks aren't everything. We also find our main gal wishing for her BFF back whose been taken in by the popular group. Their reunited friendship shows that being popular isn't all that matters. But then we have a statement like the one above on the last page. Ugh.
Popular Group There is one very well done aspect of the popular group in Laura Kirkpatrick's series one book. We learn that one of the popular girls is quite insecure and has secrets of her own she is trying to cover up. This leads our main gal to be empathic towards her and realize that everyone has things they are embarrassed or afraid of in their life. It's a really well done scene to show the reader that popular folks are just people too. They are no more special or different from the rest of us.
Witty Jokes Perhaps one of the best parts of this story are the witty jokes. Our gal's family owns a fish and chips fast food establishment and so there are some great little puns and one-liners throughout the story to chuckle at. For example: "Why do sharks only swim in saltwater? Because pepper makes them sneeze."
Overall There are some great little moments in this story, including when one sister is found out by the others to be a lesbian, that really show some good social progress and help teach the reader that it's okay to be different and a 'freak' (as our lead gal refers to herself so often). But that (nearly) last line will haunt me for a long time. I don't want little girls to think they need to be popular or a certain type of girl in order to be cool or liked. It just goes against what we (should) want society to be: equal. In order to be equal we must accept that everyone is different and not have any concept of an 'ideal' person. That said anything that gets a child to read is a positive to some degree in my mind; and as I think this will be joyously eaten up by little girls I can't give it lower than a 3 star rating.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
If you don't agree with my views pls don't spread hate. I will delete your comment! This is my review! Kindly move along if you don't agree with me.
Dnf at 72%
Although this book is labeled for young readers, it contains some mature content such as descriptions of tongue kissing and LGBTQIA characters.
The book also has a lesbian character, she seems to hide the fact that she is a lesbian until she gets caught by her sisters.
The other sister mentioned that she isn't interested in girls or boys or anyone. This is a kids book keep in mind, labeled 4+ on Kindle unlimited.
The book also mentions a 14 year old has lip fillers. That was very weird.
This book may send the message that it's okay to sneak around behind your parents' back, as the main characters overhear their older sister on the phone and follow her to catch her kissing another girl mermaid.
The title is what made me want to read this, I’m essentially a landlocked mermaid! Even though I am in my 50’s I totally enjoyed this story!
Molly Seabrook’s dull seaside life is turned upside down when she turns 13 and is let in on the family secret: she’s PART-MERMAID! While this does explain why her bonkers Mum is always skinny-dipping, Molly isn’t exactly thrilled. She already has to dress as a haddock to promote the family fish ’n’ chip shop, and now this? Growing up is hard enough without sprouting a fish tail in Double Maths, or disguising your gills from the cute boy at the ice cream kiosk.
Join Molly as she navigates the stormy sea of social awkwardness, best friend fallouts and the World's Most Embarrassing Family – all while attempting to hide her (Very Weird) new double identity. Will she sink or swim? You’ll have to wait and SEA . . .
It was humorous, full of friendship struggles we all go through at any age, touched on LGBTQ 🏳️🌈 and just the love between a mum and Daughters.
This is an amazing book and I can't wait for more of the series and Seabrook sisters adventures! If there is a sequel I will definitely purchase
I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own
This is hilarious, warm and fun! What would you do if you discovered that you’d turn into a mermaid? That’s what happens to Molly Seabrook (gorgeous, sarcastic, wonderful molly). I loved this: full of puns, charm, wit. There’s some great storylines and some awesome rep in here too! Bloody take a now, Laura!
Laura fucking Steven/Kirkpatrick has done it again. I will probably love everything that amazing woman and her brain put out. This was sooo hilarious that it already had me cry laughing for the fourth time by page 60. I loved it so much. It seriously might be my favorite middle grade novel to this day (haha maybe after the first 3 Percy Jackson & HP novels). It's definitely one of the very few middle grade books I've enjoyed immensely in a very long time (probably 2 or 3 years?) To high light some of my immense love for this short, funny & heart warming novel, I will share some of my favorite moments, quotes and some random thoughts I had while reading this book.
