Finn is stuck on vacation near the coast with his stepmother and meets Sage. One night, Finn spots someone swimming late at night. Then Sage stars hearing strange singing. Finn starts to hear it too. Local legends tell of mermaids, but they can't be real. Right? Finn and Sage are sucks into a battle to save the merfolk before they are lost forever.

For a middle grade, this was quite long at nearly 250 pages, but if this was geared more for YA then the length would be fine. The book pacing is very slow and isn't full of the quick bits of action that keep younger readers engaged. There is a lot of focus on the emotions and feelings of the characters and that kept me reading, but I never felt deeply invested in the characters as much as I had hoped. There were a lot of aspects that I did appreciate. Finn is navigating a difficult relationship with his new stepmother and a strained relationship with his father. Sage has two mothers and the LGBTQIA+ plot point is so important for inclusion and for readers to see themselves represented in books. There are themes of loss and having to leave everything you know and love, as well as dealing with big changes. There is heavy focus on environmental protection and climate activism. I love the focus on saving the oceans and it's endangered wildlife. There was plenty of depth to the merfolk lore and it was really fun to see mermaids that aren't at all like the sparkly pink cartoonish Disney-fied version we see so often.

A good, solid read that readers who like this kind of book with enjoy.

This is a well written book but I just couldn't get into it. Don't let my review stop you from trying it, you might love it. I received a complimentary copy from Publisher Spotlight via NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This just wasn't really my thing. I couldn't really connect with this book. I felt a bit distant from anything that was happening in the book and I never really got sucked into the story. I also feel like the characters were a bit flat and when it came to the side characters I just had a difficult time seperating them. I also feel like the enviromentalism message was a little bit too heavy handed. But I did quite like the lore around the merfolk and the mythology used in this novel. It's very different from how I've seen mermaids throughout fiction and I quite liked it. I definetly think this could work for others but for me it missed the mark.

I really enjoyed this children's book, it was a well written story and the art was very well done. The art was so beautifully done.