Reading Sea Change felt like standing on the edge of two worlds and not knowing which way to jump. Turtle’s story pulled me in from the very first chapter because, let’s be real, who hasn’t felt torn between two parts of their identity? The tension she feels between the underwater world of the Mer and the pull of the Normal world (and, okay, the charming Kai) hit hard.

What I loved most was how real Turtle feels. She’s stubborn, loyal, and sometimes a little reckless, but that just makes her all the more relatable. Her struggles—trying to figure out where she belongs, reconnecting with her past while navigating an uncertain future—felt so authentic. Even though the book is set in a world shaped by rogue gene editing and a society grappling with its consequences, the emotions are universal.

The world Susan Fletcher created is incredible. From the hauntingly beautiful underwater life of the Mer to the eeriness of drowned towns, every setting feels alive. But the heart of the story is Turtle and her relationships—with her friends, her family, and herself.

If you’ve ever felt caught between who you are and who you want to be, or if you love stories with a mix of heart and high stakes, Sea Change is for you. It’s equal parts breathtaking, thought-provoking, and deeply emotional—a story about love, identity, and what it means to truly belong.

I need to formally apologise, unfortunately due to recent life events I've had to dnf this book as commitments are now focused elsewhere. I've read a few pages so far and am loving it! I will definitely be reading this again in the future when I have more time on my hands and will leave a new updated review on soicals once completed. I am grateful to of have the chance to work with yous and again I apologise for the inconvenience my review may have caused.

A girl with romanticized dreams of a life filled with the love of a boy and the family she thought forgot her, her attention splits between the world and people she’s known and a new one, forcing her to face a life-altering choice in Sea Change by Susan Fletcher.
Fifteen-year-old Turtle is on a scavenging trip in a flooded house, which happens to belong to her grandmother, when she saves a stranger’s life in a way that only the genetically modified Mer, such as herself, would be able to when scuba gear of the Normals fails – with breathing help taking advantage of her gills until he’s able to escape from being pinned down. Captivated by Kai, the boy she saved, Turtle’s attention is pulled toward him, and they find ways to meet up secretly to have both land- and sea-based adventures. Turtle’s also keen to find her family, who had been forced by law to give her up due to having her genes illegally modified and seemed to have abruptly stopped writing letters years ago; with a bit of luck, she found one of her sisters locally and Turtle reconnects and reignites her familial connection. So when doctors suddenly board The Mermaid, the ship that houses the Mer, and claim that they’ve come up with a surgery that will allow the Mer to give up their gills and live as Normals, Turtle is incredibly tempted as it would make living with her family easier, not to mention the possibility of a future with Kai, but she’d miss her Mer friends and the freedom of traversing within the sea. Faced with a decision that will alter the course of her life, Turtle navigates a turbulent world of consequences with the hope that a brighter future might emerge.
Set within a near-future version of the world that’s ravaged by the destructive impacts of climate change and the socio-political consequences of genetic manipulation with the lurking question of “should it be done just because you can”, a narrative with strong themes of hope and family, both that of blood and chosen, is woven throughout escalating action that helps a young girl grow as she sees and interacts with a more expansive world around her amid the corruption that is brought to her attention that has had a controlling hand in shaping her life and choices, or lack thereof. With The Little Mermaid serving as a loose inspirational base for this tale, and echoes of it are easily seen through the desire to reside in and belong to both worlds, needing to make a sacrificial choice between the two, and heightened melodramatic adolescent romantic tension, the story places the cautionary element of the fairy tale into the near-future setting with ease as a sci-fi-esque narrative is an easy shift for a fairy tale to adapt to. There’s a larger genetically modified community with unique traits, which are a result of unintended consequences of the manipulated genes, who are discriminated against and swept up in the conspiracy that Turtle becomes acutely aware of and convinced to assist in combatting; however, this aspect of the narrative in comparison with the protestation of the Mer seems to be left more underdeveloped, along with general questions of a technological and logistical nature, despite the pivotal role a member of that community has as a catalyst for the changes in Turtle’s life.
Overall, I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.