Between The Land And The Sea [NOOK Book]

Highly recommend! Great story!

Between The Land and the Sea is an exciting and thrilling story of mermaids and mortals. Right from the start I was caught up with Marina & Ethen and all the characters in this story. I couldn't wait to start the second book in this series The Moon and the tide, and look forward to the stories to follow. excellent reading for adults and teens.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Marinas tales... Between Land and Sea

I absolutly loved Marinas tales! My mom suggusted this book for me too read because i LOVE books with mermaids.....I really didnt like Shayla and her friends because,honestly i hate snobby people. Ethan is the Boyfriend that everyone wants! Anyway I think this book is good for teens who arent to fond off read because itll keep them wanting more. I was devistated when the first book ended and cant wait to buy the others!!!! You will enjoy this book i KNOW
IT!!!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommended

This was an amazing story. The descriptions of the beautiful mermaids was so vivid you could almost see them in your mind. This story is about Marina and her search for who she is and who her mother was. She goes to her Aunt Abby's and cousin Cruz's house for her senior year while her father was away in Afghanistan. She inadvertently meets Lorelei the mermaid and then embarks on a journey to discover herself. With the help of Cruz,Megan and Ethan the hunk also her boyfriend she searches for her answers, where she finds she must make a very important decision.
This was a wonderfully written book and I can not wait to read Marina's Tales.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This Book is GREAT!!!

Derrolyn Anderson's Between the Land and The Sea is a great mermaid book that gives an in depth look at the myths about mermaids and makes you fall in love.

Marina has traveled with her humanitarian father all her life. Homeschooled, and made to meet many different impoverished people, Marina's grew up with only adults and therefore grew up fast. An assignment for her father to visit Afghanistan to help out some of the people left Marina in Aptos, in a house near the beach with her Aunt Abby. It is here, where she meets her first mermaid. This event changed everything Marina knew about herself, her father, and her mother.

I absolutely loved this book. It made me want to be a mermaid and go surfing and do fun stuff all day. I loved the love interest Ethan. He is gorgeous (of course) but also strong, protective and independent. I especially loved how the love blossomed betweeb he and Marina. he best friends Cruz and Megan were also wonderful. I loved the world created in this book.

I read a few reviews about this book prior to accepting it from the author, and many people stated that they believed that Marina's life was too perfect. She had a rich "aunt" that showered her with expensive clothes and cars and anything else she wanted, perfect best friends, a perfect boyfriend that automatically wants to do anything for you and an all around wonderful life that everyone seems to want. I'll admit that her life is pretty perfect, but thats what makes me love the book so much. Its crisp, clean, and refreshing (water reference) like a Disney movie, and I LOVE DISNEY MOVIES!!! Its like a book where love conquers all and when you're done you feel like you're waking from a fantasy world. I just watched The Little Mermaid this weekend because I was inspired from this book. It was both light and deep at the same time and I giggled out loud a lot while I was reading. I must admit that this book was definately cuter than cute!

That being said, there was one (1) issue I had with this book. Derrolyn's writing style is great but a lot of her sentences had the conjuction for to begin the description of the reasoning in the sentence. I would be like if I said, "I went to McDonalds, for now I was hungry." It just sounded weird and every time I saw it it brought me out of the book and made me focus on that one particular sentence. It happened like every 10 pages or so and kept taking me out of the flow of the book. Why not put "because" or "since" instead of "for now." I remember back in elementary school when my teacher was teaching us about conjunctions and she said "for" adds a lot of weight to the sentence and should be rarely used but I had no idea what she meant when she said it adds weight to a sentence. Sentences dont weigh anything! Nonetheless, I understand now, and that annoyed me the most in the book. Maybe I'm just a little picky, but I just didnt like that part very much.

Obviously, since that was my only teeny tiny complaint in the book (and since it had nothing to do with the story as a whole) you can see that I loved this book. It was great and had me changing my mind from wanting to be a vampire for Halloween, to wanting to be a Mermaid. If only I could walk with that fin... O well. You MUST read this book! 4.5 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Great story, ready for more!

