I'm a sucker for retellings and Coral hit all the right notes, especially since I haven't seen a little mermaid one in a very long time.

** I was given a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts/review**

This book was marked as a DNF at 30% of the book completed – Okay so the whole premise of this book had me beyond intrigued and once I started reading I was really disappointed! Which is sad because I wanted to like it but no matter what I just couldn’t connect with the characters and the situation. I found that from what I had read the writing came across as vague at points, I think the approach was to be that of sparking curiosity in the mysterious (an example being the ‘Red Tide’ which is introduced in the first chapter and not explained until the end (I looked ahead)) but it fell flat.

I do appreciate the author’s approach and intent with the theme of Mental Health discussions and representation in this piece and I feel that Sara Ella did a good job focusing on that in her story but there was just an emotional disconnect with the character’s in that regard which I REALLY didn’t want to happen.

I received this arc from Netgalley for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I am a sucker for retellings and that is what drew me to this book. Once I got into it I realized this is so much heavier and important than just a retelling. This book explores mental health issues we battle and how they impact us. This also explores how mental illness is perceived and how it impacts those who know and love us. This being a YA book I am so greatful to the author for making a book that young adults can relate to. I am no longer in that demographic but I do wish I had something like this to help me a long in my younger years. This is how we make mental illness stop being so stigmatized. Absolutely necessary and brilliant.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

At first I wasn't sure about this book - the concept of using the Little Mermaid as an allegory for depression felt a little forced. But it won me over with the way the storylines intertwined and the careful and considered way it discussed mental health issues, including suicide. I think many teenagers would benefit from reading this book - as well as adults!

Thank you to net galley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I loved this one. I loved the characters, the setting, the storyline and the magical feel it had. Very enjoyable.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

It doesn't happen often. I'm good with words and I've always been. I'm an annoying talker and it's when I go silent that you have to worry. But after reading this book and crying myself through the last 20% of it, I don't know if the right words to describe this book, how it impacted me, what it stirred in me and how amazing this experience was, even exist. I don't think they do.

This book was a pure, real, honest, raw and painfully true description of depression, its effects on the people suffering from it and its effects on those around them. Not once does the book sugarcoat the darkness, not once does it gloss over the consequences and the utter emptiness, not once does it show only the uplifting and positive outcomes. It shows depression, anxiety and suicide in all its faces and forms.

It uses an interesting story telling structure to do so. It uses quotes from other writers, three different perspectives, letters and black pages. The e-arc version had some lay-out issues, but I can imagine how the final result will look in the printed book and I think that will totally make it easier to grasp and to enjoy. Not that I personally had any trouble understanding and following the story and the characters. I also figured out quite early on in the book how all the storylines would eventually come together and I was proven right at the very end.

On top of that I love the fairytale like writing style that has been used to tell this story. It's lyrical and flowery, but it fits the fairytale retelling part of the story and I think it counters the heavy topic and emotional impact a little. For me it was also the fairytale like writing style, leading to beautiful quotes hitting very close to home, that eventually broke me and made me sob and cry.

This book is a very realistic and true description of depression and suicide mixed with some fairytale elements. However, the book is emotionally heavy and impactful and can be very triggering if you're sensitive to it. Make sure to take care of yourself while reading it.

I loved the premis of this book akin to the little mermaid. I didn’t find it lived up to the hype and it seemed to have more of a political message

Coral is a wonderful book in its own special way 🐚

I have to be so careful to not give away any spoilers but this is a wonderful read about mental health issues and how they may present differently in everyone🤕

It starts off a little confusing and I had trouble keeping up and making sense of the dual storylines🤦

The characters weren't particularly likeable in my opinion 💁 but as a mental health sufferer myself I have to say they come pretty close to reality. What I do enjoy is the different interactions all the characters had and how they tied in to each other😊 it's these twists and plot devices that make Coral a great (albeit sometimes difficult) book to read ❤

It's quite a heavy read in terms of potential triggers but this is disclosed and explained in the author notes at the beginning of the book ❤ it also has a beautiful ending that left me both in tears but also smiling wistfully. 😩

Overall, it's a good book. Not something I'd read for enjoyment but very good for educational purposes 👌

While the prose seemed promising, it fell a little short of my expectations. The mermaid/siren aspect was what drew me in, but my mind often wandered while reading, which caused me to realize that it failed to keep my focus and attention. The writing was just not enchanting enough for me, and seemed unable to match the magic elements of the plot itself. It wasn’t all bad, as I was curious to see how everything turned out, but I felt it could have been much better than it was. With so much hype around the little mermaid and the new movie coming out, any mermaid stories are going to have to be truly phenomenal and engaging to compete.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

"Coral" is a loose retelling of the classic tale of "The Little Mermaid".