Molly finds out she is a mermaid and is freaking out. Her sister Margot is like: "Molly, seriously can you please just relax?" "I'LL RELAX YOU!" Molly shouted. "Permanently! You know, because you'd be dead." Margot: "That's a bit much." And this seriously made me laugh way too hard that I got actual tears in my eyes because of laughing so hard. I think that's a bit much did it for me.
OMG I'M CACKLING NOW😂 Molly is like trying to get away on land but since she has like a tail she can't walk and is doing the seal move now. I can totally picture this😂
And yet if she shared her special thing with her entire family, did that really make her special at all? All I can say to that is damn ACCURATE😂
Oh god, oh god, oh god. What if the caretaker finds me here at midnight? What if I've become so desperate she finds me sawing my own tail off with a plastic ruler? For starters I don't think you can saw your tail off with a plastic ruler or like super strength also comes with the mermaid package. And secondly such a dramatic thing to think😂 It hasn't even been a minute that Molly is stuck like that and I would seriously just hide in one of the toilet stalls and call your sister instead of texting.
Marine rescue😂😂😂😂
OMG I'M ACTUALLY WHEEZING. DYING AND CRYING OF LAUGHTER. I WAS JUST JOKING ABOUT MERMAIDS HAVING SUPER STRENGTH AND NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT MARGOT'S MERPOWER IS SUPER STRENGTH? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Molly thought she wouldn't know an ancient aquatic text if it kicked her in the head, but good for her sister. This sarcasm is just everything, off the chards.
Falling so many times because you spontaneously turned into a mermaid that you get a sprained wrist & suspected concussions that your doctor thinks you play rugby (American football). I'm actually dying😂 poor Molly though.
I aspire to be as dramatic as Margot. Girl lost a sports game couldn't possibly stay in their town after such a crushing defeat and put a for sale sign at their house. Amazing.
"How romantic could the romantic poets be if they didn't write about sausages or tubas?" The answer is they aren't; just a bunch of overly dramatic metaphors.
"Wow, did I just have a mature thought?" This is me basically everyday when I do some remotely bare minimum adult like task😂
Molly can we switch lives? You can have my completely normal, boring, depressed life if I can be a mermaid😂
Margot jokes are literally the best.
Double maths: also known as the place where dreams go to die. HILARIOUS AND ACCURATE.
"I've never been invisible before," Molly muttered. "How would I know what it feels like?" Margot: "Er... use your imagination?" SERIOUSLY LAURA HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THESE BRILLIANT LINES.
OMG I love how LGBTQ+ positive this novel is. One of the sisters is queer and has a girlfriend and the other one might possibly be asexual (my favorite sister Margot).
The only thing I don't really like is the unnecessary girl hate. I wish novels or any form of entertainment could and would just erase that.
You might have just won the lottery and I'd say sorry for your loss - Eddie. Oh man Eddie is seriously the cutest and awkward kiddo ever.
Molly seriously has the worst luck ever. Turning into a mermaid while being at the zoo? Worst timing ever. My poor girl Molly. Her merpowers are fucking kickass though.
I literally can't wait to meet Laura at YALC this year and tell her personally how I loved this novel & her others. I'm now also seriously hyped for future potential sequels to this book. I absolutely need more of this mermaid society, the characters and simply mermaids.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reread thoughts: This book was still so much fun to read and it definitely was that funny and entertaining as I remembered it to be. Molly is still such an iconic hilarious 13 year old, minnie is still the weirdest little sister anybody could have, and I'm still very much in love with Margot. Margot's asexuality also means a lot to me since it is simply a part of her and her family was like tis no big deal (same with Myla having a girlfriend). And since I've realised I'm on the ace spectrum I just get extremely happy when I reread a book or see a movie/serie that has an asexual character in it. Laura is definitely a babe and one of my all time favourite authors now.
