I think, as a whole, I wanted this book to be better. The jist - of lost love, romantic and parental - is tragic and always makes a good story. That said, this leaves it rather open and somewhat convoluted and muddled.

Cara is drifting after college, she quickly meets Brendan. He's handsome, funny and charming. She's "in love" with him (despite the fact that there's no real connection there) Brendan tells Cara that he is part of a special military program and has gills and can breathe underwater.

Cara and Brendan have a son, Micah. Soon after, Micah and Brendan disappear....into the water, never to return.

Cara quickly marries again and moves on, until a fisherman says he's seen a man and boy swimming somewhere where so one should be swimming.

Is this Brendan and Micah?

Cara is very....naive and frankly needs to grow the hell up. She's a rather stupid character and she was a frustrating person to read. Part of me was screaming at her to step into reality, to take Brendan to therapy.

BUT, some people are going to love this.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What an incredibly different kind of story. I found At Sea impossible to put down. The story follows Cara, a recent college graduate, who goes to stay with relatives on Martha's Vineyard for the summer. She meets Brendan on the beach, a US Special Forces officer who can breathe underwater, and they fall in love. She ends up pregnant and she stays on the island. Brendan has very dramatic mood swings and tends to disappear for days at a time. One night, he and baby Micah disappear.

Five years later, Cara is still hunting for them.

I found this story incredibly haunting and twisty. It's hard to say too much without giving away major spoilers, but it was unlike anything I've ever read before. I definitely recommend it!

Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for the eARC!
4.5/5 stars

At Sea by Emma Fedor is an interesting premise that fell a little a little flat for me. In it we meet Cara and Brendan, who experience an instant connection and build a family together with their son, Micah. The timelines split and the story unfolds during their relationship and five years later, when Cara is married to another man after Brendan kidnapped her son and disappeared.

This plotline alone is enough for an engaging thriller as Cara searches for her son. The author layered in added complexity with Brendan’s ability to breathe underwater, attributed to being part of an experimental unit in the US Special Forces. For me, there were just a few too many elements at once to really sink into any of them.

I didn’t have enough to connect with the toll that military service and mental illness took on Brendan. I didn’t know if breathing underwater was a delusion and instead of it building tension, it mostly led to confusion. I didn’t have enough time to feel the grief of losing her son. The most emotion I felt was for the people around Cara in the present timeline, as they seemed to want her to move on and forget her partner and son existed.

I essentially spent the book feeling confused and frustrated and even though the pages turned easily, I was feeling very underwhelmed. There were perhaps too many heavy topics with the surface just scratched.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the gifted and advanced copy – I am always grateful to be given the opportunity to read a book and share my thoughts.

Content warnings: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Grief

A totally unique and captivating book
Told in past and present
In the past timeline we see Cara meet Brendan who claims to be able to breathe underwater. They fall in love and have a son Micah.
In the present timeline Cara is married to Graham and is searching for her son who has been taken away by Brendan. Both of whom she hasn’t seen in years.
This is Emma Fedor’s first novel and I was impressed! Her writing style worked for me, it was a quick read, and I would recommend checking it out if you’re looking for something different

At Sea is about family and love and loss and seeking the truth and the baffling nature of mental illness. There's so much mood setting and character development! The readers knows Cara extremely well, and can empathize with her situation. The story bounces primarily between 2008 and 2014; I was disappointed when the book ended because I was hoping for a continuation of the 2014 storyline. The writing was beautifully descriptive but sometimes focused on aspects that were secondary to the story and glossed over events or ideas that I would have liked to explore further. Overall, there were so many elements of a great story here, and I'm glad I read it. However, it didn't quite come together or resolve the many questions that came up for me through reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Part of me finally catching up to my galleys

I found this one just OK. Definitely could have been worse, but could have been better. I think honestly part of what bothered me was the uncertainty of it all, the type of narrator unreliability, which was (no spoilers) a major part of the book. I liked the idea of it, but not the reality of it. But the writing wasn’t bad!I just don’t think it was my cup of tea.

This was such an i teredting book and the cliffhanger at the end was unbearable! One more sentence please! Or a second book from the kiddos or.mans viewpoint. I read through this so quickly and just loved it. So interesting and a real page turner. I would definitely recommend the author and book and look forward to more.

Cara and Brendan came across as a sexy romantic couple in the first pages of this new novel. The rest of the story describes the unraveling of Cara's life as she mourns the loss of Brendan and her newborn son, Micah. I cheered Cara on as she worked hard to go on with life on Martha's Vineyard. I had hoped for some spectacular surprises involving Brendan. EF gave away some good hints, and I wanted Cara's love for Graham to grow and protect her from all she suffered with her losses.

This is a good novel about growing up when you've lost your precious mother and are alone in a world without the anchor you adored growing up. Lots of great storylines and surprises!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

5 🌟

Thank you to net galley for allowing me to read “At Sea” in exchange for an honest review.

This booked checked every single box for me… character building, scene setting, intrigue, super natural element (or hint of), romance, emotional, and most of all thrilling.

