Member Review

If you had asked me at the start of 2019 which book release I was most looking forward to, I wouldn't have had to even hesitate before answering with this one. I've spent years looking for a little mermaid retelling that would finally do my favorite fairy tale justice, and I was convinced that Sara Ella would be the author to deliver it. After finishing Coral, I have to admit I'm feeling a little underwhelmed and disappointed. While it definitely had its positive aspects, it was not the story I was expecting, and this review is a little bittersweet to write.

What I Did Like:

Let's start with the positive.

I first and foremost have to applaud Sara Ella for tackling the controversial subject of mental illness in her little mermaid retelling. With more and more people struggling with these illnesses every single day, it's amazing when authors choose to try and represent this throughout their stories. As someone who struggles myself, I appreciated this. I admired the fact that she wrote about many different characters who struggle, and highlighted the fact that the way it affects each person is different from how it affects someone else. This is not a story that sugar coats what those struggling go through, and that was something I wholeheartedly appreciated and agreed with.

I love when authors are readers themselves, and this point is definitely obvious throughout the reading of Coral. The author incorporates many passages from the original story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson. And she also adds many passages from beloved young adult authors like Veronica Roth and John Green. I enjoyed how these passages always blended in perfectly with each portion of the story they were included in, and it showcased Sara Ella's true love of the young adult literary world.

I can't not talk about the writing in my positive part of the review. It is truly beautiful, and I found myself highlighting so many passages that spoke to me. I really enjoyed her writing style, and found that it kept me invested into the story even during the parts I wasn't necessarily enjoying. Along the same lines, I loved the way that each character mentioned is written raw and realistic; and how it literally felt that the reader could feel the emotions coming from each and every character throughout the story. The story is told from three differing viewpoints (Coral; the little mermaid, Brooke; a human girl who's been admitted into a treatment facility, and Merrick; a human boy who's struggling with his sister's illness and his father's harsh treatment of the family.) and I appreciated that each POV is written distinctly different. I never got confused reading one over the other as it was always quite easy to tell who's POV you were currently reading.

Now unfortunately I need to dive into the negative:

What I Didn't Like:

I really struggled with the timeline throughout the entire story. It feels choppy and not executed properly, and that the story jumps large time periods all over the place that really doesn't make much sense to the reader. For the first three quarters of the book, this was simply annoying and frustrating. However, when the big reveals happen in the last quarter of the book, it left me completely confused and I had no idea what was happening or where the author was going with her story. This would have been confusing enough if the story was told from only one point of view. However, with the fact that it was told from three POV's and that the story could jump weeks between changing from one POV to the next, it got extremely confusing.

I commented already on the fact that I loved how Sara Ella was willing to tackle the topic of mental illness under the positives about this story. However, this did also have a negative side to it that I have to include as well. While it's amazing that more and more authors are choosing to represent the struggles that mental illness brings with it, this isn't always done in a positive light. Throughout Coral, mental illness is mainly represented as dark and depressing with very little light show shown throughout. I appreciate that the darker side of it was represented, but I feel like this could have been balanced a little bit better. Most of the characters seemed to let their illnesses define them, and I just wanted to see a little bit more represented of not letting your illness define you. I definitely have to advise a trigger warning on this title; for anyone who struggles with reading about depression, darker sides of mental illness, and suicide.

Finally, I can't express enough how much I didn't enjoy the direction the ending went in. I was disappointed that the actual under the sea parts ended up being such a small portion of the story, and I ended up feeling a little cheated on the fact that this wasn't a true little mermaid retelling in certain parts of the story. When all the plot twists and turns were finally revealed, I felt it didn't add up, and that certain components of the story are never truly explained to the reader, or resolved by the end of the story. I enjoy stories about unreliable narrators, as it makes you think twice about what you're reading and accepting at face value. However, certain parts of this story didn't add up for me, and I was left feeling disappointed and confused when I did finally finish reading it.

Final Rating: 3/5

If not for the muddled timeline, and the confusion that surrounds when the story finally unwraps, this would have probably been a higher rated title for me. However, these inconsistencies really annoyed me, and affected my enjoyment of the story.

I'm still glad I picked this one up, as I did really enjoy components of it. I will also still be recommending it, I will just be forewarning everyone to go in knowing what to expect, as it was definitely not what I was expecting.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the opportunity to advance read this!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not required to give a positive review.