Between The Land And The Sea (Marina's Tales) [Kindle Edition]

Derrolyn Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Marina is a privileged girl who’s had an unusual upbringing. Traveling the world with her scientist father, doted on by her wealthy and glamorous neighbor Evie, Marina’s life seems perfect.
Everything changes in the summer of her sixteenth year when she is sent to live with her Aunt Abby and Cousin Cruz in the lovely seaside town of Aptos, California.
Only a few weeks after arriving, sixteen year-old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature. If she can manage to survive some increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might be able to unlock the mystery of her past and appease the mysterious forces that want something from her...
And maybe even find true love along the way.

Product Details

• File Size: 965 KB
• Print Length: 288 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004SYA76Q
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,480 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #65 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Romance
  • #74 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Mermaid story May 28, 2011

By Courtney

Format:Kindle Edition

This is not a Disney book about the Little Mermaid! Between The Land and the Sea is so much more than a sweet little fairy tale! This is an enchanting story of mermaids with a unique perspective of their lives.

Between the Land and the Sea is about an eccentric young girl who gets sent to live with her Aunt Abby and her cousin Cruz while her dad is away on business for the year. Her dad wants her to experience a "normal" teenage high school experience but being is Aptos turns out to be anything but a normal experience. Marina is new to the idea of going to school and struggles to fit in. She is so drawn to the sea and actually almost drowns twice, most all the people around her start calling her a freak. She meets local hunky surfer Ethan right when she moves and he is the best thing in her new life is Aptos.

I have read only one other story about mermaids, called Forgive My Fins and while I loved that story, I also loved this one even though they were nothing alike! This is a unique plot that I've never heard of about mermaids. You think of mermaids as being all sweet and enchanted but not all mermaids in this story are sweet, some are very dangerous! This story flows beautifully throughout, with Marina learning how to fit in to school and her sudden eagerness to learn more about the sea and its creatures.

One thing I loved about this book was the characters! They were all really well developed and my favorite would have to be the main characters Ethan and Marina although the secondary characters were all amazing also. I connected right away to the life of Marina and you can't help but to root for her to succeed right from the beginning, she is such a sweet selfless young girl and I loved her! I also loved the eccentric Cruz, and all that he brought to the story with his fashion! And Marina's Aunt Evie was a hilarious typical rich designer!

The dialogue is great and the relationships that develop are all sweet and genuine! The romance that blooms is realistic and so sweet. There is some kissing involved but it is all sweet and done tastefully! I loved that Derrolyn keeps it clean yet passionate! There was a few touchy language moments but nothing bad and it didn't take away from the story at all.

My only complaint is that I felt like things got off to a bit of slow start and I wanted to speed things up a bit. The slow start is worth the wait though because this story is so intriguing, unique, suspenseful, humorous and sweet that I think most YA fantasy lovers would love this story! I finished the first book and instantly started on the second book because I was so drawn in to Marina's life!!

I received a copy of this book to read and review from the author. My review is not biased by the fact that I was given this book. I HONESTLY read and review any book whether bought or given to me. If I did not like the book I would definitely not give a rave review or recommend it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Very sweet YA story September 15, 2011

By Workaday Reads

Format:Kindle Edition

Marina has always lived a life on the road with her scientist father. When he decides she should spend her last year of high school with her aunt in "regular school", Marina is not happy. But shortly after she arrives in the pretty beach town strange things start happening. Marina almost drowns twice, and comes face-to-face with a mermaid. Maybe this year won't be so boring after all.

This is a very sweet story. There is surprisingly a lot of action, mixed in with very unique characters. Marina's cousin Cruz is definitely quirky and lovable. He is a fashion designer in training, and is delightful to meet. His exuberance and energy leap off the page and left me smiling everytime he entered the scene.

I found Marina's closed nature and difficulty in opening up to and accepting help from her family and friends very frustrating. It made sense based on her lifestyle and experiences growing up with her father, but it was still very frustrating.

I was confused about the family structures present. There were no two parent families, only single parent families, with the missing parent either dead or run off. Everyone was in this situation, and it just seemed a little extreme. I was also concerned with the cluelessness and absense of the existing parents. Marina's father was easy to accept since he was on the other side of the world, but the rest of them? You would think that all those single parents would be a little more tuned into the happenings in their children's lives.

Overall, this was sweet and unique story. The mermaids were not quite what I expected, in a good way, and the storyline itself was different and fresh. This is a story that will appeal to a variety of ages.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Descriptions do nothing in favor of this book March 12, 2012

By C.S.

