Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this novel but it wasn't to my liking and really didn't hold my interest enough to finish. I thought the premise of this book did sound quite intriguing though but it just didn't work for me.

Struggled to get into this book. Might give it another chance later on but for now, it was DNF'ed.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC of The Girl from the Sea.

I'm not going to lie, this plot is getting tired. A young attractive girl wakes in a hospital after being found washed ashore with no memory of her trauma. She must then trace her steps and depend only on flashbacks to uncover who she really is and what has happened to her.

This has been done, a lot. How common is retrograde amnesia anyway, honestly. You'd think it was happening to all of us based of the number of books there are like this. And then of course you have your sketchy husbands/boyfriends, friends and parents who look suspicious simply by association. This one could not have been more predictable if it had tried, especially when you consider how few suspects there really were. It was a quick read, but it didn't do a whole lot for me.

I tried, I tried, I tried but I could not finish this book. The scenes dragged on a bit too long for me with the author giving a detailed description. You can paint a picture for your readers without boring them to sleep. This book was difficult for me to get into and even finish. Maybe down the road I'll try again, because I'm curious to find out what happens, but for now there is no interest.

Great read! I hated having to put it down at night! Can you say CRAZY? I'm not sure who was more nuts! I hope for a sequel! I wasn't ready for it to be over! This book is a solid 4! I would definitely recommend it!

The Girl From The Sea by Shalini Boland is one of those really small books that will get missed by too many readers because they'll never hear about it. That is too bad. This is a book that needs strong marketing behind it to draw attention to what may be one of the more original and freshest voice in modern mystery. What starts off as a tale of loss memory, tense atmosphere and the threat of impending danger; instead turns into something far more sinister and twisted.

"...As I approach the hospital bathroom mirror, I'm almost too scared to look. Will I recognize myself? After the police officers left yesterday, I slept. Consequently, I woke this morning, feeling a little stronger, a little more determined. And I'm off the drip finally, so at least I feel less like an invalid. My memory is still missing, but I will get it back. I'll do everything it takes, starting with facing myself in the mirror. Hoping against hope that I'll recognize the person staring back at me.
I have deliberately unfocused my eyes. The mirror sits above the sink, directly in front of me, but I must gather up my courage to look properly. I take a deep breath and stand up straight. I let my eyes relax and do their job of seeing.
Before me stands a woman-maybe early to mid-twenties. Sallow skin, brown eyes and a dark tangle of hair. She could definitely do with some mascara and lipstick. I put my hands to my face. To my pale lips, my dark eyebrows, to my nose which tips up at the end. I almost look like I could be Spanish or Italian.
Is that me..."

Mia James is found, washed up on a beach, with no memory of how she got there or who she is. As her past begins to unfold she finds that she has a fiance and a family and a wonderful life. But that is all on the surface and as she digs deeper than what friends and family seem willing to tell her; Mia finds that her life was far from idyllic and her friends and family are not who they seem to be. She finds that she herself may not be who they want her to believe she is.

"...I reached the end of the High Street and walk toward the Priory in a drunken, depressed, rain-sodden daze. The cobbles are slick with rain and I have to tread carefully in my slippery sandals. I push open the kissing fate, its hinges squeak and groan as I slide through. The Priory stands proudly unaffected by the downpour, like it has done for the past millennium. Solid and enduring.
The graveyard is deserted apart from a lone woman coming towards me, her blonde hair soaked through. She looks angry. Maybe she just had an argument with someone. I stop dead. I know her. It's the woman from my dream. The one from my balcony. She's coming closer, her face twisted in fury. But she looks so much more than furious-she looks mad. Dangerous. Murderous..."

Mia begins to realize that events that ended with her drowning in the sea seem to be on course to happen again.

What separates this novel from the dirge of female lead mysteries flooding the market is that the author dares to take risks with her story. To say much more is to give away the twists that make this story so good. I am so reluctant to do that because that is pretty much like telling you what's in the present on Christmas morning before you have a chance to open it.

The Girl From The Sea is a surprisingly well crafted novel of memory and truth and the darker side of both.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

She washes up on the beach, injured and doesn't remember her name or past. The police decide it was an accident. Then she starts to have hallucinations of someone pushing her in the water, but could they be memories?