Confession time: When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a mermaid. If I could be any type of supernatural creature, it would be a mermaid. The Little Mermaid is still one of my favorite Disney movies. So, I'm always interested in mermaid stories, and was excited to get into Miz Anderson's Marina's Tales series, beginning with book 1, Between the Land and the Sea.

What I liked: 1) Mermaids. Already been established. 2) I love, love, loved Cruz and Evie. They were both funny, and very personable characters. These two were my favorites from the entire book. 3) I liked the plot. There was some really great mystery woven in to the plot, with seamless transitions into romance. It was very well-written. 4) The setting. Being a book about mermaids and the ocean, of course it had to be set on or near the beach. This takes place in a small coastal town of California, though admittedly, I kept thinking it was Hawaii. 5) The story has good pacing and plenty of great twists and turns that kept me turning the pages well into the night. 6) And...I'm jealous of Marina's clothes.

What I didn't like: 1) I would have liked more development of Ethan's character. The main character Marina seems to fall for him quite easily, but I wasn't really sure...how.

Overall thoughts: I really enjoyed this book! I thought most of the characters were great and personable, I even found a few who just made me laugh out loud. The plot was well thought out and easily held, if not demanded my interest. And there are plenty of little extras that just make this book definitely worth the read!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Such a wonderful read!

How far under would you go for the ones you love?


I found this quite a delightful read, it was my first mermaid experience and it did not disappoint. Marina has been taught by tutors her whole life due to her dads career that takes them all over the world, but now that Marina's dad is going to Afghanistan for his work, he is sending Marina to her aunt Abby and cousin Cruz in the town Aptos, Marina doesn't like this idea one bit. She has never been to a normal high school, and she could frankly do without going to one now. At first Marina resits the idea of liking Aptos, but as she becomes good friends with Cruz and his friend Meghan she begins to like the idea of this small town..to Marina this is just a normal town by the beach, that is until she meets Lorelei...a mermaid. Marina swears she must be going crazy until Lorelei saves her life, twice. Marina decides she needs to forget about Lorelei to keep herself out of trouble, but that's all until Lorelie brings up Marinas mom.....Marina doesn't know whats going on, she doesn't know why Lorelie knows about her mom who passed away when Marina was born, she doesn't know why she is the only one that can understand Lorelie and talk to her, but she wants to find out. With or without the help of her friends or Ethan the hot guy at school that is so protective over her. As Marina gets closer and closer to finding out the truth of her life and her mother..the closer she gets to danger..and a temptation she may not be able to resist..

This book is a very nice enjoyable read, Derrolyn had sent me this book for review and I am so happy she did. She has put together an amazing story, I love the way she captured the mermaids, I could really picture them 100% clearly in my head, the way they looked, the way the moved, the way they sounded, everything, she did a wonderful job at describing the mermaids.

Not only was Derrolyns writing amazing in the sense of really capturing the mermaids and everything about them, but her characters were amazingly admirable, I found myself feeling like I really knew them, all of which were likable, even the 'mean girls' I found myself enjoying! The most admirable though was deff Marina, she is such a loving person, but wont let people walk all over her, in my head she is like the perfect main character, not too loving where it comes off unrealistic and fake, but she is also not too strong headed where it comes off unrealistic and annoying, Marina just had the perfect combination of everything. and if she were a real person outside of Marina's Tales, I would love to meet her!

In conclusion, this book was a wonderful first mermaid experience for me and a nice easy flowing read. I cannot wait till my parents get back from vacation and I can pick up book 2, Derrolyn Anderson is an author that I will be looking forward to all her future projects. (:

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great fun

What a fun story! I am a huge fan of everything to do with mermaids, and this is a wonderful example of the fantasy that can be created revolving around mythological creatures.
The story is well-paced, with a good balance of action and character introspection which keeps the story from being boring or being manic. The atmosphere of the cozy seaside town lends a nice, mysterious atmosphere to the modern story without becoming a cliché. The plot completely takes over very quickly, and doesn't let go.
The characters, especially Marina, are complex enough to seem real. Lorelei lacks a bit, but it doesn't really bother too much, since Marina more than makes up for it. The side characters are also very fun, especially Cruz with his fashion designing and amusing personality. Ethan also makes for a good love interest, enough to catch our attention as much as Marina's.
There were a few editing issues, some grammatical errors that could have been fixed by a careful eye, but in no way does it get frustrating enough to take away from the story.
I can recommend this to all young adults as well as to adult who enjoy a good fantasy story. I, for one, am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Sweet YA Story