This was brilliant. I read it with Foster Sprog over Skype while we couldn’t see each other during a global pandemic. Cos that’s a totally normal thing to write down. So it took us quite a while but it was still an absolute joy to go back to each week for a chapter or two.
At first I felt like it was pitched a little strange age wise. Going in, I understood it to be MG and I think it did feel pretty young in the writing, but with the MC being 13 she was talking about boys and lipstick and Instagram and stuff, so whilst it’s not unsuitable for pre-teens I felt like it was maybe not really all that relevant either? I was a little uneasy, and worried about being judged by my Grandma for introducing Sprog to something too mature, but once I chilled out it was fine and we had a lovely time. Like I said, it’s not inappropriate at all, and now that we’ve started we will be carrying on to read the sequel straight away, but I think if I’d read it first I probably wouldn’t have read this with her just yet - rather than being a ‘9-12’ kind of read, I’d say it’s a ‘12’ to get the full enjoyment and experience.
Naturally it’s not *quite* as funny as Laura’s YA because it doesn’t have any of the sex and swearing I love so much, but it still features that trademark Laura humour and I thoroughly enjoyed all the food jokes, fish puns, and toilet humour. And Sprog found it absolutely hilarious. I’m not entirely sure her pants were always dry at the end of our reading sessions. I also loved how even though this was geared to older MG it still seemed as if she’d written it with the idea of adults and kids sharing a story together, as it felt like a Pixar film in that there was plenty in there for me as well as the littlun. (Gareth Southgate waistcoat joke, I’m looking at you.)
In general, it was such a good story to read together. Not only for the laughs and creativity and imagination, but it also sparked so many important questions and conversations and really helped us to bond. We talked about the ways she manages her feelings when she’s upset or angry, the complex relationships she has with her family, how friendship dynamics and bullying affect her and her peers, and even things like my top surgery and her mum’s sexuality. Laura created so many opportunities for learning and discussion on a range of topics that were inclusive, empathetic, downright healthy, and completely age appropriate.
The plot and pacing was brilliant, the characters all incredibly likeable and real, and we’re both 100% invested in finding out what happens next. Job well done Laura. Thanks for the injection of joy I needed every Sunday for the last couple of months.
It was really good but it spent so much time waiting for the people to catch on. Like, someone would say that you are a mermaid and you know it is true but you are just waiting and waiting for the people to know. She also "realized" a lot of stuff that was kind of obvious. It was good in the fact that it was unpredictable because it seems like all of the books I have read recently are very predictable
What do you get when you cross a Seabrook with those special teen years? A 'tail' that you won't soon forget!
Molly Seabrook just wants what every other soon-to-be thirteen year old wants...to be popular, noticed by the boy she likes, and rock her teen years. Instead, Molly is being inducted into a world of weirdness that every one of her older family members already belong to, and to top it all off, sprouting a tail to boot! Honestly, it couldn't get any worse, right? Umm, yeah...about that. Not that she wants to shout her fishy news from the rooftops, but it has to remain a secret...like TOP secret...which is kind of hard when almost any decent amount of water suddenly can turn you from upstanding young lady into a quite literal fish out of water! What's a girl to do?
Honestly, I LOVED the way this book was written...the dialogue was so spot on, I found myself wanting to read passage after passage aloud just to hear the humor, the sarcasm, the oh-my-godess-can-this-really-be-my-life moments, and then some! I felt for Molly, I really did, and while yes, she had the support of her family, it didn't make it any easier to handle her new situation. Watching her best friend friendship flounder, seeing her take it on the nose for simply being different (and we're not even talking about the secret!), and still trying to make amends...be the bigger person...it really touched my heart. I mean, I'm all for turning the other cheek, but her bestie was a bit of a sea-witch when bit by the popularity bug (and something to do with the relationship is what kept me from going to the big FIVE STAR rating). On the other hand, we've got Eddie of the Eddie (or Ears, you preference) who is such a kind soul and hopefully has a bigger role in future installments (fingers crossed!)...and we can't forget her beloved sisters (well, mostly beloved, sometimes annoying, and partially helpful) whom we discover have secrets of their own too.
