The Summer of Chasing Mermaids (Sarah Ockler)

The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak. Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one. Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life.  When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them . . .

A woman-of-color as a YA protagonist!

And-no white washing the cover!

A book about a black girl in a retelling of the Little Mermaid!

No shade, but I feel like white girls take for granted all the novels that have girls that look like them on them. Trying to find YA books that feature girls of color (without focusing on their color too) is sooo rare. So when I saw this book I was too excited. I couldn't wait for it and hoped I wouldn't be disappointed. And I was not!

This book takes the Little Mermaid (Disney and otherwise) and turns the tale on its head. Nothing is what you would expect it to be.




Ursula is a loving aunt here, Vanessa isn't trying to steal the Mermaid's man, she's all good on him! Sebastian isn't a crab but the prince's brother who is obsessed with mermaids. Like I said before, the tale of the Little Mermaid is twisted. One huge way is that it's the mermaid that is somewhat evil not Ursula. 

The book stays pretty close to the movie and legend. Elyse, the "mermaid" has six sisters she's close too, she loves singing and she's actually from Trinidad! But she fell off a boat and when her sister and her boyfriend pulled her up, she wasn't breathing. Trying to save her life, her sister cut a hole in her throat but in the process severely damaged her vocal cords and there was nothing surgery could do to get them back.
That's when she moves to Atargais Cove with her aunt Ursula and her cousin . The story weaves in and out of reality and fantasy. Ursula is a witch of sorts here, there is the mermaid Atargonis who is stalking Elyse. Other than that, the story is very grounded in reality.
Now the prince: a man-whore named Christian Kane who I liked but didn't love or hate. I wasn't entirely convinced of why he starts treating Elyse differently then other girls. One of my favorite, fresh features of this series was that even though our first glimpse of Vanessa is something along the lines of this:

She's not a rival for Christian's affections, not the mean-girl troupe you would expect her to be. Not only was she a behind the scenes champion for Christian and Elyse's relationship, she and Elyse are friends.
Christian gets roped into a racing contest for the fate of Atargatis Cove. His jackass of a father and the sexist (but not racist as the story makes a point to point out) mayor make a beat about this Pirate's sailing race the cove has every year. To keep this little seaside town quaint and not a tourist trap, Christian has to win. He'll even get his best friends (the mayor's sons) boat as a prize. Unwilling to go back home, Elyse finds the motivation to try and fight her fear of the sea and becomes his first mate.

This brings the two of them together, brings Sebastian who (unlike the blurb suggests) thinks Elyse is the legendary mermaid Atargatis but only brings it up twice, and wants to participate in the Cove's mermaid parade which is traditionally only for girls. But Elyse finds a way to sneak him in to his father and the mayor's anger/annoyance.

Next is the Pirate's Regatta.

Unfortunately, Elyse has a freak out during the race that causes them to be second place. And the bet was strategically made that even though the mayor's son lost to, the point was Christian lost. This is when the story officially meets its climax. After a night of sex on the boat, Elyse gives herself to the sea and fights for her voice realizing that losing your physical voice isn't the only way you can lose yourself or your voice. And the mermaid really isn't evil like we believed she was.

Anyways, this book stands out in so many ways past just diversity. 

There's sex, there's masturbation, there's a young boy who crosses social ideas of gender norms and a girl who embraces her sexuality without slut-shaming.

I also felt like Elyse's heritage was wonderfully explored. We hear about her culture, her family's economic and social status as well as her racial heritage. I really felt like the author properly explored and researched Elyse's Trinidad heritage and I really believed that this girl was a girl of color.

Anyways, can we pleassseee have more books with girls of color like this? Please, oh book gods, please??

Although one con: (aka the whitest line ever) "It's not a race thing."

Other than that: read this book!

Ask Again Later (Liz Czukas)

Despite what her name might suggest, Heart has zero interest in complicated romance. So when her brilliant plan to go to prom with a group of friends is disrupted by two surprise invites, Heart knows there's only one drama-free solution: flip a coin. Heads: The jock. He might spend all night staring at his ex or throw up in the limo, but how bad can her brother's best friend really be? Tails: The theater geek...with a secret. What could be better than a guy who shares all Heart's interests--even if he wants to share all his feelings? Heart's simple coin flip has somehow given her the chance to live out both dates. But where her prom night ends up might be the most surprising thing of all..