Between the Land and the Sea is an entertaining young adult novel about teenagers and mermaids. Marina goes to stay with her aunt and cousin as her father goes off to another third world country to help them grow food. Marina has never been in a regular school before, so she goes through a lot of the usual teenage aches and pains trying to learn to fit in. Seeing mermaids definitely doesn't help any!

The story ran smoothly, the romance between Ethan and Marina was very sweet. The supporting characters were all very well done and a joy to get to know. I liked that the author made the mermaids more child-like than callous, dangerous beings.

Overall, Between the Land and the Sea is a delightful book to read. It's the first book in Derrolyn Anderson's Marina's Tales series, the second book is The Moon And The Tide, which I will be reviewing in a week or two, so stay tuned!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Between the Land and the Sea is my first mermaid book (if you're

Between the Land and the Sea is my first mermaid book (if you're not counting The Little Mermaid picture books). Honestly, I liked it but there were a few things that didn't exactly click with me.

The overall plot is interesting. I really like the concept but I wasn't totally satisfied with the execution. I'm really split in half on this. While I feel like half of it was done well, the other half left me wanting. For me, the ending was a little anti-climatic. I was expecting it all to be a much bigger deal. The author did a pretty good job at building it all up but when it came to the resolution, I felt like it wasn't big enough.

The characters also left me feeling conflicted. I liked Evie and Martin (Marina's neighbor and father) but they weren't in the book that much. Cruz (the cousin) and Megan (the friend) were nice additions to the cast of characters but, again, I was left feeling split on this. While at first I really liked them, the more the book continued the more ups and downs I had. Overall, sometimes I felt connected then other times I felt disconnected. This was pretty much how I felt with just about everyone though, which is actually disappointing because I really wanted to love the characters.

As for the writing, I think that was mostly the reason why I'm left still wanting. The characters' reactions weren't always believable or they felt out of place, which I think is really what kept me from liking them as much as I wanted to. I also felt like some key plot elements were revealed too easily or too soon.

Marina and Ethan's romance was light-hearted and cute. I enjoyed it and I really liked Ethan most of the time. My only issues with him were that sometimes, like the others, I felt like his reactions were out of place. As for Marina, she is one tough mama. I mean, you don't usually come across female leads in books set in the real world that are so tough. But I never really felt connected to her. I wanted to but, again, I just didn't.

Overall, the story concept is interesting and great but the delivery wasn't done as well as I wanted or had hoped it would be

“Water always comes back to Earth” Where can you fi

“Water always comes back to Earth”

Where can you find a book that has a mermaid genre? The only thing that enters my mind is Little Mermaid, which, many of us are very familiar with. That’s why when I was given a chance to read this story; I was up for it because it’s a change of the norm since I've never read too many mermaid stories.

After finishing everything, I must say that I have a love hate relationship with the story. I’m not so sure but I find some scenes good and some not so good. And I’ll give you bits of why.

Marina, the main protagonist of the story, is beautiful, a fashionista, independent (to a point that you would sometimes hate it) and holds a package of luck. Actually, she’s one of the main reasons why I have this love-hate relationship with the story. It’s because at times I can’t understand her. There are certain times in the story that she seems like she’s too perfect and at times her big flaws shows up. Her stubbornness, which I find endearing at other times, would most of the time irked me. On the other hand, I love how she’s very family and friend oriented that she would fight in any way she can just to save or defend her love ones.

Ethan, her love interest, is your typical handsome surfer dude. He’s good at surfing, smart, handsome, popular, and has a really well thought future. He knows what he wants to have and he knows how he can achieve it. And again he’s one of the almost perfect characters in the story.

