This was a fun book, but didn't have much in the way of substance. An unpopular youngest sister discovers she's a mermaid and uses it, mostly, to get her into the popular crowd. Not exactly a lesson we need to teach kids.

I am sorry I was unable to review this title. It had nothing to do with the story or author. At the time in 2020 I took a break from NetGalley. I hope this doesn't keep you from allowing me to review titles in the future.
Thank you
Lana Cole

What kid, especially girls, doesn’t want to be a mermaid? This is a perfect book for kids who do! It was clearly written which is great.

I'm rating this based on its merit as a middle grade children's chapter book. This does not mean it's an amazing read for the average person (this is no Lockwood & Co. or Harry Potter) but it will likely appeal to many little girls in the 7-10 age group. Laura Kirkpatrick introduces us to an average teen whom has 3 sisters and is unpopular most of the time. Until the day she suddenly comes into her own and learns she's a mermaid. There are some very funny moments in And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid, as well as some poignant ones. Some social issues are alluded to and the morals seem to be in the right place right up until the last page...

Endings are Important
I'm super disappointed that this is on the last page of this book:
"Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the start of her journey into the popular group."
All I could think was really?!?! Things were going fairly well. We saw our main gal's popular boy crush appear to be not so great; and our lead gal had a moment of warm fuzzy feelings for the slightly nerdy guy that likes her back. This felt like great progress towards realizing that looks aren't everything. We also find our main gal wishing for her BFF back whose been taken in by the popular group. Their reunited friendship shows that being popular isn't all that matters. But then we have a statement like the one above on the last page. Ugh.

<b>Popular Group</b>
There is one very well done aspect of the popular group in Laura Kirkpatrick's series one book. We learn that one of the popular girls is quite insecure and has secrets of her own she is trying to cover up. This leads our main gal to be empathic towards her and realize that everyone has things they are embarrassed or afraid of in their life. It's a really well done scene to show the reader that popular folks are just people too. They are no more special or different from the rest of us.

Witty Jokes
Perhaps one of the best parts of this story are the witty jokes. Our gal's family owns a fish and chips fast food establishment and so there are some great little puns and one-liners throughout the story to chuckle at. For example:
"Why do sharks only swim in saltwater?
Because pepper makes them sneeze."

Overall
There are some great little moments in this story, including when one sister is found out by the others to be a lesbian, that really show some good social progress and help teach the reader that it's okay to be different and a 'freak' (as our lead gal refers to herself so often). But that (nearly) last line will haunt me for a long time. I don't want little girls to think they need to be popular or a certain type of girl in order to be cool or liked. It just goes against what we (should) want society to be: equal. In order to be equal we must accept that everyone is different and not have any concept of an 'ideal' person.
That said anything that gets a child to read is a positive to some degree in my mind; and as I think this will be joyously eaten up by little girls I can't give it lower than a 3 star rating.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Me and my daughter love mermaids so I knew I had to request this for her.
In the beginning it was a bit. infusing keeping up with so many characters but soon we were lost to the story and enjoyed the ride for what it is.
This is a cute, fun, quick read and one I would definitely recommend for mermaid enthusiasts like myself.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and the publisher.

This was a fun little middle grade novel about mermaids and unexpected changes. It was cute and very clearly written for the early middle grade audience, even though the main character is 13 years old.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion.

This book was really cool. I love mermaids quite a bit and reading a book about it, and a girl who suddenly turns into a mermaid really appealed to me, and trying to hide her identity was so cool and well done! It kinda reminded me of H20: Just Add Water in a way and I really liked that show so comparing it is an honor.

I also love that this book talked about friendship! Friendship is really important and having friends that''s important is really cool and I loved it!

The humor was really awesome and it did make me laugh in a few places.

Unfortunately, this story simply felt okay and really wasn't for me, but I really liked it!

The Five Little Peppers and How They Swam

As the Most Interesting Man in the World might say, "I don't always read mermaid books, but when I do I prefer books like this one." While this book is technically a mermaid book it's really a family tale, and a warm and upbeat, and often humorous, story about five sisters and how they grew.

Our heroine, Molly, is sister number four. The three older sisters are the brain, the practical joker, and the uptight loner. Youngest sister is a cute ball of energy. Rounding out the family is divorced, solid, warm, slightly ditzy, Mom. That leaves Molly to be the tween grump. Happily for us, at thirteen, Molly is just a normal tween grump and is a perfectly fine, and rather appealing, witty, and realistic grump at that.

