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Aug 17, 2017m0mmyl00 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Simon is sort of hanging on to his heritage; living in his ancestral home that is swiftly crumbling into the sea, reluctantly in love with his childhood friend/next door neighbor, and directionless as far as the future goes -- an issue since he had to be laid off from his job in the library. He receives a mysterious old book in the mail one day, and is launched into an exploration of his family's history with traveling circuses. his mother was the last of a long line of "mermaids," performers who could hold their breath for a very, very long timed. The book appears to be a journal, one of the traditional records of traveling circuses from long ago. From it, he learns that on a particular day, every female in his family for generation have drowned, despite all being "mermaids" and thus excellent swimmers and breath-holders. Simon wants to keep this from happening to his sister, and the particular drowning day is just around the corner. There's a love story woven into this book, and a mystery, and a touch of supernatural tarot magic. I enjoyed it, but it just didn't bring anything special to the experience of reading it. It wasn't a "page-turner;" the prose didn't sing; I was interested in what would happen next and what would eventually happen, but only mildly. It was a bit too dark to be considered light reading, but it really only skirted the darkness. I enjoyed it but would not recommend it.