When We Believed in Mermaids book review

When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal
Published by Lake Union Publishing on July 16, 2019
Pages: 352
Goodreads

From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.

Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news…

Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.

After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.

Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

I picked this When We Believed in Mermaids up on Kindle Unlimited and I had no idea what I was expecting if I am being perfectly honest. It was a bit of a title buy and to be honest it was a little bit of a weird one for me. I really wanted to enjoy this story and for it to join my list of great books but everything seemed to fall a little bit flat for me. I think the problem I had with this book and this seems to be a running trait is that the drama was either boring or completely far-fetched. I did enjoy the family element of the story and the concept, I just wish that it had been a little better executed

The characters in When We Believed in Mermaids were well written and well put together if not a little stereotypical. I loved the fact that Kit was a doctor and was essentially a self-made woman who was determined to become a doctor despite all the issues she faced in her childhood. I will say that Josie as a character annoyed me, there was no real reasoning to say why she kept everything a secret and wouldn’t have reached out to her sister across the world. I thought that as a sisterly relationship represented in this way was a little odd and it didn’t really sit well with me.

I think the best bits of When We Believed in Mermaids was definitely watching Kit work out her place in the world and figure everything out. I also really enjoyed the flashbacks to their previous life. I think it gave a really good indication as to why the sisters grew up the way they did. I loved learning about Dylan and watched their relationship grow but then I also loved Kit’s realisation about Dylan and why everything worked out the way it did. It was a really well-done arc that was really well foreshadowed.

I have to say the worst bits for me would definitely be the romance element, I think it took away from the actual storyline and seemed a little gimmicky to me. I don’t actually think that throughout When We Believed in Mermaids there was anything they had in common, it was more the fact that he was beautiful and like good food. I struggled with this part and found myself skipping these sections and jumping back into the sister’s stories.

I would recommend When We Believed in Mermaids, I just don’t think you should go into it with too high opinion, there are definitely cute moments but there is also a lot of fluff!

Have you read When We Believe in Mermaids? What did you think? Let me know!