This book has a very interesting premise, but once I started to read it I began to lose interest. First off, the story starts out slow to the point where I'm just wondering why there are even three perspectives in the first place if the story was moving at such a pace. I found the book's structure unnecessarily complicated. Although it all became clear later, the constant jumping between characters and time periods along the way sometimes felt jarring.

It was evident that the story heavily focused on mental health from the very beginning till the very end.

** I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **

I spent the majority of this novel experiencing intense confusion.

Positives:

I do not have any personal experience with mental illness, but it seemed to be treated absolutely respectfully and carefully, and I respect the author for that. The descriptions and depictions were very thorough and gentle, leaving me with a very tangible sense for some of these illnesses. And I liked how the aspects worked and grew throughout the plot, giving the reader a full picture, not just a glimpse. As well, I heartily applaud the mantras in this book, such as, “You are Not Nothing” and the side themes reminding readers that no matter what, they do matter and they are not nothing.

Merrick had some fantastic morals and was also surprisingly real. He was easy to emphathize with, even when he held occasional viewpoints I didn’t relate to or condone.

I adored the mermaid setting in the beginning, and found it so thorough and creative.

Negatives:


In my opinion, there were too many characters to keep track of. The fact that SPOILER> two of the characters ended up being the same person under different names, and with different aliases for the same characters, made it even more hard to keep track of <SPOILER. At first, the stories were different enough that I could keep them separated, but by halfway through, the stories intertwined and twisted together so fast I couldn’t keep up.

A huge chunk of the story felt choppy and underdeveloped. Major events in the story, critical seasons in the lives of characters, and crucial turning points are jumped over or narrated over, only giving us glimpses into the character’s mind after the fact and not during the transformation.

Furthermore, while I figured out a lot of the twists and reveals fairly quickly, they were not actually revealed until much, much later in the book, leaving me feeling disjointed and doubting the story entirely, wondering what on earth it was supposed to mean if it wasn’t what I thought, and if it was, why the reader was still being treated as if they were in the dark.

SPOILERS:

So basically Brooke was Coral the whole time, which I guessed pretty fast. The whole mermaid setting and plot in the beginning was just an allegory story-within-the-story, which is a really cool concept, but it wasn’t revealed until the last few pages and that really messed with me because it wasn’t something you can really easily see coming. The whole book I was waiting to find out how on earth Coral turned into a human, why, how she transitioned, and why there was absolutely no detail or description on her transition, and no explanation for it either. It did occur to me to wonder if it was an allegory or something along those lines, but whenever I started wondering, a character would reference Red Tide or something distinctly from the mermaid world and make me rethink everything. Since this wasn’t cleared up until the last few pages, I was confused for most of the book.

Having the same character—Brooke—as two different people—Brooke and Coral—is super creative and different, but to be honest, I’m not sure it worked. I was endlessly confused, like I’ve already said enough, and it was difficult to keep straight, especially since, as I mentioned earlier, I suspected they were the same person about a quarter of the way through but didn’t get any confirmation until the last few chapters of the novel. Merrick, in theory, could have provided a lot of structure and support to the story, helping hold it together, but he actually just added more confusion with his whole set of characters and how they all worked together and how they somehow tied in with everything?! Also, the fact that two POVs were past, one was present, and the timelines for all three kept changing and bouncing made everything harder to understand.

Brooke’s story lining up with Coral’s was really cool, but I was just still so confused on the aspect the mermaid world never existed to really appreciate it. I do think that mermaid aspect of the story—with Brooke rewriting her life as an allegory—was super creative. I almost think had we known from the beginning that it was a story within a story it would have been a lot more enjoyable and easier to read. Also, whatever became of Coral’s synesthesia? When it was first revealed in her mermaid state, I was so excited because this is something that fascinates me—but halfway through, this aspect just disappears, never to be mentioned again.

