It's a typical girl finds out how special she is story, but stranger and darker and with more f-bombs than usual. Sophie lives in Chelsea and likes to play the pass-out game with her friend Ella who is diving into adolescence while Sophie is diving into the putrid creek to meet a mermaid who has news about her destiny - full of salt, pigeons, creepy relatives and overwhelming empathy. ( )

Heart-explodingly, gorgeously empowering. This book's beauty wrapped its arms around me and made me feel, for a few seconds, that I could be a superhero, too. I wanted to give it to every young girl I saw. ( )

I chose VOYA code 4Q because I thought the story was superb. The writing was great but not flawless. I can imagine it being a little better written. The book engaged me and held my attention even during a very busy period in my life, and that's not easy to do. However, the male characters were two-dimensional. I chose 3P because I think the book would appeal to most young adults, but not so much that every young adult would want to go out and read it immediately. Not all girls are going to be interested in the subject matter of mermaids and a gritty, working class setting. Boys will be put off by the all-female cast of characters and by the one-dimensional portrayal of the men in the novel.

The protagonist, Sophie, growing up in polluted, working-class Chelsea, Massachusetts, learns about her heritage and who she is. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I didn't even notice until reading the reviews that all of the important characters are female. I know this was intentional, but it felt totally organic and natural to the story.

The Kirkus review was fairly negative, since the reviewer hated the "lumpy" illustrations and the shifts in narrative voice and perspective (from third person to first, and from character to character). I didn't agree with that so much. I didn't find the shifts to be herky-jerky, and I didn't find that they affected my feelings about the plot or characters. However, the Kirkus review made a statement at the end that really made me think. "The ornate literary style and grim themes make this read more like a story about adolescence for adults than one aimed at actual teens." Since I really loved this book, and I am well over that line between adolescence and adulthood, the statement rings true.

This book is about self-discovery and understanding one's place in the world, and also feelings of outsiderism, all important developmental tasks of adolescence. The story also brings in a teen dealing with OCD, and I think that piece could help teens understand and empathize with people who have this condition. ( )

When one of my colleagues read about this book on buzzfeed, we had to get a copy and read it. Magical realism set in Chelsea, Massachusetts. First of all, it seems a bit dangerous to set a fictional story in an actual city, complete with a map of said city, particularly when you haven't lived in the city for many years. In Chelsea's defense, the city still has it roughness intact, but there are new luxury apartments, parks, hotels, and I think the rusted shopping carts have been removed from the creek. Gentrification is underway. However, if I look at the book as historical magical realism I'm a little more comfortable with it. So I enjoyed the story of the neglected young girl who discovers she is a witch with wonderful magical powers who can talk to pigeons. And being a Bostonian who is familiar with Chelsea and some of its inihabitants, I can clearly see the young person she is describing. I give the story high marks for originality, but the writing is only OK, and the story takes a while to get underway. It's the first in a trilogy, which is the THING to write if you're writing for the young adult market, so maybe the story will pick up its pace in the next book. A couple of nit-picky things: the book is expensively bound and the cover embossed, and the paper is good quality. It feels like an old-fashioned book. But why couldn't the publisher spend a portion of the budget on a good proofreading? ( )

Despite a slow start, this book captured my attention with it's magical realism. The plight young Sophie faces may not be a familiar one, yet as a girl on the cusp on young adulthood she is all to easy to relate to. The fantasy elements of this story were woven wonderfully with the pain and anguish of growing up. I can't wait to read more of this series - though waiting for the next instalment will be difficult. ( )