Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Neilson

Title: Forbidden Sea	Loved it	Graded
Author: Sheila A. Neilson
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Elements: Mermaids
Series: Stand alone?

When Adrianne comes face-to-face with the mermaid of Windwaithe Island, she is convinced that the mermaid means her harm. After all, the island is steeped in stories of mermaids' curses and the ill-luck that they bring.

But Adrianne is fierce-willed and courageous and is determined to protect her family and the islanders from danger.

Yet when the islanders find out about Adrianne's encounters with the mermaid, her family is scorned. They believe that once active, the mermaid cannot be quieted until an islander sacrifices herself to the sea.

But is the legend true? And will their fear make them force Adrienne to test it? This is a haunting story of love, surrender and strength.

This is the first mermaid book I've ever read. That's not to say that it focuses mainly on mermaids and life underwater. Nielson has written a finely crafted story about a girl who doesn't want to be a mermaid. And that has to be the best introduction to the mermaid genre for me.

The main character, Adrianne is a good role model* in all aspects. She comes from a humble background, and she works back breakingly to support her family, unappreciated, while nursing a crush on her long time friend Denn. It broke my heart seeing the lengths she went to, and it made me appreciate my life a lot more.

The mermaid factor lingers in the background the whole time. It was subtle, creeping into Adrianne's life as days passed. I would like to say that it made me worry about her fate, but I knew she was going to be okay because the whole story is in first person view. Sure, she could die, but this is a story about mermaids, not ghosts. Are there ghostly mermaids?

The climax isn't so much a climax, but a wild wave. And when it happened, I was relieved because it was finally there. The underwater supporting characters were alive in contrast to the mainland, human characters, with the exception of Cecily and Denn who have a great influnce on Adrianne. Somehow I just got the feeling that the other characters were not that important to the plot.

All in all, this is a wonderful story to read. I liked reading it because it made me feel like I was along on the ride. It's relaxing, it has characters that are self sufficient. The underwater descriptions are especially vivid. I would like to see more of the underwater universe.

*I don't usually focus on how good the main character is as role model, because you choose what to take away from the book. (and if it's bad morals, really, don't blame the book. Just because the character is reckless or doesn't give to society doesn't mean you have to follow. Grow a backbone.)