This novel was very deep and emotional for me. The author has created a tale of honest emotion, of regret and redemption, and of characters haunted by their past. This book will be with me for a long time.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

My Thoughts…

I have to admit that I am a sucker for mermaids. As a Disney child, I grew up watching The Little Mermaid and dreaming of a world Under the Sea. So any title involving mermaids grabs my attention in a way other books cannot. That word alone invokes a sense of wonder and magic. In this case, I believe the magic can be found in the capacity and transformative power of love.

Like mermaids, love is mythical, with powers that can’t be understood by mere humans. In When We Believed in Mermaids, Kit and Josie share many different types of love. Showing that it comes in all shapes and sizes. They describe themselves as soul mates and sisters, but also have romantic love, proving the depths of the heart are deeper than the depths of the sea.

This story rose up and surrounded me. Much like the waves Kit surfed, I felt this book swell and pull me under its spell. Javier comes in like the sea wind and almost instantly affects everything in his path. Their love story, filled the senses, keeping me riveted to the pages, my imagination fully engaged on all levels. The food and drink they share, the feel of each other and the water, the sites they experience together, are described in such vivid detail that I felt almost overwhelmed and simultaneously wanting. I craved to jump into a lot of these pages to really be where they were.

What’s Missing

If a book falls short of a 5 star rating, I try to figure out why instead of leaving it to the whim of my feelings. Sometimes, I am successful with this, sometimes I’m not. Here, the only minute criticism I have is the middle. At times it seemed to drag just a tiny bit, especially with the inclusion of Sapphire House.

Conclusion

This is a truly beautiful story of not only people, but of a place: New Zealand. It’s also a wonderful example of the bond between people and our ability to use that bond for pain and pleasure.

*Special thanks to Barbara O’Neal, TLC Book Tours, and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of When We Believed in Mermaids in exchange for an honest review.

First time reading this author and would definitely read any of her other books. I am not going to give a book report, just say that the characters are realistic, likeable and once you start reading its hard to put the book down. The cover gives adequate description of the storyline. The author brought in the past events and current events of the main characters effectively and all is easily understood. Enjoyed the book.
Thanks to the author,publisher,and NetGalley for the ARC. I received this book as a complimentary copy for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Call me twisted, but I love reading books about dysfunctional families. Sometimes its nice to break the cookie cutter mold. This book did not disappoint. Very sad how these sisters grew up. Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

When families are dysfunctional the losers are the children. Two sister and their story of growing up mostly on their own. Heartbreaking but show how you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

I loved the title of the book and that is what drew me in to begin! This was a new author for me and I loved the story and the characters were easy to follow along with. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it very much. Will continue to follow this author and would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants a great read!!

How I adored every single thing about this book! From the childhood lives of Kit, Josie and Dylan on the California beach, to a mystery that took me to New Zealand and all of its beauty, there is so much to be immersed in and I was.

This was a very special and very tender book for me. And although there were some beautiful romantic themes, this book focused more on sister and sibling relationships and explored the theme of forgiveness in the most beautiful way, bringing me to tears many, many times. I felt and still feel the very tender emotions and I appreciate the authors fabulous ability to make me feel so strongly about her characters. Characters who I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. For me, they lived and breathed and I loved going on this very personal journey with them.

I can’t recommend this book enough. If you love family drama, characters that will live and breathe and be with you forever then you need to read this book. It’s taking it’s place at the top of my Books of the Year

Definitely one of the best books I have read this year! A first by me by this author and won't be my last! I read this in a day and could not put it down!! This story of two sisters lost in many ways after much tragedy in their lives left them to find themselves and try to overcome pain and loss. I'm order to move on this they must face the truth of the past, but it may be more than they can bare. Amazing characters and story line will keep you on the edge of your seat! Loved this!!! Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing and the author for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

When We Believed in Mermaids. A very hard book to talk about without giving the story away. When the girls were little they believed in mermaids but they grew up and things changed. Read the story and you will understand I think.

I am a fan of the author's writing and always look forward to sitting down reading her books.. Her writing is so entrancing and lovely that it draws you into the story. This was a unique story for the author and very complex. It is the story of two sisters and the bonds that draw them back together after tragedy. Its about how two sisters have innate abilities after tragedy to understand each other and support each other.