In the end, it's a wonderful story filled with all the teen angst and growing up issues a girl can handle...with a scaly twist! It reminds us that everyone is going through something, whether they wear it on their sleeve or not, and that kindness is always the best accessory.
**copy received for review via Sourcebooks; opinions are my own
AND THEN I TURNED INTO A MERMAID is a cute and funny middle grade fantasy that follows Molly. Molly is 13 years old and hoping to become popular and date a popular boy. However, it feels impossible when she feels so awkward and her family feels so different. This is not helped by her mother, who seems to insist on skinny-dipping in the ocean and the fact that they run a fish-and-chips restaurant.
On her 13th birthday, her family took her the ocean, and Molly is dismayed to learn that she is even less normal- she is half-Mermaid, and her family begins to turn for the first time on their 13th birthdays. Now, she has to be cautious around any amount of water, as she might transform into a mermaid around it, until she learns to control it. Her sisters and mother don't understand why Molly is so dismayed, but she can't help feeling like this is one more reason she can't fit in and be popular. This is all compounded when her BFF, Ada, begins hanging with the popular crowd and making fun of Molly's family to get laughs from the popular kids.
What I loved: 13 is an awkward age, and Molly captures this difficulty perfectly. It is tough not to feel like you fit in and even tougher when you are learning who your true friends are. While the awkward situations Molly finds due to unexpected transformations are not the usual, her difficulties with fitting in and feeling different are very normal. This story speaks to the reader with some comedy to arrive at what are the important things in life and who are your real friends (even if they have big ears, like Eddie of the Ears). I also loved the sisterhood that Molly and her sisters have, and the way they are always there for each other. There are a lot of characters to love in this book, even if you don't always agree with what they do.
Final verdict: Charming and highly entertaining, AND THEN I TURNED INTO A MERMAID is a book that captures the pre-adolescent/adolescent experience- with a little bit of extra magic.
Please note that I received a review copy through Sourcebooks Early Reads program. All opinions are my own.
3.5 stars for this hilarious mermaid story! Laura’s writing is still brilliantly funny for middle grade, and her brand of brash sarcasm just works for me. Plus the joy of a family of mermaids owning and running and fish and chip shop is brilliant.
I really liked Molly, and her adventures in life as a 13 year old mermaid. And the last line in the book, delivered by little sister Minnie, is spit-take hilariousness at its best.
I did want more on mermaid life, and Molly’s colours, and how all the sisters have coped with it all. This very much concentrated more on the impact of the discovery and Molly and Ada’s friendship. But I’m hopeful for all this from book 2 :)
There’s also great lgbt+ rep - lesbian and possibly also ace from my favourite sister, Margot. She’s hilarious, even if some of her pranks aren’t my style, I love that she comes up with them!
It’s been a strange few weeks but at the end of March I took a trip to Little Marmouth and dived into Molly’s world. Yes, I know, once again very late to this party, but let me tell you it was just what I needed!
If any of you are YA readers you may be more familiar with Laura, as Laura Steven, author of the Izzy O’Neill books and The Love Hypothesis. And Then I Turned Into A Mermaid is her first foray into middle grade writing and as a fan of her YA work I was definitely not disappointed with this.
Let’s start with the plot, Molly Seabrook is a fairly average 13 year old girl, she’s dealing with crushes, wanting to be in with the popular kids and dealing with her embarrassing mother (who admittedly may be a little more embarrassing than your average parent due to her habit of skinny dipping at lunchtime). But shortly after her 13 birthday she discovers a secret, she along with her mother and older sisters are mermaids, and once she goes through that first change just being near a body of water is enough to trigger another one. Suddenly Molly must deal with the practicalities of being a mermaid alongside all the trials and tribulations of being a regular teenager! The first few chapters are spent introducing the characters, and while totally necessary I found it a little slow going and so it took me a little while to get into it, but once I got to know Molly and some of the supporting characters I was totally invested and needed to see what happened both with her family and also her school friends. I’m looking forward to catching up with them all again!
