Book Review: The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan

Author: L.K. Madigan
Release Date: October 4, 2010
Pages: 320
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Recommended Ages: 12 and up
Where I Got It: NetGalley

Lena has lived her whole life near the beach - walking for miles up and down the shore and breathing the salty air, swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves - the problem is, she's spent her whole life just watching.As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena vows she will no longer watch from the sand: she will learn to surf.

But her father - a former surfer himself - refuses to allow her to take lessons. After a near drowning in his past, he can't bear to let Lena take up the risky sport.
Yet something lures Lena to the water ... an ancient, powerful magic. One morning Lena catches sight of this magic: a beautiful woman - with a silvery tail.
Nothing will keep Lena from seeking the mermaid, not even the dangerous waves at Magic Crescent Cove.
And soon ... what she sees in the mermaid's mirror will change her life ... Taken from Barnes and Noble.comIt was such a pleasure to read this book. I had never read anything by L.K. Madigan or anything about mermaids before so I wasn't really sure what to except when I picked this one up. Lena was a very typical teenager, life focused on herself, her boyfriend, and her friends. One day Lena spots what she thinks is a mermaid out in the ocean and after that she can't stop thinking about her. I really don't want to give anything away with this review so I will just say that the first half of the book is a story about a girl that wants to learn to surf and she really wants her father to teach her. His response is always "I can't" the reason he can't is very mysterious and Lena learns that her stepmother and her father are keeping a secret from her. Lena becomes desperate to figure out what the secret is. She finds a little help figuring it out from the ocean. The second half of the book is about a mermaid and her life under the ocean. I loved this half of the book. Madigan does a wonderful job describing the world under the water and the mer-people living there. She made me want to live there. The decisions that Lena must make at the end of the book were heartbreaking to me and I wouldn't have wanted to make choices like hers. All in all I was very happy that I picked up The Mermaid's Mirror. I would definitely recommend that you check it out. Happy Reading!