I loved the writing and the story. Its a complex set of charcters that the author builds upon as only she can. The story is so well crafted that it draws upon each sister and time of their life with brilliant clarity. I love the author's descriptions of locations and how richly she describes each part of the story. I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
The opening line of this book caught my attention and I couldn't put it down. "My sister has been dead for nearly fifteen years when I see her on the TV news." Kit then travels to New Zealand to find her sister. The story jumps between Kit and Mari, aka her sister Josie, in her present life with glimpses of their past difficult childhood. Ultimately a beautiful story of family, forgiveness, and love.
I loved this book. The descriptions of this seaside town were beautiful. The flashbacks to their past were spaced perfectly to keep you guessing what happened while keeping the story in the present going. I look forward to more books by this author.

This book is the story of two sisters, Josie and Kit, who are so close to each other growing up that it seems nothing would ever separate them from each other, or so it seems. Sisterhood, love...you can't go wrong. I would strongly recommend this book.

Netgalley provided me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tale of two sisters .... Josie is the dreamy, flighty older sister who reads to her little sister in a sleeping bag by candlelight. Kit is the little sister who grows up to become a doctor, both strangled and defined by the mantle of responsibility she has assumed. The big sister who wanders the world, a vagabond who seems to suck the marrow from each day until it holds no room for regret.

And then the older sister disappears. The void is inconsolable and yawning until a chance videobyte ripe with the possibility of her survival against all odds renews hope.

Kit makes a journey to the other end of the world to discover the truth. But the truth is never simple. Secrets long buried will bring closure or tear the rift beyond repair.

I loved this story of insidious sibling rivalries, escapism and self-realization.

4 stars.

Thanks to net galley an the publisher for the Arc. “My sister has been dead for nearly fifteen years when I see her on the TV news" is the opening line and we swiftly go down the rabbit hole to Australia to look for the missing sister. It was an interesting read although slow to start. There were parts that seemed irrelevant to the story and parts that stretched credulity. It did end up being a bit too "chick lit" for me and all lose ends wrapped up a bit too nicely. 3

When we believed in Mermaids was a powerful and emotionally charged book about two sisters. This book was really amazing and I was hooked from the start! This was my first book to read by Barbara O'Neal and I look forward to reading more. This book was a solid 5 star read for me.. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

What happens when your sister has been dead for 15 years and you suddenly see her on TV? Well, you get yourself on a plane and search for her. And that is exactly what Kit does - and that is where the story starts. It goes back and forth to the terrorist attack on the train her sister was on to the time that Kit is in New Zealand looking for her sister.

Kit also find romance in New Zealand and finally finds her sister. But at what price? Josie's family doesnt know about her past and Kit's showing up brings up all the memories, past hurts and trauma and a flood of emotions. Actually found myself tearing up over some of the incidents that happened to these two sisters.

But the bond is there and we find out how strong it is. Lovely story that kept me turning the pages. Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC copy and right now it is on Amazon as a Kindle Unlimited book.

This is the story about the deconstruction of a life. Not in the sense that things fall apart, because the lives of both Kit and Josie Bianchi fell apart a long, long time ago. The echoes of what happened in their childhood have rippled like aftershocks through everything that has happened since.

Including, but definitely not limited to, Josie’s death – and the faking thereof.

When We Believed in Mermaids is rather about the examination, in memory, of those long ago events. What begins as a look back at a seemingly perfect childhood that was ripped apart by the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 reveals cracks in that perfection – just as the girls’ examination of their cliffside house revealed cracks that made the house’s fall inevitable.

There were plenty of warning signs that a disaster was coming – but the adults were too wrapped up in themselves, and much too damaged themselves, to see it. And the girls were children. It’s only as adults that they are able to look back and see that what went wrong was hardly their fault.

But now they are both adults. And both still scarred. Both, in their own ways, isolated because of it. Kit, whose life has come to be confined to her ER practice, her surfing, and her cat. While Josie, who seemingly has it all, is isolated by her secrets. No one knows her true self. Her past is another country, on another continent, and it happened to someone else.

One brief moment in the background in someone else’s camera frame brings Josie’s worlds into collision. And Kit’s walls come tumbling down.

Escape Rating B+: This is a story that can best be described as quietly charming. It feels like one of those stories where not a lot happens on the surface, but that surface is only 10% of what’s happening. Underneath, Kit and Josie are paddling like crazy.

