Rowena’s review of The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler.
The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak.
Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one.
Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life.
When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them . . .
What an interesting book this one turned out to be. It’s different from any Ockler book that I’ve read because the main character is a person of color (yay!) and she didn’t have a voice so she couldn’t talk (or use sign language). The entire book, we’re in Elyse’s thoughts but when she’s speaking to the other people in the book, she writes what she wants to say to them and they read. That’s got to be a really difficult thing to do and take up so much time but I found that the way that Elyse chose to deal with the loss of her voice (and she was a singer too. Damn.) was just…interesting.
The book begins with the night of Elyse’s accident and at first, I thought she died but then the rest of the book is what happens after the accident and she’s still alive and kicking. She’s just not talking. She’s also not at home anymore either (she’s from Tobago) but staying with family friends in Atargatis Cove, Oregon.
The accident took its toll on Elyse and she’s coping with trying to figure out where to go from here. She had big plans for her future in the music industry and she was going to sing professionally with her twin sister but now that she has no voice, she’s got to give up that dream and find a new dream so this book is all about her finding herself now and letting go of who she was before the accident.
It wasn’t an easy book to read and at times, I felt that the story moved slowly and there were times when I wanted to smack Elyse upside her head but all in all, it was a good book.
I enjoyed getting to know the love interest, Christian. I enjoyed the friends that Elyse made on the island with Kirby and Kirby’s best friend (whose name I can’t remember) and I really enjoyed the friendship that blossomed between Elyse and Christian’s little brother Sebastian.
I think my favorite part of the book was seeing Christian and Elyse get the boat ready for the race. It’s during this time that they get closer and closer. They’re racing to save Elyse’s family’s house and Christian’s vacation home and while they’re getting closer and closer to the finish line, they kept having to deal with bullshit that adults were piling on top of them. Namely, the sleazy mayor and Christian’s own father.
The villains did a great job of keeping me pissed off. The whole save the town feel the book had me interested to see if the kids can save the day but it made me pissed off at the adults in the books for making the kids save the day. That lady at the hardware store? Ugh, I wanted to smack her for treating Christian and Elyse the way she did during the whole thing but Christian and Elyse didn’t let the haters get them down, they buckled down and worked hard.
My favorite character in the book was surprisingly not Elyse or Christian though I did like them. I liked little Sebastian the best. I thought he was such a great character and I loved that the teens rallied behind him and accepted him the way that he was. They made things possible for him and I loved his obsession with the mermaids and just everything about that kid was great.
Overall, this was a good story but it’s not my favorite of Ockler’s books. I think fans of the Little Mermaid will enjoy this book as it’s kind of a modern re-telling and I think fans of Sarah Ockler will enjoy this one as well.
Grade: 3 out of 5
This book is available from Simon Pulse. You can purchase it here and here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