I swear, if people start falling over themselves over Schroeder like the people fan-girling over immortal stalkers like Edward Cullen, I'm going to scream!

This book literally only had a handful of guys I actually liked. And only one of them was a secondary character who was actually developed past his name and relationship to the protagonist. That was Ryan. Ryan is the first guy (actually the only guy) that asks Heart (I think this author won the award for wildest, most out there names for YA protagonists) to prom. He actually is gay and I think he's going it to cover up the truth. I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, he and Heart are actually cool, they bond over French and are both drama geeks. He was the only one who didn't walk around with typical sexist thoughts and ideas and kept calling Heart out on her gayist (? I don't know what to call this) remarks towards him during their night.

The other three guys who got frequent page-time were straight up jackasses.

First, you got Phil, the epitome of misogynistic guys. He's Heart's brother, a football player and typical to most YA stories: with parents who are never around (their dad is busy with his carpet business and their mom ditched them a long time ago). Anyway, Phil promises his recently dumped football buddy, Troy, that his sister will go with him to prom so he doesn't have to experience it alone. He doesn't even ask Heart and she has a problem because she tries to make as many people happy at once. However, she doesn't realize or care that it comes at the expense of herself.

In the life where Heart chooses to go to prom with Troy, her brother is a complete jackass. There's this point where a drunken Troy forces his lips on a unwilling Heart and her brother has the audacity to tell her she's "overreacting" and stop being such a baby when she tries to tell him that she didn't want it. Phil even goes on to say, "he probably thought you wanted it."

And that, my dear children, is what you call rape culture. And it only gets worse as the story goes on. Heart begs him to take her home and he refuses. Heart spends the rest of the prom with her friends until he manipulates her into being Troy's babysitter since he's drunk out of his mind and spending the rest of the night taking care of him.

Heart's original plan was to go to prom with her big group of friends, including her real love interest Schroeder. He calls her different parts of the human body and she also addresses him by a nickname. His real name is Chase but he reminds Heart of this kid:

Now I hated his character. He is a straight up jackass. And the reasons given to explain his screwed up behavior don't sit well with me. He has a problem with Heart choosing to deviate from the original plan of going to the prom with her friends because he doesn't have the balls to ask her out himself. Sure, Heart has this poorly developed idea that she won't date therefore she can't end up like her mother: getting pregnant and starting a family you aren't ready for and skip the town on.

However, he spends most of the book mad at her because she went to prom with other guys. When some condoms come out of her purse (that her aunt provided in her prom-goodie bag) and she and Ryan laugh about it, he looks at her with disappointment. I really hope that look was because he was jealous and not that he was putting her down for having sex with Ryan on prom night.

Either way, the exchange he and Heart have about her drinking in a car with Troy after he tried to tongue-her-down really sealed the deal about my feelings towards him:

"I can't believe you," he said.
I drew back with a pissy look. "Excuse me?"
"I just can't believe you'd be that stupid....It didn't occur to you that being incapacitated might be dangerous around Troy."

Oh yeah, dude, because if Troy had raped her, it would've been Heart's fault for getting into a car with him as well as getting intoxicated around him which invited the rape onto herself. It's her prom night too and if she wants to drink she should get to without having to worry about having to fight off attackers. How about telling him not to rape her, instead of blaming for putting herself at risks. He even tells her that she got lucky because Troy could've raped her, he just didn't.

Ugh, in the end, Ryan makes her realize that she has feelings for Schroedur but he's too busy being stupid that they can't work it out. So their friends lock them in a trunk to work out their problems. And they do, annoyingly enough. Heart realizes that her no-dating rule is a little strict and decides to give way to Schroedur. They start dating on the end of both sides of Heart's choices. We never learn which one she really chose but at the end Heart gets deja vu about things that she's experienced in both lives. But either way she ends up at the lake with her friends and Schroedur. 

Ugh, please do not waste the time I did reading this book.