And that’s my biggest problem in the book. It’s like some of Derrolyn’s character are too perfect. I mean where can we find an Aunt Evie, who’s wealthy and gives you every signature and known clothes she can buy with her money at a whim to make you pretty. It’s like your high-end fairy godmother that makes it unbelievable, although I really love Evie’s quirky personality. In addition, Marina’s dad winning the Nobel Prize is really a “woah moment” for me especially the way they reacted on it. It’s like it’s only a Nobel Piece Prize, no biggie.

On the other hand, the character I love the best is Cruz. For me, he’s the most realistic character in the story. I love how he would seem an anti-thesis of himself. Gothic and isolated guy who has a major love for fashion. A straight guy who’s good at making dresses and is really nice. Cruz makes you wish for him to be your best friend or cousin or boyfriend or wherever he fits.

So as I’ve said, I’m very into romance and this have a romance story in it. As I’ve said I’m alright with love at first sight but with the right situation. Ethan and Marina’s meeting for me is really cute. Especially, how Marina first saw Ethan and when they finally meet he literally fell for her. Well, he fell butt first in the rosemary hedge, which is really endearing. In addition, they have the attraction but it’s not instant, I love you or I’ll marry you situation. The author made the attraction sizzle up until it pops. Lastly, I like how the author put their relationship in the analogy that Marina is the water and Ethan is the Earth which was very fitting considering Marina is half-mermaid and Ethan loves plants and all that.

All in all, I would say this book is alright for me. I don’t hate it and I’m not raving too much about it but I would like to read the next just to see what happens since the end is a bit of a cliffhanger. Oh, and I’m sure some of you who wants to read a mermaid story for a change would love this because of it’s difference from other mermaid story and it incorporates a modern twist.

I give these 3.5 whales.

Modern Mermaid Fairy Tale

Between The Land and The Sea is a romance fantasy book about a girl who discovers her true identity after having to move back to live with her paternal aunt and cousin due to her father leaving for Afghanistan. The author develops the story and characters interestingly enough however I find Marina to be a little annoying and predictable. The book offers a modern fairy tale version of The Little Mermaid with a hint of Cinderella (having a Aunt Evie instead of a Fairy Godmother)and a mix of some asian folklore as well. This is my first YA Mermaid book and was pleased that it was a fun and easy read.

Little Mermaid with a twist

I don't read much stories about Mermaids but I like how Ms. Derrolyn Anderson put a very modern twist in a very old fairytale for me that felt a touch of the little mermaid in her novel series. To be honest I'm afraid of the ocean more likely I got pure high respect for it and of course sharks! The mere thought of it makes me scream! In the beginning of her storytelling made me more at ease upon thinking that somewhere out there in the vast wide blue ocean there's a mermaid that's always and will be looking out for us.

This story's about a girl named Marina I like her name though a bit cliché it goes well with the story, it's very now..this is also where Marina will learn how to adjust with her environment, going to a real school and I'm so thrilled for her entering High school yey! Though I'm a bit sad that she was left behind by her father its still concerns about her safety and just being a normal teenager experiencing life,boys,fashion,exploring almost everything, making new friends and so on. There are tear jerking parts which I love especially at the end makes me all aww..yet puzzling for her story's just beginning ^_^

Real Characters, Great Story

One of my favorite movies as a kid was Splash, so my interest in mermaids has always been around. I was a bit skeptical of a YA mermaid series but I am so glad that I ditched that thought pretty quickly. The author writes places and people very well, and at times I felt I could see the movie of both of Marina's stories playing in my head. Her characters are real and appropriate for their ages in the story, and she writes the struggles that they experience in high school in a way that isn't typical whiny teenager. I sped through this book and then went on to the second in the series right away.

Reviewed by Gabi at Book Sake.

I really enjoyed this book!