Pretty good book. I did guess the true killer but not the little twist at the end of the book.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4☆

From the moment Mia James opens her eyes on the beach I was on her side, feeling compassion for her and excitement because how on Earth was her story going to play out?
And who can she trust? Piers, who claims to be her boyfriend and is the person who identified her? He seems to have his own curious motivations and Mia is keenly aware of this from the moment she meets him all over again at the hospital. It seems as though no one has any positive regard for her or concern for her amnesia. 
This is a difficult review for me to write because I do not want to give away any spoilers or ruin the twists and turns Shalini Boland has in store for her readers. There are so many plot twists and interesting characters introduced at pivotal moments, I was constantly on alert, trying to figure out Mia's next move or how she ended up on that beach. I was never able to guess correctly - and I love that.
I found myself flying through this book, but I had to be careful not to skim or read too quickly because The Girl from the Sea is a book that needs to be read with intention and with patience. It is so hard to be patient with a story that takes such twists and turns, but Boland places intricate details throughout the book that can be easily missed by someone like me who tends to get impatient because I need to know now!
If you are also a sometimes impatient reader let me reassure you that the ending is worth it! I was reading on the couch while my husband watched television and he started laughing at me once I reached the last page. My mouth had fallen open in great surprise and stayed that way for a few seconds. Attractive, I'm sure, but definitely the mark of a fantastically shocking ending. Had I ever known Mia at all? I'll never tell. :)
If you enjoy multiple plot twists, playing detective whilst reading, and solid character development, I recommend this book. The only thing I would change would be a few more chapters at the end to maybe explain a few things that I couldn't stop pondering. However, there's beauty in not knowing and not being 100% certain you have everything figured out. 
This would be a great read to start on the couch, or somewhere cozy, and then when you reach a certain point, maybe take it to the treadmill, or elliptical in order to get out some of the anxiety that you may start to feel. Or read a bit, have a mini dance break and then pick up where you left off and then take as many anxiety breaks as you need until you reach the end. :)
I would give this 4 out of 5 stars.

This is one of those books where, at first glance, you’re thinking this is about a four star good read and then you get to the ending, and POW, it punches it up a notch! This is most definitely a five star read. I wasn’t a fan of Gone Girl because I absolutely abhorred the ending. However, there’s something to be said for the element of surprise. And what a damn surprise it was indeed!

A woman is lying on a sandy beach with the sun beaming down on her, head aching like a mother, throat more than parched and her body felt like it weighed a ton. When she tried to speak, words wouldn’t come out. A few passersby walked over to aid the young woman who looked so out of place lying on the beach. When the paramedics arrived, they immediately rushed her to the hospital. This woman had no idea who she was, how she ended up on the beach, let alone how she survived in the sea. But, as baffling as that was to her and the hospital staff, here she was living and breathing. The doctors wanted to make sure she didn’t have any infection in her lungs from swallowing so much salt water. What was even more troubling, she had no idea as to who she was, what she was and where she belonged.

Essentially, this Jane Doe had to begin life again. When thinking about that, it’s actually kind of cool having a fresh start not knowing who you were before your memory loss. As it turned out, she had a rare case of amnesia brought on by trauma. Hmm, the very thought of not knowing who she was scared her half to death. The police were brought in to investigate her case. Of course, the police had a million questions, none of which our mystery woman could answer. Why not just let her rest and see if her memory would come back gradually? So, while she lay waiting in her hospital bed, the police conducted an extensive search to find the mystery lady’s identity.

Eventually, a handsome twenty-something comes forward and says the woman they have in custody is his girlfriend, Mia James. And that, readers, is where all the fun begins. Mia James was not only a mystery to the onlookers on the beach, but she was a stranger to herself. When she looked in the mirror, it was as if she were looking at someone else. How weird that must have been for her. And factor in this boyfriend she knows nothing about? He’s trying to be loving toward her, but she’s afraid because he isn’t familiar to her. As you embark on the memory loss journey of Mia, the reader will feel all the frustration she feels and more. When you finally get to the end, most of you will be thinking the end is going to be one way, and you will get the shock of your life near the end. OMG! I absolutely loved this book. Wowwww!

Mello & June, gives The Girl from the Sea five huge stars spanning the sea and more! Umm, that ending I couldn’t get enough of. Boland really grabs your attention and makes you stay there until the end. What an outstanding read! I loved this book tremendously! If you haven’t read it yet, I’d highly recommend starting. It’s not that long and you will be just as surprised by the ending too. Well, well done, Boland. I’m a fan!

I wasn't impressed by this title. I wanted to like it however the characters were mostly one dimensional and though the story itself had loads to offer, the author decided on a different path, unfortunately one that left me thinking that the ending was a mistake.