A little about the characters, Molly Seabrook is our central character, she lives in an old lighthouse with her mother and 4 sisters. She turns 13 right at the beginning of the book and there’s a lot of things I recognised from my own childhood in Molly’s story. The longing to fit in with all the popular kids and some of the arguments and fallings out that makes you feel like the world as you know it has ended. I think she’s such a relatable character for an awful lot of young readers, and I’m intrigued to see what comes next for her.
Molly has four sisters, three older, Myla, Margot and Melissa; and one younger sister Minnie. Each sister is very different, from the bookish and smart Myla, to the practical joker Margot, the prim and proper Melissa and the wonderful, slightly eccentric five-year-old Minnie. I don’t have any sisters myself, so it was interesting to see their sibling bond, and the way it changed throughout the book. The eldest Myla is 17 in this story and looking to go off to university, so I’m intrigued to see how the dynamic changes over the course of future books.
Just briefly I’m going to mention a couple of Molly’s school friends as I don’t want to give away too much about the plot. Ada, is Molly’s best friend at school, and I have such mixed feelings about her throughout the course of the book. I think Laura portrays such a realistic relationship between the two girls, some of the events across the course of the book are definitely things I recognise from my own school days! There are a lot of other characters Molly interacts with at school but finally I’m going to give a quick shout out to Eddie, who seems to be the most genuine sweetest guy! I hope he features in future books and stays the nice guy that he is!
Final Thoughts… It took me a few chapters to really get stuck in but once I did I fell in love with Molly, I think some of the issues she deals with, especially in her relationship with her best friend will really resonate with a lot of middle grade (and older) readers. I can’t wait to see what’s next for the sisters!
Half girl, half fish. That’s how 12-year-old Molly Seabrook feels. To help out her mother’s fish-and-chip shop, Molly stands on the boardwalk in a haddock suit passing out flyers. Molly works there with her 3 older sisters. Their youngest sister isn’t old enough yet to help out, but she’s pretty adorable, so Molly can’t get too mad at her.
Molly’s best friend Ada doesn’t have to work, but she does stop by sometimes to talk about Cute Steve and Penalty Pete. Or about school, but that’s not as interesting. Sometimes Molly feels herself getting frustrated with her family and snaps at them, or snaps at Ada, but she doesn’t mean to. Her feelings just get the better of her, and she can’t stop herself. But she’s working on it.
Then it’s Molly’s birthday, and Molly’s older sisters and mother let her in on the big family secret: her mother is a mermaid. That means that all the sisters are half-mermaids, and on their thirteenth birthday, they take her down to the sea for her first transformation into a mermaid.
Molly is confused and frightened at first, but before she knows what’s happening, her legs fuse together and she has a beautiful, shiny white tail. She can’t believe that her mother and sisters kept this from her! They tell her that no one else can know about this, that no one from school can know her secret, but when Molly finds herself too close to the swimming pool, she has a very close call.
But what really breaks her heart is the fight she has with Ada. As Ada gets closer to the popular girls and to her soccer-playing crush Penalty Pete, Molly feels left behind. Between that and her big secret, she is struggling to find where she fits in anymore. Maybe her new merpower can help her settle into her new life as a half-mermaid teenager? If not, Molly doesn’t know how she keep her secret and get her friend back.
And Then I Turned into a Mermaid is a warm, thoughtful middle grade novel about the struggles of turning 13 and trying to figure out where you fit in the world. Author Laura Kirkpatrick offers up a sweet, charming story of friendship and sisterhood with a splash of magic in this delightful story.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Molly is very much her own person, with a strong voice and matching personality. I was also very happy to find out what her merpower is (I won’t say, as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but it’s really good). I think that offers more depth to this story, and I look forward to reading more of Molly’s adventures as a teenaged girl and as a half-mermaid.
A copy of And Then I Turned into a Mermaid was provided by Sourcebooks Young Readers, with many thanks.
