Happy Thursday, my lovely peeps! The chicks and duck theme may be gone now, replaced with a puppies theme, but you are all still my beloved little peeps🐥!
Today is my stop on the blog tour for Secrets of the Deep by Marisa Noelle and I can't remember the last time (or if I've ever) read a mermaid book, but this has been as magical of a journey as I can imagine any mermaid book would be! So, for my stop, I'll be sharing my thoughts in this week's book review!
Title: Secrets of the Deep
Author: Marisa Noelle
Genre: Fantasy, Mermaid, Young Adult
Length: 352 pages
Published: July 2023
Goodreads: [HERE]
Amazon: [HERE]
Disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided to me as part of the blog tour. This does not impact the review and all opinions are my own. Thank you to the author, Marisa Noelle, and TheWriteReads tour for the copy!
Thank you Noly for the banner and to TheWriteReads team for compiling the blog media kit!
CORDELIA BLUE IS AFRAID OF WATER .
CORDELIA IS ALSO A MERMAID.
Determined to face her fear, Cordelia enters the ocean for the first time since her twin brother was killed and learns she is from the oldest bloodline of mermaids. Entrusted with a magical relic, it us up to her alone to break an ancient curse and free the mermaids from the water.
But the selachii - mysterious shark shapeshifters - also have their eyes on the relic. As tensions increase between the mermaids and selachii, Cordelia doesn't know who to trust. Forced to choose between love and race, she doubts every decision and the intentions of those around her.
Trusting her head will lead to a path of betrayal, but she might just get her family back. If she chooses her heart, the mermaids may stay cursed to remain in the ocean forever.
Cordelia Blue is about to turn 18 and she's terrified of the water. Ever since a shark incident, five years ago, which resulted in the death of her beloved mother and twin brother, she has not gone near the deep waters, be it the ocean or even just filling up the tub at home for a bath. Her father and best friends are there to help her through it all, but nothing can touch her fear of the water. However, upon the day that she finally decides, enough is enough, and attempts to conquer her 5-year long fear, she finds her legs slowly fusing in the tub and soon after, during another incident, Cordelia is shocked to find out that not only are mermaids and the merfolk are real, but she is one herself! Not to mention, how pivotal her particular role is, for she is one of the destined ones of a prophecy!
Sitting up, I looked at my legs. A flicker of revulsion rushed through me.
Not my legs.
I didn't recognize them.
Stuck together.
Not tied.
Not clamped.
Melded together from ankle to thigh as though I'd been exposed to an intense fire and my legs had simply melted together.
This was a fun read. Despite a few scary parts, it was geared towards being a rather positive read. A classic "chosen one" story with an A+ ending. The beginning started slow and I didn't particularly like the writing, especially when it came to the dialogue. It is a YA book but it felt closer to a teen story in style and dialogue. There were moments where the story lulled, but once the middle hit, it was like when the roller coaster has finally (slowly) made its way to the peak and from there it's "yippeeee!" fast/express lane to action. And boy, while I don't poke around fantasy books as much as I used to (and modern/futuristic action scenes with guns are written very much differently than swords, spears, and well…animal teeth), the action scenes were well done. They're well written, intense, and I loved the way everyone maneuvered. That intense final conflict scene has got to be one of my favorite fantasy action scenes to date!
There were moments that I kind of wish were a little expanded. Sometimes, a character may ask for more information but is met with a brush off and, perhaps that's to help throw Cordy off (because there's times she is as clueless to the true situation as we readers are), but I would have loved for more worldbuilding. However, this is the first book to a series that is already 5 books deep, so all is forgiven for the somewhat surface level world building. There's many more books for the readers to explore the merfolk and Selachii (shark people) world. Heck, if I read right, there's eels too?
Once the middle hit, the pacing was very fast. The relationship between Cordelia and Wade was a little fast too and I can't really comment further on it, but I enjoyed their general interactions and relationship. It was a golden retriever, candy pop sweet kind of love. They care so much for each other and I thought their relationship was quite refreshing. Fairytale-like with a bit of hiccup in the middle. And Cordelia's friends and family? Her twin brother, Dylan, and how much she loves and misses him, her relationship with her father and how much he's trying to help her through her trauma, her friendship with her best friends Maya and Trent (who was also Dylan's best friend), are amazing and when Wade enters the picture, they grow rather close quickly and their interactions with each other are the highlight of this book for me.
I've always been a characters > storyline person, but even then the storyline itself didn't lag behind in the "like" meter because I was hooked (is that a fishy pun?) from the beginning. Sure, I said it was slow at first, but I loved how the book broke out Cordelia's character ARC, from before conquering her fear of the water with flashbacks to that fateful day, every now and then, to finding herself deep amongst a prophesy to growing to be confident, strong, and resilient, even confronting sharks herself (did you know her father's a marine biologist and works closely with sharks?). She made that call to try the tub. She decided to rejoin her school's swim team. Cordy, you go girl!
While there were a few minor things I didn't like, this has been a rather fun read with an enjoyable plot and even more enjoyable characters. The story really picks up in the middle and I loved the action scenes as well as the character interactions (very warm and fluffy vibes!). If you enjoy a story about the merfolk and mermaids with a touch of shark people, filled with understanding and attempting to fulfill prophecies from a book that nobody can seem to read, you might want to give this one a try!
Marisa Noelle is the writer of middle grade & young adult novels in the genres of science-fiction, fantasy, horror & mental health including The Shadow Keepers, The Unadjusteds Trilogy (The Unadjusteds, The Rise of the Altereds, & The Reckoning), The Mermaid Chronicles – Secrets of the Deep, & The Unravelling of Luna Forester. She is a mentor for the Write Mentor program that helps aspiring MG & YA authors. With dual citizenship, Marisa has lived on both sides of the Atlantic and uses settings in both the USA and UK as inspiration for her novels. When she's not writing or reading or watching movies, she enjoys swimming. In the pool she likes to imagine she could be a mermaid and become part of some of her make-believe worlds. Despite being an avid bookworm from the time she could hold a book, being an author came as a bit of a surprise to her as she was a bit of a science geek at school. She lives in Woking, UK with her husband and three children. You can find her on Twitter @MarisaNoelle77, TikTok @MarisaNoelle12, or her website www.MarisaNoelle.com
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