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    The Mermaid's Sister
    The Mermaid's Sister
    The Mermaid's Sister
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Mermaid's Sister

    Written by Carrie Anne Noble

    Narrated by Kate Rudd

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Winner for Young Adult Fiction

    Realm Award Winner for Best Speculative Fiction of the Year

    There is no cure for being who you really are...

    In a cottage high atop Llanfair Mountain, sixteen-year-old Clara lives with her sister, Maren, and guardian Auntie. By day, they gather herbs for Auntie’s healing potions; by night, Auntie spins tales of faraway lands and wicked fairies. Clara’s favorite story tells of three orphaned infants—Clara, who was brought to Auntie by a stork; Maren, who arrived in a seashell; and their best friend, O’Neill, who was found beneath an apple tree.

    One day, Clara discovers iridescent scales just beneath her sister’s skin: Maren is becoming a mermaid and must be taken to the sea or she will die. So Clara, O’Neill, and the mermaid-girl set out for the shore. But the trio encounters trouble around every bend. Ensnared by an evil troupe of traveling performers, Clara and O’Neill must find a way to save themselves and the ever-weakening Maren.

    And always in the back of her mind, Clara wonders, if my sister is a mermaid, then what am I?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 1, 2015
    ISBN9781501210280
    The Mermaid's Sister
    Author

    Carrie Anne Noble

    Carrie Anne Noble is the author of the highly acclaimed novel The Mermaid’s Sister, which won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Young Adult Fiction in 2014. She is also the recipient of the 2016 Realm Award for Speculative Novel of the Year. A member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Carrie Anne enjoys hosting spectacular tea parties, watching British TV, and spending time with family and friends.

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    Reviews for The Mermaid's Sister

    3.5/5

    156 ratings13 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Dissappointingly Mediocre!
      The story's premise had such potential as a modern fairytale, but took every opportunity to fall short and be as predictable as possible. I found myself skipping ahead in the last 2 chapters to see if there was anything worth sticking around for.
      Sadly, there was not.
    • 2/5
      I started this one as an Audible audiobook, and I have no complaints with the narration. However, about halfway through I found myself wanting to know how the books ends without wanting to have to finish listening to it. (I don't know why; as I said, I have no complaints with the narrator.) So I have now picked the book up in paper form from the library, and I'll finish reading it that way.

      Update: I just can't get back into this book. I still don't know why. Going to mark this one as a DNF.
    • 3/5
      Clara has been raised by her Auntie, who is part faerie; her adopted sister Meran is a mermaid and just beginning her transformation. Clara does not wish to lose her sister and fears what transformation awaits herself. O'Neill, whom they consider their brother, travels most of the year with a close family friend and peddler. They await his return to take Meran to the sea. The plot has potential and the magic was fun, but the whole teen-love angst thing was too ever-present. On the positive side, Clara is a bright, resourceful young woman and does not need to be rescued. It would probably be a perfect YA book.
    • 3/5

      The author presents us with a pinch of German fairy tale style and a dash of young lady's manners and proper behavior of the 19th century. Clara is the opposite of Maren. One is introvert and lacks the courage the other is spontaneous and adventurer.

      Clara accepts the hard task to return her beloved sister to the ocean, now that she's turning into a mermaid. First she has a hard time to accept that she must let her sister go. There are characters in the book that might change this fate if they wanted to, but that's not the point.
      This is Clara's journey and coming of age task.
      No one can do this but her, because this is her journey to discover who she is, to accept it, to find love and to become who she's meant to be, contrary to her sister Maren who already knows exactly who she is and where she belongs.
      The end:
      The book had a great start. It was light and I enjoyed reading it.
      I'm very critical with endings. It started to crumble when the "King" falls ill. I felt the ending needed more work. Somehow the way the author managed the end of the evil characters was a bit silly, even forced in some parts. It was a bit disappointing that it was too predictable, but I wouldn't say it was a waste of time.
      The mission was accomplished and her wishes come true.
    • 2/5
      I was expecting a thrilling adventure. I got a sappy love story.
    • 5/5
      After starting I realized I'd already read but I listened up the audio again. it was just as good and enjoyable the second time as the 1st. a greatt read!
    • 3/5
      This was OK. I thought it was well written but I found the story itself a bit dull.
    • 3/5
      The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble is a fairy tale about two girls who have been raised on a mountain top by a kindly wise woman. They live with her and their pet wyvern, Osbert. One girl, Maren, is starting to revert to her true self, a mermaid. Her sister, Clara, doesn’t want this to happen as she knows that Maren will not be able to stay on the mountain with her. Eventually she comes to realize that Maren belongs in the ocean so she and the fellow she loves, but who she thinks loves Maren, embark on a journey to take Maren to the ocean. This journey was meant to be full of danger, magic, and adventure as they strive to get Maren to the ocean before she shrivels up and dies but unfortunately it fell rather flat. I wanted to love this book, but the writing was a little stilted and the story didn’t flow as smoothly as I would have liked.The Mermaid’s Sister was a fairy story that lacked the whimsy that it so badly needed. Not horrible but a rather ho-hum read.
    • 4/5
      A charming fairty-tale influenced fantasy of a girl becoming a mermaid, and her sister's efforts to get her to the ocean before she dies. The audiobook was read by Kate Rudd, who did a wonderful job. A more fantastical novel in the vein of Sarah Addison Allen or Alice Hoffman.
    • 2/5
      I love mermaids.