Mia washes up on a beach. She cannot remember who she is or what happened to her. After she is identified and begins to resume her supposed life, she begins having memory flashbacks that conflict with what and who she is being told she is. Somewhere in her brain there are dark truths waiting to come to the surface, and when they do, her whole life changes.


Forget the idea that this is like any other book with ‘Girl On’ or ‘Girl In’ in the title. It stands alone for those who like it. I thought Mia was shallow and didn’t sympathize with her, but that could just be my general short attention span for vapid female protagonist/narrators who sigh and complain a lot. I took issue with some of the plot structure and fast paced inaction that replaced sophisticated suspense and character building.


Basically, this is a great book for light reading. The cover is nice. The premise is interesting enough to make a reader wish to get all the way to the final pages. The end was, though not much of a surprise, enough to satisfy. The writing was good, though some of the dialogue was really crap. The setting was well-done.


Overall, 3 ½ stars would cover it.

Excellent story! Looking forward to reading more by this author!

This book started out with such a great premise...washed up on shore with no idea of who she is and how she got there. It was very interesting to see her trying to figure out her story but I felt like the book did a great job building it up and the ending was a bit too quick for me. I would have loved more dialogue about why Suki was so hostile to her to help readers get to the ending together. Overall this book was a quick read and it was good, though the ending was a bit too fast for me.

This was a good read for a one time read. It was a little too predictable for me, and I skimmed a lot.

This book is a psychological thriller about a woman who is found washed up on a beach with no memory of who she is or what happens. Her boyfriend identifies her from a police description as Mia and picks her up when she is released from the hospital. Things are not clicking between her and her boyfriend immediately and it seems like he is not telling her the entire truth. The only memory or vision she keeps having is of an angry, sneering woman... Who is this woman and does she really want to remember?

This book was a fast-paced, gripping novel that left you questioning if you walked back into a life that seemed to be falling apart, would you try to remember or just try to build a new life?

I gave this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.

I enjoyed this book from the very beginning. I really loved the location descriptions and settings where it took place. Kept my interest well until the end.

THE GIRL FROM THE SEA - Shalini Boland

PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA - 4 stars

Plot - 4 stars - We start right away in the same place as the main character--not knowing who she is or where she's come from. Because she has amnesia, her life is revealed little by little as she discovers people and clues from her background. The gradual rebuilding of a life, basically from scratch, was fascinating.

Writing - 4 stars - Boland draws us right into the story in the first scene, just as though we are waking up alongside the main character. The reader is caught up in the mystery, but it's safe since we are one step removed from the worry and drama that Mia is facing. The writing was smooth, pulling the reader along to discover more of Mia's past and how it relates to her present.

Characters - 4 stars - Mia is a touch unlikable and seems excessively shaky and needy, but I suppose this is understandable due to her circumstances. I found it a little surprising that she took what people told her at face value. She hears from her mother and sister and immediately goes to visit them, even though she doesn't seem to recognize any strong feelings for them. I think, in the same situation, I might have spent more time checking them out first, maybe looking on the internet or asking around. Her instinctive caring for Jack at the boat house indicates that she had a good friendship (or more?) with him in her previous life, so she's drawn to the safety of that relationship. But the intriguing thing about this book is that we know so little about the main character and nothing at all about her back story. But we feel a kinship to her. She's struggling in a difficult situation, so I found myself making allowances for her and hoping she'd be able to pull herself together.

Title - 4 stars - Good title, straightforward. It's generic enough to indicate the amnesia angle without taking away any of the drama or leading us in any specific direction.

Cover - 4 stars - Beautiful cover. The girl is obviously in the sea, so it's pretty literal. But as you read more of the story, it obviously becomes a metaphor for Mia's confusion and inability to grab hold of anything in her former life.

Overview - 4 stars - This was a surprisingly compelling drama. I was drawn into the story immediately, taking Mia's side and rooting for her success in regaining her memory, or at least building a new and happy life. It wasn't until after I finished that I realized how much the characters surrounding her were, of course, colored by her perceptions, with little to no other viewpoint. We really never see them outside of her sphere, so we relate to them as she related to them. The "secrets" of her life were revealed bit by tiny bit, which made me want to keep turning the pages to see what happened. A twist towards the end was totally shocking to me and added another layer of interest. I very much enjoyed this book and will definitely look for more from this author.

An enjoyable read up to a certain point, with an interesting twist, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying. There were many unanswered questions, and I thought it could have been a bit longer. However it was a page-turner and a good read.

Review of an advance copy from the publisher.

Great read! Kept me interested and definitely didn't see the ending coming.