As the Most Interesting Man in the World might say, "I don't always read mermaid books, but when I do I prefer books like this one." While this book is technically a mermaid book it's really a family tale, and a warm and upbeat, and often humorous, story about five sisters and how they grew.
Our heroine, Molly, is sister number four. The three older sisters are the brain, the practical joker, and the uptight loner. Youngest sister is a cute ball of energy. Rounding out the family is divorced, solid, warm, slightly ditzy, Mom. That leaves Molly to be the tween grump. Happily for us, at thirteen, Molly is just a normal tween grump and is a perfectly fine, and rather appealing, witty, and realistic grump at that.
It's not much of a spoiler to say that early on, (thirteenth birthday in fact), Molly comes in to her mermaidness. She does this in the company of her Mom and three older sisters, and the scene in which they all welcome her into the sorority is funny, touching, and wholesome and life affirming. Not for Molly, of course; she's freaked out. The rest of the book involves Molly coming to grips, and that can be wildly funny, unnerving, and, to be honest, sometimes a little over the top and irritating.
But the book is mostly light and breezy, and it's so fast paced it just screams along. There are loads of one-off scenes, funny throwaway lines, a cute boy, and quick bits. The episodic nature of the storytelling actually keeps everything zippy and a little antic, which is what made this such a cheerful and engaging read.
So, not as mermaidy as I feared, and really much more of a salty coming of age tale, with just the right balance of humor and heart. A surprising but very satisfying, find.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
A BIG Thank You to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Jabberwocky for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of “And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid” for my review. This book was a bit confusing in the beginning, but eventually was fun to read! Initially, I had trouble keeping up with the characters because there are so many sisters. Their sense of humor and the snarky sarcasm was also out of the blue. But once I got a hang of their personalities and the conversations, it was entertaining. I ended up laughing at some of their quirky conversations and situations halfway into the story.
I liked how the story takes place near the sea and the overall idea of the characters turning into mermaids. Moreover, I loved Molly and Margot’s relationship. The author wrote Molly very well and I how she adjusts to living a mermaid’s life. Even though she has self-doubts and feels ashamed of her family, she tries to makes the best of it and is still realistic about it. I also liked how innovative the author was in coming up with games like “Clamdunk” and setting the world building of the merpeople.
One thing which I really didn’t like was Ada’s character. Molly is great because she always decides to take the high road and be nice to Ada, even after the way Ada has treated her. Ada never seems remorseful or guilty for the way she is treating Molly, and she comes across as a very selfish person. I hope her attitude changes and she becomes likable in the future books. Surprisingly, I liked Felicity’s character (more than Ada) and wanted her to be more prominent in the story.
Overall, I thought this was a great first book to the series. I am looking forward to reading the following books.
When I heard about this book, I was incredibly excited, and when I realised it was written by YA writer Laura Steven under a pseudonym my excitement levels only went up even further. Thankfully, I really enjoyed it (it`d be really embarrassing if I hadn`t after all the screeching I did about it on Twitter, both to Laura and to any of my friends who`d listen…). It`s about a girl named Molly, who discovers on her 13th birthday that she and her family are all mermaids, and has to navigate this alongside friend dramas, boys and working in the family fish and chip shop. Molly is so likable and her reactions to this huge news are hilarious, as are her interactions with her mum and sisters- who are all such great characters. The whole book is just hilarious in fact, because Laura Steven/Kirkpatrick`s sense of humour is brilliant and it translated really well to middle grade. That said, I thought the more sentimental side of the family dynamic was super lovely as well, and I loved learning about the merworld, so I hope to learn even more about it in subsequent books in the series. 4.5/5
In this book we meet Molly and her family of mum and four sisters who she discovers as she's turning thirteen are mermaids!
However as she crushes on a football mad guy, has best friend fall outs with Ada and remembers how her mum was not long ago sick with cancer and having to juggle a business of a chip shop with no partner around a lot is happening in her life and being a mermaid adds to it as she starts to transform with the slightest touch of water!