It's not much of a spoiler to say that early on, (thirteenth birthday in fact), Molly comes in to her mermaidness. She does this in the company of her Mom and three older sisters, and the scene in which they all welcome her into the sorority is funny, touching, and wholesome and life affirming. Not for Molly, of course; she's freaked out. The rest of the book involves Molly coming to grips, and that can be wildly funny, unnerving, and, to be honest, sometimes a little over the top and irritating.

But the book is mostly light and breezy, and it's so fast paced it just screams along. There are loads of one-off scenes, funny throwaway lines, a cute boy, and quick bits. The episodic nature of the storytelling actually keeps everything zippy and a little antic, which is what made this such a cheerful and engaging read.

So, not as mermaidy as I feared, and really much more of a salty coming of age tale, with just the right balance of humor and heart. A surprising but very satisfying, find.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

"And Then I turned Into a Mermaid" by Laura Kirkpatrick is a middle-grade level book focused on a young girl named Molly who faces common 13 year old issues like being embarrassed of her Mom, helping out in her family restaurant, and not being popular at school. However, Molly is about to turn 13 years old and learn that she is completely different than what she previously thought. She is half mermaid!

The book was fun to read as our kids love mermaids! The story did take a little bit to get used to in the beginning as there are many different characters and many had similar names. We had to review who was who while reading in order to keep the story straight. However, we really enjoyed the characters and liked learning about their "Merpowers." I think this was a good addition to the story as our kids also enjoy superheroes, so it was a good blending of the two concepts. Overall we enjoyed the book and would recommend it to middle grade or older kids that love mermaids!

And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid is a chapter book about a young girl that is shocked to find out her family's secret. They are all part-mermaids. Molly, her mother, and sisters all have the ability to become mermaids. This happens when they turn 13, and it is now Molly's turn to learn the family's secret.

I thought the idea of this story was fun. Mermaids are all the rage right now, and I would see many young readers gravitating to the title and cover of this book. I do, however, believe it is a bit complicated for its target audience. With so many characters, I feel that younger readers will lack the ability to keep everyone straight at times.

A BIG Thank You to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Jabberwocky for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of “And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid” for my review. This book was a bit confusing in the beginning, but eventually was fun to read! Initially, I had trouble keeping up with the characters because there are so many sisters. Their sense of humor and the snarky sarcasm was also out of the blue. But once I got a hang of their personalities and the conversations, it was entertaining. I ended up laughing at some of their quirky conversations and situations halfway into the story.

I liked how the story takes place near the sea and the overall idea of the characters turning into mermaids. Moreover, I loved Molly and Margot’s relationship. The author wrote Molly very well and I how she adjusts to living a mermaid’s life. Even though she has self-doubts and feels ashamed of her family, she tries to makes the best of it and is still realistic about it. I also liked how innovative the author was in coming up with games like “Clamdunk” and setting the world building of the merpeople.

One thing which I really didn’t like was Ada’s character. Molly is great because she always decides to take the high road and be nice to Ada, even after the way Ada has treated her. Ada never seems remorseful or guilty for the way she is treating Molly, and she comes across as a very selfish person. I hope her attitude changes and she becomes likable in the future books. Surprisingly, I liked Felicity’s character (more than Ada) and wanted her to be more prominent in the story.

Overall, I thought this was a great first book to the series. I am looking forward to reading the following books.

The plot is what first to me to it. I was anticipating the mermaid part and enjoyed the seaside, but I'm not a fan of Americanized European books. It was a little confusing to me. If I were from Europe, I would probably read this book because I'd be able to understand it better

The title is what made me want to read this, I’m essentially a landlocked mermaid!
Even though I am in my 50’s I totally enjoyed this story!

Molly Seabrook’s dull seaside life is turned upside down when she turns 13 and is let in on the family secret: she’s PART-MERMAID! While this does explain why her bonkers Mum is always skinny-dipping, Molly isn’t exactly thrilled. She already has to dress as a haddock to promote the family fish ’n’ chip shop, and now this? Growing up is hard enough without sprouting a fish tail in Double Maths, or disguising your gills from the cute boy at the ice cream kiosk.

Join Molly as she navigates the stormy sea of social awkwardness, best friend fallouts and the World's Most Embarrassing Family – all while attempting to hide her (Very Weird) new double identity. Will she sink or swim? You’ll have to wait and SEA . . .

It was humorous, full of friendship struggles we all go through at any age, touched on LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 and just the love between a mum and Daughters.

This is an amazing book and I can't wait for more of the series and Seabrook sisters adventures! If there is a sequel I will definitely purchase

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own