      This book started off with a charming and intriguing premise: Two sixteen-year-old girls have been raised as sisters by their adopted Auntie, a loving and wise witch who's taught them herbcraft and more. But now, on the cusp of adulthood, one of them, Maren, is showing her birth nature: she is transforming into a mermaid.

      Our POV character, her sister Clara, is emotionally torn by this irrevocable change - she doesn't want to lose her beloved sister. However, she recognizes the fact that Maren sees her change as something right and necessary - even desirable. She reconciles herself to the fact that Maren will have to go to the sea.

      There's a LOT of potential here for a beautiful story, rich in symbolism about love, loss, sisterhood, and the inevitable changes that come with maturity.

      Unfortunately, that's not what the author wrote.

      I had three kinds of problems with this book.

      First, what I'd call technical problems. The great tension of the plot is getting Maren to the sea. This would have been no kind of problem at all if the characters had just planned in advance. If they hadn't waited till the last minute, there would've been no issues at all.
      And, a big failing of the book is that as the plot goes on and Maren is more affected by the change, she ceases to be a real character. It would've been fine - and effective - if she became more alien, more inhuman, but that's not what the plot does. Instead, it treats her as an object to be carted around.

      The second category of problems: The awful, awful love triangle. This is crying out to be a story of sisterly love. Instead, the author switches the focus to a love triangle involving the two sisters and their adoptive 'almost-brother.' I am sorry, but to have a teenager deciding that the boy she has grown up with as a brother is her love interest is NOT appealing to me. Introducing jealousy between the two sisters - over the sexual love of their brother - weakens the story significantly. It may certainly be possible to introduce romance in this sort of situation, if written masterfully - but this book does not pull it off. It feels icky.

      The third category of problems: The religious aspects. At the end of this book the author thanks her Christian writers' group, and God. Now, it is certainly possible (it's been done frequently) to write a book espousing Christian values and to have it be an excellent book, one with a powerful discussion of ethics and a strong moral compass.
      However, that is not what comes through in this book. The "Christian" (in quotation marks, because I do NOT think these things are what Christianity is actually about) aspects of this book come through first, in the main character's bizarre and inappropriate obsession with "modesty" - I mean, at moments where it is literally the Very Last Thing that she should be worrying about, because so many WORSE things are going on. Similarly, she picks extremely inopportune moments to worry about violence. And finally, there's the marriage thing. First, there's a big reveal that Auntie and her long-time sweetheart Ezra were secretly married years ago. It's just weird, because #1. there's NO logical reason given that it ever would've been kept secret, and #2. it makes the brother-loving just one step more squicky. Second, the minute that our two SEVENTEEN-year-old characters declare their love for each other, they go and get married. Because, I guess, that's what you have to do. But wait, if Auntie and Ezra are married, the marriage of their children is actually not just uncomfortable-seeming but illegal... That's not mentioned at all...

      Overall, the story just didn't live up to my initial expectations.

      Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinion is my own.
    • 3/5
      Interesting fairy tale
    • 4/5
      Clara's adopted family is unusual: her Auntie is part faerie, her brother was found under an apple tree, her sister is turning into a mermaid and they keep a pet wyvern. Can she save her sister from her transformation? What transformation awaits Clara herself? This is absolutely charming. Told with a deft touch that recalls the best faerie tales, it is a lyrical coming of age / adventure / romance for any age.
    • 4/5
      This fantasy tells the story of a young girl (Clara) who has a sister (Maren) who is a mermaid and must be taken to the sea before she dies. Along the way they run into various roadblocks that keep Maren's life in peril as she gets increasingly weaker as they go. The book would appeal to junior high aged girls who would embrace the characters wholeheartedly. It has a very nice and satisfying ending and Ms. Noble has a great future writing for young adults.