She also befriends Eddie a regular customer at their chip shop she comes to realise is better than football guy...
This is a super fun book, I was laughing so much at points throughout and Molly was a character forever facing a tough time it seemed as she comes to terms with her new mermaid half life! If you want a funny book filled with a wacky family this is for you!
My 12 year old, 7th grade daughter is dyslexic and reads a bit slower than her peers even though she is now reading at grade level. She loves all things mermaid and I picked this up for her for Christmas. She's read the Emily Windsnap series and liked them, but they were big and took a long time for her to read.
She says this book is sooooooo much better. Not only a faster read but she likes everything better. She likes it 3x as much as Emily Windsnap and unfortunately I can't get a much more detailed review out of her than that besides, it's so good. Lol. She did mention the names of the chapters are hilarious and something about farting so I think she enjoys that this book has lot of random humor and isn't just all teen/tween drama.
This MG novella from one of my favourite new authors is great for preteens, I'm sure. For me I would give it 3 stars but as I'm not really its target audience, I thought that would be unfair. I thought Molly was a little annoying and couldn't relate to her through most of it but like I said, she would be a good hit with the younger crowd and I think my younger self would have thought her hilarious. The mermaid reveal was hit and miss, her family just seemed to shrug and be all 'get used to it. Now let's go home.' But I did like how the ending with Felicity turned out and it touched on some matters which are hugely underrepresented in mainstream kids books. Being a huge life long mermaid fan, I thought the book could have gone further but I know there's more in the series to come.
This was in the YA section of the library and got it out to try something different just before lockdown. I'm not the target readership being a 61 year old male but I can see the fascination for young girls. A bit formulaic in that there's the unobtainable boy, wanting to be popular, falling out with your best friend and the moments in transforming into a mermaid were too infrequent. Molly is the protagonist and all her sisters, mother and visiting aunt all had names beginning with M, a bit confusing at times. It was a pacy read with plenty of funny moments and awful puns and dad type jokes to make you groan and smile at the same time.
This was hilarious! Molly's high-school experiences were completely accurate to being thirteen - arguments with friends, fancying boys and giving them nicknames, wanting to be popular. I loved the twist of Myla having a secret girlfriend. One thing I would have liked is more information about the mermaid world, and just more mermaid content in general. Also a couple of things weren't completely clear - if their dad was a normal human, does that mean Miranda is a full mermaid? Maybe we'll find out in the next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I knew from the author's other works that it would be funny. However, I didn't expect to be: outright laughing on the train; hit with the friendship feels; be TOTALLY SHIPPING multiple pairings; be freaking out over Middle Grade LGBTQ+ rep; or to be almost in tears at the beautiful sisterly relationships!
This is an amazing book and I can't wait for more of the series and Seabrook sisters 🧡
I have finished this book. This is about how a girl, Molly, has turned into a mermaid and then lost her tail. She understands even if something ever happens to her she will still goes to school and help her parents. In my opinion she reminds me of all my family because we all never give up and try to do it even though you have something happened to you. If you like fantasy and realists then this is a fantastic book for you.
This book is the story of Molly a young girl who is embarrassed by her family of 4 other sisters and a single mom. And just when Molly thinks that her family can’t get anymore freakier she finds out she’s a mermaid.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s not afraid to talk about more mature stuff, Molly is a relatable protagonist and there is definitely a lot of potential in this series going forward
I look forward to reading the next book as soon as I can.
On Molly's 13 birthday she discovers she is a mermaid and her family too and she has to keep it a secret. If any human found out she and her family would be banished to an island that isn't safe or clean. She and her friend want to be popular and her friends talk behind her back. Molly gets mad and gets in a huge fight with her. Then, the popular girl discovers she is a mermaid so Molly blackmails her.....
This book is great to read if you like funny books or if you like mermaid books. I rated it a 3 star because there was so much detail that I got bored easily. I would wait for something else to happen. It was a great theme and plot I read to the end. And her power...rocks! Great book to read. I am a adventure reader so if you are chill this is a great book!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.