Format:Kindle Edition

** spoiler alert ** Marina is a very lucky girl. She has a renowned scientist as a father, she travels a lot, she has a rich "aunt" who pampers her with high couture clothing, accessories, shoes, etc., she lives with an aunt and cousin who care a lot for her, she meets a handsome surfer who is going to fall in love with her. Besides that, she is part of a mystery, an adventure that envelopes her. This is the story of Marina, a girl who has everything she wants and so easily conferred upon her.

It was far too easy for Marina: meeting Ethan, looking good with all her high-end clothing and shoes, being strong as she is and fending off the "mean beach girls" who bully Cruz and Megan. Marina is the archetype of every teenager's dream: rich, talented, beautiful, mysterious, and the hottest surfer after her. It was sickening...slightly.

I found myself rolling my eyes whenever Marina spoke with such eloquence about what she was wearing and the accessories that came with it. Honestly, I didn't care. The author made Marina seemed like she didn't care about fashion too, but her actions and descriptive words pointed to a different direction. Marina did care and that score a point against her in my eyes.

Ethan, the stereotypical handsome surfer who falls in love with the new girl in town. He is unlike the rest of the surfers he hangs out with and he is deeply concerned about Marina. I just wished there was more dynamics to the romance stories nowadays. This "love" story between Marina and Ethan has been told and regurgitated so many times that is getting old. I just wished the author had come up with something entirely different for both of them. Or have Ethan be something else than a hot surfer. In a sense, I felt the author was also stereotyping California as being the land of hot surfers and beautiful, but bitchy, beach girls with short bikinis. It was all so annoying. I live in California and that is not true.

As I mentioned before, everything came so easy for Marina. It is almost unrealistic.

As for the plot, the mystery was alluring, but I was hoping for more mystery as to Marina keeping the secret for herself instead of telling everybody she knew about it. It just killed the suspense. I got bored when Marina was drowned so many times and rescued as well. I believe that was what I read most of the time. In the last part, when she was pulled into the ocean by the group of mermaids, she got turned into one. But Naida relinquished on Marina giving her a period of 50 moons to decide if she wanted to give up immortality. I think the mermaids let her go way too easily despite the fact that the mermaids wanted to get her into the ocean so vehemently. I just think there are serious inconsistencies in the plot.

I also thought it was all very predictable. I wasn't surprised at the twists (if there were any that is). And wasn't surprised at the characters' attitudes and personalities among each other. I knew those type of characters because they're all stereotypes repeated over and over again in supernatural, young adult fiction!

As for the way the book is structured and where the writing style is concerned... I think the author used way too many words that could've been expressed in less. Translated, that means that this book was unnecessarily long. There were a lot of needless descriptions that only showed me Marina's shallowness. To be honest, I skimmed over some paragraphs of the book and in the end, I felt I understood the essence of the story without reading those paragraphs. The dialogues were what I aimed to read the most because I discovered so much through them. I honestly didn't need to know every single detail of their action. Sometimes you have to let the reader wander off with details.

The mermaids are nice creatures in the book. But mythology says that they lure and drown sailors (like Peter Pan). This wasn't the case. They were nice creatures. I was a bit thrown off by this part because the author twisted the mermaids to make it conform to a typical young adult novel. It was like having a vampire who doesn't die in the sun, but sparkles in it. Utter nonsense. It would have been more thrilling to have the mermaids wanted to threatened Marina's life than being all innocent about it.

Last but not least. The romance. Ugh. I've read this type of romance all over again. Sacrifices? Love beyond everything? To sacrifice eternal life for someone you love? This is a noble act of love, but I've read about it in almost every supernatural, young adult novel. It just doesn't change, does it? And to topple it off, a surfer had to be included in the picture. Not just any kind of surfer, but the "good" type of surfer guy. I found myself hating Ethan rather than loving him for his gentleman-like personality and warm attitudes. Every girl's dream? I don't think so.

I hope all the best for Marina in the second installment.

On a final note, I would not cataloged this as fantasy.

More About the Author

Derrolyn Anderson is a visual artist and writer. She is the creator of the four part "Marina's Tales" series, as well as the YA/NA romantic suspense "The Athena Effect" and its sequel, "The Mackenzie Legacy".

Derrolyn's website : http://www.derrolyn.com/Marinas_Tales.html

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