Review & Playlist: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

Title: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids
Author: Sarah Ockler
Published: June 2nd, 2015 by Simon Pulse
Read: May 7th to May 10th, 2015
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

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 ...

It’s the hardest ever to write a review for a book that has blown your mind in every way possible; climbed its way into the deepest parts of your heart and soul. How could I ever do justice to this inspiring story, its amazing, well-fleshed characters, a beautiful narration, magnificent setting and so, so much more?! The Summer of Chasing Mermaids was initially one of my most anticipated books of 2015, but it has easily become one of my favorite books ever!

“When one dream burns to ash, you don't crumble beneath it. You get on your hands and knees, and you sift through those ashes until you find the very last ember, the very last spark. Then you breathe. You breathe. You fucking breathe. And you make a new fire.” 
(—taken from the ARC, 96%)

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids tells a story of Elyse, a talented and promising singer, who has lost her voice forever thanks to an accident. At the beginning of the novel we obviously don’t know the full story, but it’s clear that the Elyse we know isn’t the Elyse everyone remembers. As she opens up to the readers, and the people around her, we see her slowly, step by step, get closer to coming to a realization that her life isn’t over because of this accident, it's simply the beginning of something new. The character growth and soul searching Elyse goes through is absolutely gorgeously written: it’s raw, emotional and endearing.

My favorite character by far was Elyse, but needless to say that I adored all the other characters a lot too, especially Christian, Kirby, Sebastian, Noah, Vanessa and Lemon. They’re all so well-written, relatable and it was really hard to part with them as the story came to an end. Dear Sarah and Simon Pulse, would you please give Kirby and her love interest a book with lots and lots of cameos from everyone? That would literally be the dream, thank you!

I don’t want to tell you guys the whole story, plus I feel myself starting to ramble real soon, so I’ll just leave you with a few notes on what you can expect when picking up this beauty:

• there are a lot of poc characters and you'll get to experience the culture of Trinidad and Tobago through various flashbacks
• so many wonderful friendships and great, inspiring sisterhood relationships
• THERE IS A GLORIOUS SHIP (and yes, there are many actual ships, but I'm talking about a metaphorical one) AND LOTS OF KISSING
• sex and female mastrubation topics aren’t shied away from—this is so. very. important!
• sexism and misogyny are touched upon and some of the values of the society are criticized in a beautiful manner
• you'll 99.73% cry a lot and this book will touch you with its gorgeous narrative, a beautiful and haunting story and a great set of characters

This book is hopeful, stunning and so very honest and raw. I loved every single second of it and I wish the story would go on and on forever, because it was truly, truly hard to part from these characters. With this magical novel, Sarah Ockler is now on my watch-list forever and I’m eagerly anticipating her next story! I can’t wait for my gorgeous physical copy of The Summer of Chasing Mermaids to arrive so that I can re-read it again and again, and I hope that you'll end up picking this up so that we can shout our love for this book in all caps, completely incoherent, because that's how this book will make you feel, I can promise you that (◡‿◡✿) 

Overall rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★★★

Also, while writing this review, I just couldn't stop tearing up and re-reading all the highlighted parts on my kindle (there are a lot btw), soooo guess what? I created my second ever fanmix yay! It's mostly inspired by Elyse, but there are a few shippy songs about Elyse and Christian as well :)

You can see the tracklist on my tumblr and listen to the playlist on my 8tracks account.

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An ARC was kindly provided by SimonPulse through Edelweiss in exchange for 
an honest review and in no way does this affect my thoughts on the book.