Emma Fedor takes you on a complete journey along with the characters, you can almost taste and feel the balmy, salty ocean air on your skin and smell the aroma from the restaurants on the peer and feel the heart pounding sensation of first love along with the questioning feeling deep in your heart about big life choices as well as that deep maternal bond that can never be broken and reminisce about the lengths you will go for your children.

At Sea also shines at light on the topic of mental illness specifically schizophrenia.

So thankful for the opportunity to read At Sea. I couldn’t have enjoyed this book more!

This was not your typical thriller because it was quite an emotional grade. You’re dealing with a mom whose life, unbeknownst to her is shrouded in secrets and her husband and son go missing. This was a really lovely debut from this author. I was drawn to this book by the blurb and it did not disappoint.

When Cara’s father moved the family to Arizona, she decided to remain rooted to her life in Vermont, the original idea was to choose a college that would be close enough to care for her sick mother. With her mother’s death coming way too fast, Cara decided to stick with her original plan. She would always prefer the cold winters of New England to the suffocating heat of Arizona, remembering when her mother was alive, and her family was still together. Her future is in art, she wants nothing more than to make a living selling paintings and showing her work in galleries. She fears, though, she may end up a teacher instead. For now, she is kicking around Martha’s Vineyard, holding fast to the memories of her family and their vacations there, a family tradition while her mom was still alive. Staying in her mother’s old room at the Bexley House, not even her aunt and uncle’s presence can stop the ache of loneliness she is feeling, nor the painful rush of the past.

One day she is sketching on the cliffs when she spots a handsome, young man dripping with seawater and flirtation. Despite her best efforts, she falls hard and fast for Brendan, who tells her he is with the US Special Forces. It is, however, his darker, unbelievable secret that will alter the course of her future. Due to an experiment with the military, he can breathe underwater, a very useful commodity. She has no reason to think he is lying, when all evidence supports his claims. They become lovers, it is a passionate and exciting love, if confusing. He must leave on a mission, she promises to wait for him. The problem is he disappears often, and the things she sees confuse her. Just what is he wrapped up in? He has his moods, his secrets but it’s only natural a man of his expertise and career in the special forces would. She has taken such things into account, seen the bigger picture, but there are so many missing pieces.

Just when she thinks he is gone for good, he returns, and she is back in his arms. Before the summer of their romance comes to an end, Cora will be pregnant with Brendan’s son, Micah. One day both her son and Brendan will vanish, leaving in their wake crushing grief. Life moves on but she never stops watching the shore with impossible hopes. She finds love with a man named Graham, Brendan’s complete opposite, a man that is solid, and more importantly, present. Then one day a fisherman brings news of a man and child ‘treading water in Nantucket Sound’. Is she insane to hope it could be Brendan and Micah?

Mysteries will be revealed, breaking what remains of her heart, but what is the truth? Is everything that happened a trick of the mind or a fantastical reality? Just how much should you support the man you love?

This was a quick read and a strange, yet original idea. It is, in a sense, about the blindness of love, the ‘tunnel vision’ so many experience. The tale also focuses on loyalty, at least for me, going back to when Cora first chose to help her mother and here again, putting all her faith in Brendan. It is also about hope, who could ever give up a search for their missing child? Not my usual read, but an enjoyable story. Everything happens so fast, love is sometimes a gush.

I very much wanted to love this book, but I struggled to complete it. I had hoped for a mystery/thriller, but instead found the plot to be predictable and unbelievable. The main character, Cara, is very difficult to like and the others are stereotypical and flat. At Sea was a disappointment.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of At Sea by Emma Fedor. This was such an intense story. Cara and Brendan meet after college on Martha's Vineyard, and their relationship quickly turns serious. During this time Cara learns that Brandon has the ability to stay under water for long periods of time and is being used by the US Special Forces because of this. Cara ends up becoming pregnant and her and Brandon marry. She gives birth to Micah and life carries on. However, Cara begins to notices changes in Brandon. He occasionally acts secretive and is moody a lot. She continues to navigate their relationship and life as best she can despite these changes. Then one day Brandon and Micah simply disappear. Cara's life is completely torn apart. The writing is good and the story keeps a good pace. Cara manages to move on, but is struggling five years later even though she has remarried. Then a sighting of two people, one of them a child are spotted in the water outside the Nantucket Sound. Are these the two people she lost all those years ago and is the true story different than what she thought all along? I definitely recommend this book.

This was such a good thriller! It kept me guessing and intrigued the whole time! The characters were likable and well developed. I would definitely recommend this to everyone!

What a wonderful story from a debut writer! One needs to suspend disbelief a bit for it to work, but the premise is one that I have not run across in my reading before. Cara is on Martha's Vineyard reeling from the death of her mother, and trying to decide what to do with her life post college. She plans to spend the summer with her aunt and uncle and then move to New York. One afternoon a naked man arises from the waters off Martha's Vineyard, and forever changes her life.