OVERALL:

I just don’t know how to feel about this book. I really loved some of the themes about an “after” and all the thematics of support and care and not avoiding emotions or treating them like a disease. I really, really liked that. It was excellent. And I do love the whole premise/concept of the story with the differentiating worlds and multiple sides of the same character, and I have to admire the author’s tenacity, bravery, and creativity at this story—but it just didn’t pay off for me.

I do want to mention that a lot of this is aftertaste from the sense that I didn’t necessarily dislike the book as I was reading it; I did enjoy it as I went, and was excited to get back when I had to stop. Once I finished and reflected, a lot just stood out that tainted my overall opinion. I feel like that was mostly because as I was going I could still wonder on how everything would clear up, but looking back after finishing, the fact is I still feel pretty confused and didn’t really see or feel the payoff.

So:
Super impressed at the author’s creativity and bravery, but confused and unimpressed in the story as it stands. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for review in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, this book is difficult to review/rate. The story appears to be about one thing- a mermaid suffering from depression and seeing her sister spiraling through mental illness as well. Coral wants to help save her sister but she doesn't understand what is happening and why they seem to be diseased. Their mermaid community would rather wash those suffering away with the tide then address the fact that their friends and family are suffering and desperately need love and support. What plays out is anything but a normal story. The book is told from Coral's perspective but also from that of a boy named Merrick who is watching his sister hurting herself and a girl named Brooke who is in treatment for suicidal tendencies. But then the story twists and we start to realize things are all connected and not what they seem on the surface. I am not a fan of vague storylines or unreliable narrators but this twist actually impressed me and made me question everything I read before. Mental illness still has a stigma associated with it which makes it much harder to address when you are dealing with it. I applaud this novel for taking this topic on headfirst. Mental illness, depression, and suicide is the top focus of this book. While I am glad that authors are starting to work with these topics, it also was just a really difficult read. It was hard to see the suffering and while I think it gets the point across it also doesn't make for a casual read for people who read to forget the real world. I also think many readers will struggle to understand the last third of this book. I hope that readers know what they are jumping into and read some reviews. If they understand what they will be reading and don't think this is just another fairytale retelling I think the readers will appreciate this book.

"You are not nothing."

Such a beautiful phrase and one of my biggest takeaways from Coral. This is an emotional story that dives into the world of depression, anxiety, and suicide through the use of the classic Little Mermaid fairy tale. I was a bit nervous to start reading this book - mental health is never an easy topic - but I'm really glad I picked it up.

Such an Interesting Take on the Fairy Tale
Fairy tales seem to continue to inspire authors and readers alike, and there are no shortage of retellings available to enjoy. I wasn't sure what to expect from Coral; the original Little Mermaid story is incredibly sad, while the Disney version is obviously adorable. So where would Sara Ella decide to take her story? I was both surprised and happy with how she decided to take this fairy tale and rework it for a contemporary setting; she does a wonderful job building this story around very real concerns in today's world and I loved how her version ended.

Very Unique Storytelling Style
This story was beautifully woven together! Told from the perspective of three characters - Coral, Brooke, and Merrick - Coral brings us on each of their journeys, ultimately bringing us to when their stories become intertwined. That said, I couldn't figure out when they would all meet and was impressed with how it happens. It was unexpected, and I love when I'm surprised! I felt like I was flying through the last half of the book as the three stories begin to merge and we know we're on the cusp of figuring everything out...but there's definitely going to be more pain before things get better.

Mental Health is a Constant Battle
Coral does a beautiful job of reminding readers that mental health conditions - anxiety, depression, and any number of other conditions - are a constant battle to overcome. There is no cure, no "get over it"; there is just waking up every day and fighting to find the right regiment of medication, therapy and other factors to continue trying to live a happy life. Coral gives us the different perspectives of those who are touched by mental health conditions. Merrick is struggling to understand his sister, Brooke is trying to figure out if she wants to live, and Coral wants someone to blame. Ultimately, this is a story that shows that healing is a process and not everyone can be helped, but it's up to everyone to do everything we can to be kind and remind ourselves and each other that we are not nothing​.

