Emily has never been in the water. Her mother is afraid of the water, so she has kept Emily out of any swim classes or pool parties. But finally, Emily is allowed to go to a swim class at school! She is swimming well for the first few seconds, until her feet start to fuse together, cramping up. She gets out of the pool before anyone notices, but then decides to experiment on her own by going swimming in the ocean. She discovers that she can transform into a mermaid, and there is a whole community of mermaids living in secret far out to sea. But why is her mother so afraid of the water? And where is Emily's father? He left them when Emily was a baby, but is there a deeper secret behind his leaving?

I loved this cute mermaid story! Emily is adorable and sweet, and I liked how she and her mom have a close relationship. The magic of the mermaid world is really interesting and imaginative. There is a mystery surrounding Emily's past and she is determined to find out who her father is and what happened to him. So I enjoyed the mystery and adventure in the story! The writing style is light and charming.

Some of the plot is kind of ridiculous, but it's magic, so... it's fine. I think that middle school readers would not mind if the plot is ridiculous. They would just think it's fun!
I didn't really care about Emily's school friends and enemies. Her school life just seemed like a side note to the mermaid adventure. But again, I think that middle school readers would really relate to Emily's social difficulties at school. I am not the target audience for this book, so it makes sense that these elements of the story don't appeal to me.


Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.