If you like to read YA then you need to give this book a try. When I first started reading the book it took me a little bit to get into it. I think I had a rough time because of the different style of writing but once I got into the grove of things, I couldn't seem to stop reading. The story is about Marina who goes to live with her aunt Abby while her father is away in Afghanistan for work. Shortly after her encounter with the mermaid Lorelei, Marina almost drowns by walking along the waters edge of the beach when a "sleeper" wave comes along and takes her out. Luckily for her though she was not only rescued by the mermaid, Lorelei but Ethan, the hot surfer guy, comes to her rescue as well. The whole story focuses on Marina and the mystery behind her heritage. I liked all of the characters of the book and felt that the author did a really amazing job with not only developing the characters but keeping them in the picture as well. Way too many times, an author introduces secondary characters and then seems to forget about them later in the story. However in this book even the small characters keep reappearing throughout the book. In this story you meet the mean girls at school, Marina's cousin Cruz and his friend Megan, Marina's "aunt" Evie, Lu who is Ethan's employer and Long his friend. And throughout the entire story these characters keep popping up. I of course liked Ethan. From the first impression you might think he would just be one of the mean popular surfer guys but he is nothing like the cliche surfer guy. I thought it was cute when he talked up Marina to her art teacher and then switched into her class so that he could have an excuse to be closer to her. He even takes her out on swimming lessons and teachers her to swim after she almost drowned in the ocean. There are a ton more reasons that I could list about Ethan like the way he cares for Marina and worries about her safety but I don't want to paddle on for too long.

A Great Start to a New Series!

Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson is an exciting and thrilling young adult mermaid story. Surprisingly, I haven't read that many books on these particular supernatural creatures, so I was looking forward to diving into the story.


Marina is a strong heroine who prides herself on being independent. Sometimes her closed-off nature gets her into trouble, because she doesn't want to burden others with her problems. Like all good characters, Marina isn't perfect. She has flaws, but tries to work through them. I certainly wouldn't say that she is over her independent streak by the end of Between the Land and the Sea, I expect it is something she will struggle with throughout the whole of the series.


This being a young adult romance book of sorts, Marina's relationship with Ethan takes up a lot of the book. However, it doesn't overwhelm the story. There are plenty of other plotlines that keep the romance from taking over things. Plus, their relationship develops at a reasonable pace. Marina doesn't throw herself at Ethan and Ethan earns her trust over a period of time. They also have ups and downs, which keeps things realistic. After all, these are teenagers - moods swings, hormones and all.


As far as the secondary characters go, there were some I loved and some that were just so-so. Abby, Marina's aunt felt very familiar to me, she reminded me of a lot of my friend's mother. She was a bit offbeat and incredibly kind. However, Marina's cousin and his best friend fell a bit flat for me. I felt like they were one-dimensional and they did not really make a big impression on me. I also felt like at times Cruz's (Marina's cousin) storyline pulled the focus off of Marina's. Cruz's storyline certainly had a different tone than Marina's and it disrupted the flow of the book.


Another element of the story that kind of threw me off was the sheer perfection of Marina's world. At times things were just too difficult to believe - and I don't mean her aquatic heritage. Marina was just too perfect - she's a brilliant, beautiful globetrotting teen who has a wildly successful father (he wins a Nobel peace prize) and an unbelievably rich "Aunt" who lives to dote on her with lavish gifts - I am talking about prada, Gucci and sports cars. Then, her cousin, Cruz, is supposedly this undeniably talented teen fashion designer (who Aunt Evie takes under her wing). I just think that Marina's real world is too far-fetched. These portions of her life are supposed to be rooted in reality and I just can't say that I bought it. The unrealistic aspects of her life certainly affected the overall feel of the story and I think that to a point, it hindered it.


That being said, I did enjoy the fantastic portion of Marina's life and things that directly pertained to it. I thought that her relationships with and reactions to the mermaids were incredibly intriguing. I don't want to give plot points away, but things get dark and dangerous and I thought Anderson did a great job with the pacing. That's why I had a hard time with the "realistic" portions of the book - they created a light, fluffy tone, when I much preferred the darker feel of the mythical side to the story.


Although I had a few issues with the book, I really did enjoy Between the Land and the Sea. Marina was an interesting character who is forced to deal with some very exciting and complicated challenges. Ethan was a decent love interest and I cannot wait to see their r

Amazing

This book is nearly 1000 pages but i couldn't stop, i read it in one sitting. The characters are creative and believable. The setting and plot are written so seemlessly it was like watxhing an oscar winning motion picture..... say there is an idea...

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.