If you’ve been following me on Instagram, then you may have noticed my constant posts on mermaid and ocean-related books. Since the beginning of July, I’ve been on a Mermaid readathon challenge hosted by TheBrightSideGirl. For the past two weeks, I’ve been challenging myself to read as many mermaid and ocean-related books. There was a set of reading challenges that you could follow and an Instagram challenge for each day of the readathon. There was also a pirate option if you weren’t into mermaids, the challenge was so fun!
I read a total of 10 books in the two weeks! I also completed my Goodreads reading challenge! Overall, I was very content with my book selections, half the books I chose were books that TheBrightSideGirl recommended in some of her past mermaid videos and the other half were books I found while researching mermaid books. I read ebooks, physical books, audiobooks, and graphic novels during this challenge. I didn’t get to every book on my mermaid tbr so for the rest of the month I’ll be reading the books on my list but at a slower and my regular reading pace. Below I discuss a bit about each book I read along with my rating.
Make sure to follow me on Goodreads to be updated on what I’m reading and on StoryGraph if you’re curious about my book statistics.
My star reading scale
★★★★★/5 – Loved it! Would reread and recommend it to others.
★★★★/5 – Kept me entertained. I would reread.
★★★/5 – Didn’t love or hate but would recommend to others.
★★/5 – Did not enjoy it and probably skimmed through most of it.
★/5 – I hated it and regret wasting my time with this book.
DNF – Did not finish. This will probably be rare because I like to finish every book I start.
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READING CHALLENGES
1. SET ON AN ISLAND
Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand by Yoko Komori ★★★★★/5
Everyone besides Tokiko denies the existence of merpeople, and yet the town holds a secret annual festival to honor them. Can she solve the mystery of what is real and what is fantasy…?
This is a cute manga/graphic novel about Tokiko and her father who move to a coastal town after her parents separate. As a child, Tokiko visited this town and was saved by a mysterious man whom she believed could have been a mermaid. As she adjusts to her new living situation she tries to look for signs if the mermaid exists. The artwork is stunning! It’s been a minute since I last graphic novel and this one made me want to read more. This graphic novel reminded me Aquicorn Cove but without all the climate change talk.
You can purchase Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand here
2. A BLUE BOOK
Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, and Lore by Skye Alexander ★★★★/5
Discover the myths, legends, and lore behind everyone’s favorite sea creature—mermaids.
This was a fun mermaid read! This book contains interesting information about mermaids and other mysterious aquatic creatures from around the world. There are fun tidbits, quotes, myths, and lore from different countries scattered throughout the book. My only gripe with this was the lack of artwork and repetitive images used. I would love to see illustrations of some of the mer-creatures but instead, I had to Google these images which took me away from reading.
You can purchase Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, and Lore here
3. TAKES PLACE IN SUMMER
Maybe a Mermaid by Josephine Cameron ★★/5
Eleven-year-old Anthoni Gillis is not the kind of kid who believes in fairies, unicorns, or even the word “maybe.” She’s more of a comic-books girl. So when her mom brings her to Thunder Lake for a summer at the Showboat Resort, she doesn’t believe the local rumors about the Boulay Mermaid.
I was really looking forward to reading Maybe a Mermaid. This is about a girl and her mom who go on a summer trip at a showboat resort. Her mom works for an MLM, I know many kids grew up with parents who were part of these pyramid schemes (my mom was part of Avon) but this book was released only last year so it was a strange move to have had a single-mother being part of this knowing how much we know about MLM corporations. There is a set of “rules” that mom and daughter live by that is run by this MLM that they both use to make decisions, the daughter uses this list as a way to make friends. The daughter tries to make friends with the daughter of her mom’s old friend but the girl never seems interested only when she feels like there isn’t anybody else available to be friends with which I think is very toxic (I’ve had similar friendships before). This is supposed to be a book for middle graders so I don’t like that this book says it’s okay to try to impress people who don’t want to be your friend and overlook the ones who are. Also, they don’t start talking about mermaids until halfway through the book! On a positive note, I do like the mother-and-daughter relationship and all the X-Men nods.
