I received this book for my review. All opinions are my own.

I love to read and I am a big fan of fantasy stories. I was very excited to read THE MERMAID’S SECRET by Katie Schickel.

“From Katie Schickel, one of Booklist’s Top 10 Women’s fiction of 2015, comes The Mermaid’s Secret, an original, fresh, and absolutely captivating beach read.

Life on land is suffocating for Jess Creary, who wastes her summers flipping burgers for tourists on a fishing boat off her quaint resort island home off the coast of Maine. After all, her older sister Kay died in a boating accident two years ago, her mother has disappeared, and her father isn’t exactly dealing with things so well. Surfing and the handsome Captain Matthew are about the only bright spots in her life.

Then, on her twenty-third birthday, Jess catches the perfect wave–a wave that transforms her into a mermaid. Under the sea, a startlingly beautiful, dark place, Jess is reborn into a confident, powerful predator with superhuman strength –finally she is someone to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, back on land, Jess’s relationship with Captain Matthew heats up, and so does her search for justice for Kay.

Jess has thirty days to choose between land and sea; legs and fins; her humanity and her freedom. Who could ignore the freedom of the sea? Yet, the ocean is a dark, wild, lonely place. Is this a gift or a curse? Will Jess choose family and love, forgiveness and truth, or will she be seduced by the wild call of the sparkling sea forever?”-Forge Books

I really enjoyed reading THE MERMAID’S SECRET. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. I read it in one evening.

I thought this book had great character development. By the end of the novel, I felt like I knew the main character of Jess Creary pretty well.

I was really surprised by the story. When I first started reading the book, I thought that this book was going to be a mermaid adventure story. The mermaid story is more secondary in the story. This book is more about Jess discovering herself and dealing with personal loss. I really liked how complex this made the story. I do wish there would have been more of the mermaid story in the book though.

I liked how detailed the surfing and ocean scenes were. The author, Katie Schickel, is actually a surfer and a scuba diver. I think her experiences definitely added to the authenticity of the novel.

Content wise, THE MERMAID’S SECRET is a book for adults. There is some language in the book. The ‘f-word’ is used a few times. There is some sexual content in the book but nothing explicit.

I really liked the book, THE MERMAID’S SECRET. It is a great summer read!