Brendan, insists he can breathe underwater, and she believes him. Is he telling her the truth? Is he mad? She’s not sure it matters, until he disappears with their new born son, and is missing for 5 years. Unexpectedly a fisherman tells a tale of seeing a man and child in the waters of Nantucket Sound, with no boats around. Is it Brendan and her son Micah? Brendan is back in her life, complicating her marriage, and doubting every thing she thinks. I loved it!

Recommended for public libraries.

Cara meets Brendan after graduating college, during a time when she’s still figuring out life. They fall into a fun romance, that’s only interrupted when he leaves for military duty. She is the holder of his secrets- the biggest being that he’s genetically modified by the military to be able to breathe under water.

When he returns home he proposes to Cara and they get pregnant right away. After the baby is born Brendan is convinced he can also breathe underwater. He takes the child and leaves, afraid that someone will find them and lock them both away.

Cara finds a way to live without them, but barely. When Brendan finally appears Cara gets a second chance at life with her son. Now she needs to find out who to believe- Brendan who claims they can both breathe underwater or the government who tells her it’s all a mental disease that Brendan has.

This book was pretty interesting but the storyline with Graham was so frustrating. He was such a nice guy and deserved so much more than Cara.

Here I go, finally getting around to writing this review.
First, let me start by saying I absolutely LOVE the premise behind this story. Mysterious man and the love child gone missing, plus the ability to breathe underwater- yes please!
I will say that At Sea, is by no means a mystery/thriller. I’d lean more towards Fantasy and even Romance. I also despised the main character in most situations- I just feel that because of the chemistry present, she could’ve tried a little harder to understand her lover. Besides, she wasted her life away waiting around on the same tiny island, hoping for some miracle. And when it finally came along, she blew it. Brendan has obvious issues and as readers we are immediately drawn to being suspicious of him. Fedor manipulated her words in such a way to put immediate pressure on Brendan and his sincerity. This way, we naturally root for Cara the entire time.
Brendan and Cara are supposed to be in love, madly so. I felt like their connection could have been verbalized in the story a bit more in a way to draw readers in. I want to root for them, and more specifically for Cara when she becomes pathetically depressed! Though, Fedor did manage to have me empathizing with Cara even after all the shit she put her new husband through. Normally, i’d shame any person who couldn’t put their feelings aside to adequately communicate; but Cara? God Cara probably could’ve gotten away with murder if it were up to me. Not that I loved her, because that certainly wasn’t it; Cara is plain clueless. But because her sadness was infectious, like it could just leap through the pages.
Lastly, loose ends! God this novel has so many of them, and this is probably the first time they didn’t irk me. Fedor really leaves the interpretation of this story up to the readers. So for those of you who LOVE answers, and every little mystery and it’s solution written in bold letters, buckle up. I do wish At Sea had ended differently because I am a sucker for happy endings. Fedor practically had me on my hands and knees by the end of this story, just begging for Brendan and Cara to be together and happy. Plus all of Brendan’s shadiness and secrets never do rise to the surface. Like I said before, everything is up for interpretation.
Picture Mamma Mia, the magic of life on the sea, but instead of a normal love story, the man can breathe underwater and steals his child away because he’s running from … well someone.
I’d be thrilled if Fedor released a sequel but I won’t go upending the world if she doesn’t- this novel was good enough on its own. I highly recommend At Sea and while it wasn’t perfect, it was unique and addicting. That alone sold it for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.


Like many others, I enjoyed this book but also found it exceptionally frustrating. It’s told between alternating time lines and leaves you with more questions than answers. Here’s to hoping there is a sequel.

I love modern retellings of folk tales, and At Sea was an interesting take on a mermaid/selkie-esque character in a more present time in Martha's Vineyard. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in coming-of-age love stories and books with strong sense of place.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advance copy in exchange for a non-biased review. Cara is living on Martha's Vineyard with her aunt and uncle when she meets Brendan. He's brazen, good looking, mysterious, and Cara falls for him right away. His life as a special ops soldier makes him seem aloof and alluring, and he disappears for months at a time. He has seemingly supernatural talents in the water, able to submerge for longer than humanly possible. But his military deployments have left him with trauma that catapults Cara into a confusing reality that is further complicated by Brendan and Cara's journey into parenthood.

I would classify this book at young adult fiction and so I see it as a voice that could influence young girls in their decisions about relationships. I am glad that Cara stands by her loved one as he struggles to understand his own reality, but I would have liked to see her establish safer guidelines as they worked through it. I do not think it was wise for Cara to send her family away after one of Brendan's episodes, leaving her alone with Brendan and really enhancing her casting as a savior. I also think that the book glosses over Cara's pain at missing out on critical years with her son and that things all turn out ok. I found the pace, style, and setting of the book to be engaging, but I could not rate it higher because it still cast a lot of fairytale on a situation that is not woven of fairytales.

This book explores the line between disbelief and hope, wholeness and healing, and unequivocal support versus stigma and self sabotage. I like how it illustrates the haze surrounding psychiatric conditions when they evolve and how confusing they can be for the person and the people who love them. At the very least, I would like to see a note added about seeking help if you are in a fearful relationship.