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A review by bnewson
Alice at Heart by Deborah Smith
4.0
I read this one fast enough that it never even made it into my "currently-reading" list. I thought it would take a few days, but the type was set somewhat larger than I'm used to, so the pages went by pretty fast.
It was a magical sort of story - mermaids exist! Only not in the storybook fantasy (Disney) sort of way they're typically portrayed. A young girl with strange abilities feels like a freak and an outcast, until one day her relatives find her, and she must go on a journey of self-discovery. She finds romance and new family ties along the way, as well as solves a mystery of her family's past. In fact, the one thing that really kept me reading was the constant, slowly developing mystery. Hints and clues are dropped subtly through the whole book, until the full story pieces together in the end. I'm not usually big on mystery, but it really worked for me in this romantic/fantasy setting.
A few short but graphic descriptions of sexuality included, a warning for the cautious reader.
It was a magical sort of story - mermaids exist! Only not in the storybook fantasy (Disney) sort of way they're typically portrayed. A young girl with strange abilities feels like a freak and an outcast, until one day her relatives find her, and she must go on a journey of self-discovery. She finds romance and new family ties along the way, as well as solves a mystery of her family's past. In fact, the one thing that really kept me reading was the constant, slowly developing mystery. Hints and clues are dropped subtly through the whole book, until the full story pieces together in the end. I'm not usually big on mystery, but it really worked for me in this romantic/fantasy setting.
A few short but graphic descriptions of sexuality included, a warning for the cautious reader.