While the comparison is to an iceberg, there’s nothing cold about the story – including its two settings, the California coast and Auckland, New Zealand. Where it’s a hot and steamy late summer when Kit arrives to investigate that three-second sighting of the sister who has been presumed dead for 15 years.

We begin the story from Kit’s point of view as she believes, disbelieves, questions and investigates a possibility that has haunted her for all of her adult life. What if Josie is still alive?

In alternating chapters we find ourselves looking through the eyes of a woman named Mari. Who seemingly has it all, a rich and handsome husband, two terrific kids, a storied house to investigate – and a gigantic secret.

As both Kit and Mari remember their childhoods, with each dive into the past revealing more cracks in that originally perfect surface, their memories converge. It’s obvious fairly quickly that Mari is Josie, and that she’s rightfully worried that her few seconds in that background shot are going to bring her world crashing down – and she’s right.

But until the crash, it’s Kit’s view that holds the attention. While Mari has found the life she dreamed of, and is afraid of losing it – Kit is very much still seeking, not just Josie, but a life that will not merely sustain her but support her and enrich her spirit. Her search, including her hesitant relationship with the handsome Spanish guitarist Jose Velez, opens her heart and shakes her certainties – even as she hunts down the sister she never expected to find.

Kit’s on a quest, and somewhat ironically, Josie is the macguffin she’s looking for. But all the while, both of them are internally exploring their memories of the life they once shared together. As those memories reach toward the present, Josie and Kit reach towards each other.

And the possibility of a shared – and much brighter – future.

I picked up When We Believed in Mermaids because I enjoyed The Art of Inheriting Secrets by this same author very much, with just a few quibbles. The same is true about When We Believed in Mermaids, including the quibbles. Both are stories where events in the present cause the narrator(s) to search through their own pasts as well as the past of a place that they become involved with in the course of the story, so if you like one you’ll definitely like the other.

In The Art of Inheriting Secrets, I had a couple of issues with the way that the hesitant romance in that book proceeded, but loved the look back into the past of the house she inherits and the mother she discovers that she never really knew. There’s also an old house in Mermaids, and I was hoping for as interesting a reveal of its history as there was in Secrets, but alas, it was not to be. The secrets about Sapphire House, when finally revealed, felt anticlimactic. That was the one part of the story where I really expected more.

Then again, I love stories about research done well and filled with fascinating reveals. And there were plenty of those fascinating reveals in Kit and Josie’s hesitant journeys down memory lane. As I said, this story is quietly charming, and I was certainly charmed. If you’re looking for a beach read this summer all you have to do is believe in these mermaids!

I thoroughly enjoyed When we Believed in Mermaids. My main draw to this title was it being set in Auckland, having lived there a few years ago I was interested to read a book set in this amazing city, and it did not disappoint. The descriptions of the various places in Auckland had me reminiscing of the time I spent there myself.

The story itself was great, two sisters telling their story of childhood and the reasons they are where they are today. I enjoyed the blossoming romance between Kit and Javier, and the reasons why sometimes you just have to start a whole new life, even take a whole new identity.

I would definitely recommend this book, and will fir sure be looking out for more titles by Barbara O'Neal.

I enjoyed this book, even loved it. But I got confused occasionally. The story kept me interested, but I found it a little unrealistic. But I read on and really liked the last half of the book (no spoilers).

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Kit Bianci believed her sister was dead, that is until she saw her on the television news 15 years later. Kit decides to travel to New Zealand and find her sister Josie and get some sort of explanation or closure. When the two sisters are reunited all their dark secrets are revealed. They will have to share all of them in order to move on and fix the broken relationships.

I found this book to be very slow to start and was almost halfway through the book before I started to enjoy it. I found Kit's romance and Josie's Sapphire House were used as filler during the first portion of the book. I get that Kit's romance needed to be there to show her guard weakening but it could have been shortened. I didn't see any purpose in the all the parts about Sapphire House. I don't feel like they added anything to the story and I feel like this book wouldn't have been missing anything had it of been left out completely.

I liked how the book was told in the perspective of both sisters. The perspective keeps switching between the sisters per chapter, each picking up where the last one left off. I think it added emotion and depth to the characters as it allowed the reader to know what they were thinking about major points in the story.

So, I ended up being slightly disappointed with this book. While the ending was partially redeeming, I expected a lot more from it. Is it possible that I hyped this book up too much to myself and it's my own fault I didn't enjoy it more? Yes it is. I consider this a lesson learned.