You can purchase Maybe a Mermaid here
4. KINGDOM AT SEA
In The Name of the Mermaid Princess by Yoshino Fumikawa ★★★★/5
In a society hostile to diversity, can mermaid princess Mio be true to herself?
Another manga/graphic novel! This is a story about a princess who is a mermaid in a town that despises magical creatures. The main character in this reminded me of Sailor Moon, weak and submissive with her issues but when others need to be defended she stands up for them. This is a manga series with more editions. There is also an extra story at the end about an angel whose story I found more interesting than the mermaids. This isn’t a bad manga (I mean rated it 4 stars!) but it seems predictable and I’m not going crazy for the next issue. We’ll see if I continue this series.
You can purchase In The Name of the Mermaid Princess here
5. GIRL IN WATER ON THE COVER
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See ★★★★★/5
Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger.
Wow! What a book! This is a historical fiction novel about two best friends from different backgrounds who become close due to becoming Haenyeo (sea women) during Japan’s occupation of Korea. This was so captivating and emotional that I almost teared up! A book about friendship, courage, family, betrayal, heartbreak, and forgiveness. This was my favorite book I read during the readathon and the one I recommend the most!
You can purchase The Island of Sea Women here
BOOKS I READ
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama ★★★★/5
Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences
A girl retraces her family history about a family curse and discovers a strange family secret! This was dramatic and kept me engaged the entire time, I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job! Too many storylines that go back and forth throughout the entire book which became confusing at times but aside from that I enjoyed Monstrous Beauty.
You can purchase Monstrous Beauty here
Sea Witch by Sarah Henning ★★★★/5
Ever since her best friend Anna died, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. Hiding her talents, mourning her loss, drowning in her guilt. Then a girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears on the shore, and the two girls catch the eyes of two charming princes. Suddenly Evie feels like she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.
This is described as Wicked meets The Little Mermaid as it’s told from the perspective of Ursal’s point of view but I would say it’s more Wicked than Ursal. I’m not a big fan of The Little Mermaid so I tried to avoid books that took inspiration from the Disney classic but Sea Witch was the exception and I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed the Sea Witch! I love how our main character is a good person but the people around think she’s bad because she’s strange. I enjoyed the magical witchy talk and how selfless she is. To see her transformation in this book was interesting.
You can purchase Sea Witch here
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter ★★★/5
What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?
Luce lives with her uncle until things take a dark turn and she joins a group of underwater creatures, mermaids. The first half of this book was great though it did have a slow start. Then, when a new character is introduced the whole book takes a negative turn. The mermaids become catty towards each other which I didn’t enjoy reading. There are two other books in this series and I’m not sure if I’ll read them.
Trigger warning: suicide imagery and sexual assault.
You can purchase Lost Voices here
The Deep by Rivers Solomon ★★★★/5
Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu
This was a short but powerful read. I was confused at parts because some of the chapters jumped to different time periods. The main character, Yetu is unhappy with her job as a historian and is forced to keep and retell her intergenerational trauma. Yeto wants to be their own person and is curious to find out who they are without all the pain from their ancestors, I found this concept very fascinating. I listened to the audiobook which was read by Daveed Diggs whose band wrote the song that inspired Rivers Solomon to write The Deep!
Trigger warning: trauma and suicide attempt.
You can purchase The Deep here
Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For by Zoraida Cordova & Natalie C. Parker ★★★/5
14 Young Adult short stories from bestselling and award-winning authors make a splash in Mermaids Never Drown – the second collection in the Untold Legends series edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker – exploring mermaids like we’ve never seen them before!
This is an anthology about mermaids from around the world which initially intrigued me. I also picked up Mermaids Never Drown because it had 14 short stories and the mermaid readathon was 14 days long so I thought I could read a story a day but it arrived a week late so I was constantly trying to catch up reading 2-3 stories a night. My favorite story was Jinju’s Pearls by June Hur but in my opinion, most of the stories were dull and I was underwhelmed as I felt like each story lacked something.
You can purchase Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For here
Have you read any of these books? What did you read in June?
This really looked like such a fun reading challenge! And you read so many books. Glad you had fun and discovered some interesting reads.
It really was! I’m glad I joined! ♥