Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Release date: October 25, 2011
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 240
Format: Egalley
Source: Publisher provided from Netgalley
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository
Ebook available from: Barnes & Noble | Amazon

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her.


Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.

I have been dying to read a mermaid book! I did wish there was more time in the water, since Esmerine is a mermaid, but I didn't actually mind. I loved the rigid society of the mermaids and what being a siren meant, though. :) Altogether, the story was really cute and a lovely quick read.

The first thing that struck me, after the beautiful blue cover, was the character's names. I loved them all! the names were so interesting, but not strikingly odd. Esmerine and Dosinia are just the sort of names I would imagine for mermaids, and they really give off the right kind of vibe for the book.

Some people have commented that they felt distant from Esmerine, which I didn't find to be true. Though a first-person narrative might have worked better, I didn't feel like there was an obvious distance. I really didn't get Dosinia, though. I thought I had a bit of a grasp on her at the beginning, but at the end of the book, I didn't get what she did or said at all. There seemed to be little connection between how she acted when she was with humans and when she was with Esmerine.

I thought the romance was really nicely done, too. There was no love triangle, a welcome relief, but real obstacles. The relationship was developed and fulfilling and just the kind of thing I like to read every once in a while.

Between the Sea and Sky is truly a novel about a girl discovering who she is and learning to make decisions not for others, but for her own happiness. It has a nice message and is definitely an enjoyable read I will come back to when I want a pick me up.

Risk a paper cut? A good addition to the ever-growing mermaid trend, Between the Sea and Sky is a sweet tale of growing up.