I thought this was a beautifully told story, although there were some moments that were a bit confusing once I understood the storytelling style. HOWEVER, I think this was a very strong story from the different point of views of those who are affected by mental health conditions and I look forward to adding this book to my school library when it is published. I'd recommend Coral to readers interested in contemporary YA fiction, fairy tale retellings, or those wanting a unique perspective on mental health.

While the topics of mental illness and suicide are valuable to include in YA literature, the overall plot to "Coral" was, at times, hard to follow. Character development was also lacking leaving the split between Amaya/Hope, Brooke/Coral and so on without room for depth and complexity. The author's premise of writing the novel with mixtures of fantasy in the form of a mermaid's tale was clever and could have been really great but the subject matter/topics, characters, and plot were too heavy and complicated when it all came together for the finished product. This author has potential and I am willing to read the next novel she publishes but will not be buying this one for my library to recommend for high school aged readers.

This was a wonderful book.
A really interesting way to present stories of mental illness in a " real" and helpful way.

I spent the first 75% very confused about all the characters and how they seemed to all be the same people with different names. I had to flip through and reorient myself a lot.

That being said. The author did a great job of portraying really tough topics. Depression, suicide, self charm was weaved throughout the whole book. As someone who works in the field, the author did a wonderful job of flushing out these damaged but beautiful characters.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Sixteen-year-old, Coral is a mermaid and royalty, but the female line suffers from a disease where they feel human emotions. If they get the disease, the cannot rule. Can she navigate her family’s secrets and trying times? Living at Fathom group home, Brooke suffers from depression and anxiety. She longs to find perspective and get a second chance at life. Merrick, the son of a wealthy IT father, is tired of his controlling father and chauffeurs. When his little sister attempts to commit suicide, Merrick must find a way to cope. Can finding his mother fix everything? The story is well-written and offers a touching look at mental health from various perspectives. The interweaving stories take a while to entwine but are worth the wait. A retelling of Little Mermaid, fans Hans Christen Anderson retellings, books dealing with mental health, and character-based fiction will enjoy reading this book.

I love fairy tale retellings and The Little Mermaid is my favorite so I was pretty excited to read this. It didn’t disappoint! It’s a very loose retelling, with a couple big twists. I wouldn’t call it a darker version, but **trigger warning** it does deal with self harm and suicide. I enjoyed the book immensely and couldn’t put it down. I received a copy of this from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Coral takes some of the central ideas and concepts from The Little Mermaid and weaves them together in order to create a loose retelling that brings to light some serious modern issues in teenage life: depression, suicide, self-harm. The story is centered around a young mermaid named Coral whose sister is suffering from an illness referred to as Red Tide. The story bounces back and forth between the points of view of three characters, Coral being a mermaid, and two humans.

Although I did appreciate the author's idea of tackling serious mental issues by weaving them into a popular and well-known story, there were many times that I was simply confused. As others have stated in recent reviews, sometimes it just seemed like the time frames of various events were a little skewed. I also felt like I may have missed events that happened at various points. The storytelling was not as linear and easy to follow as I prefer. Sadly, I did not finish this book completely through because it was not something that held my interest.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

Trigger warnings in advance - if you want to read this book, please be aware that it deals with multiple triggering topics: suicide, depression, (sexual) abuse

I thought this was a mermaid story when I started reading but it was more than that in the end after all the narratives had been connected and I was no longer that confused.

Coral is the youngest of three mermaid daughters, struggling to find her place beneath the waves in her father's, the king's, realm.

Brooke is in therapy to deal with her depression and anxiety. But she does not want help, she wants to stay numb and not connect.

Merrick is the supposedly enfant terrible for his charismatic, successful business father. When his sister tries to commit suicide, he has to step in.

Things I liked:
- how the different narratives were connected
- mental health issues
- mermaid story line
- how toxic masculinity was tackled
- well written
- did not get boring

Things I disliked:
- ending much too sweet for me, kitsch galore!
- in parts extremely confusing
- my ARC had some font and paragraph issues that confused me too
- side characters remained far too blunt, Nikki and Grim are so cool
- everybody is so goddamn good looking and poetic

3,5 stars