Recent Reads - Sea Change

Sea Change, by Aimee Friedman

  2.5 of 5 Stars

Genre:   YA Paranormal Romance

Pages:   290

Why I Chose It:   I actually won a copy of this book, but I was definitely attracted to the cover and, had I passed it in the bookstore, I would have picked it up and thumbed through the first few pages. I would have found myself intrigued and then a few dollars poorer.

Synopsis (from Good Reads):   Sixteen-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science. . .and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate. 

There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship... and reality.

Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

My Review:  This book is very well-written, but it's billed as a paranormal YA novel when there is really nothing paranormal about the book. There is the mystery that surrounds the island. The mystery of Leo. Is he or isn't he? But we never once delve into the paranormal world. This is a love story. That's it. Girl meets boy during summer break, conflict ensues. Except girl meets boy on an island that may or may not be inhabited by merfolk.

I envision it happening like a screenplay pitching session where the writer tells them her idea for a contemporary YA about a girl falling in love and the producer's like, "I like, kid. I do. But what if there were mermaids". It feels forced, not like it's a natural part of the storyline. Almost as if the paranormal aspect is a gimmick to fit a trend.

In fact, the belief that Leo may be a merman is never once an issue for Miranda. Her issues instead stem from her relationship with her mother, her parent's divorce, and a failed relationship with her first boyfriend.

I love the cover. I love the premise. There's a lot of talk about the mystery of the island and its inhabitants, but nothing happens. In the end this was a story that set up a lot of mystery, yet somehow failed to solve any of it. It left gaping holes that only a sequel or an epilogue can fill. In fact, I found myself flipping through the last pages (a preview of another of the author's books) thinking that I must have missed something.

Did I like it? Yes. Did I love it? No. To be honest I probably won't even remember I read it a few months from now. Had it however been a paranormal romance as promised and answered the questions posed in the beginning, I probably would have loved it.

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