When We Believed in Mermaids: A Novel

Always be yourself, unless you can be a mermaid. Then always be a mermaid. This novel is so special. It's shows how complicated it is to be a human being sometimes, with all the emotions and frailties. But it also shows how wonderfully exhilarating it is, too This story captures it all.

When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal is an emotional and immersive novel that explores the complexities of family relationships, long-buried secrets, and personal healing. From the very first page, I was drawn in by O’Neal’s lyrical writing and the depth of the characters.The story follows two sisters whose lives have taken very different paths, and the mystery of a long-lost sibling brings them together in unexpected ways. O’Neal does an excellent job of balancing the past and present, slowly unraveling the secrets that have shaped the characters’ lives. The way the author handles the themes of grief, forgiveness, and reconnection makes the novel resonate on an emotional level.One of the highlights of this book is its vivid settings—whether in the sun-soaked beaches of New Zealand or the flashbacks to California, O’Neal’s descriptions are lush and transportive, adding to the overall atmosphere of the story. The plot moves at a steady pace, allowing the characters’ development to take center stage, which made their journeys feel authentic and relatable.For readers who enjoy stories about family dynamics, emotional growth, and a touch of mystery, When We Believed in Mermaids is a wonderful choice. It’s a poignant, heartwarming novel that leaves a lasting impression.

I kept seeing this book advertised on Amazon but found myself hesitating to order it. Then I started reading another book by Barbara O’Neal and was hooked by her beautiful writing. I finished that book and immediately ordered When We Believed in Mermaids and I am so glad I did. It is a poetic read with real characters and lots of emotions - some loving, some heartbreaking. It’s a book I will read again and I recommend reading it and sharing the story of these people and this place.

I wasn't expecting this book to be quite as dark as it became, although I'm really not sure why. An emotionally stable person doesn't fake their own death after all.The early glimpses we got of the sister's childhood, seemingly idyllic camps on the beach below their home, surfing and the presence of a beloved older sibling of course were not as they appeared on the surface and as the story develops we learn of neglect and abuse and suicide.As Kit travels to Auckland, chasing a glimpse of her sister's familiar face spotted on a TV newscast, we also meet Mari, living an idyllic suburban family life in NZ. Mari was Josie, Kit's sister once, long ago.I found the ease with which Kit tracked Josie down, once she had a city to work in, just a bit unbelievable. 1.5 million people live in Auckland, and asking around at surfing supply shops was not really feasible because surfing is big in the city. There are a lot of surfers in Auckland.As a New Zealander who grew up in Auckland I was very impressed with the lyrical description of the place. It made me a little homesick. I found the placing of the wonderful Sapphire House difficult. It's said to be in Mt Eden, and the views to the Waitakere ranges support that, but then it's on a cliff top above the sea and Mt Eden is not.But that's a minor quibble from a native.We learn that Mari's name is pronounced Mary, and as a Kiwi I just can't see it that way, especially in a NZ setting, the Maori pronunciation is automatic, and with the long A it should be Maarie. Again, a minor quibble from a local.There's two major subplots, one handled better than the other. One is a historical murder mystery related to the old house that Mari's husband has bought for her. I initially thought there would be parallels between that and the sister's story, but there wasn't and it didn't really go anywhere before being quickly wrapped up at the end.The other was Kit's romance with the unbelievably perfect flamenco singer Javier. It was a typical romance plotline and added a lot to showing how broken Kit was and I loved it, but it seemed a little unbelievable. Mari's husband Simon also seemed too good to be true.Of course, the whole book was leading to the reunion and it was as good and as bad as it could be. The fall out had the potential to be horrendous and I couldn't put the book down, reading late into the night to find out what happened, and thoroughly invested in the characters.The finale had me in tears with a solid emotional kick and a great HFN.This was my first book by this author, a great read and I'll be looking for more of her work.

That was a wonderful book. It took a bit to get started but once I was halfway through the book, I couldn’t put it down.

A great book you can’t put down!With so much feeling ❤️ A great book to read cuddled up, and a fire in the fireplace

Verdict: Interesting enough to finish it. Mildly recommend as long as you don’t mind a little bit of sappiness and drifting around in a story that should do better to keep to it’s central theme.What’s it about? Kit, an ER doctor in California, sees her sister Josie on the TV news from Auckland, New Zealand, where a club has caught fire. So? Her sister has been dead for fifteen years! (Great set-up to hook the reader.) Kit, emotionally torn from the sense of grief, loss, and anger, decides she must go to New Zealand and find/confront her sister. After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins to live out her past (through flashbacks): days on the beach with her sister, surfing, a lost teenage boy unofficially adopted by the family, a father and mother with such a turbulent marriage that they ignore their children, and a “trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.” You also get to experience the same backstory from Josie as she lives a new life as Mari, fifteen years after she was supposedly killed in a terrorist bombing in Europe. Plenty to work with there.The story: The obvious expected question of the tale is not whether Kit will find Josie but what happens when she does. We are all traveling the path to get to this climatic moment in the story, but the path to get there is kind of like driving down Lombard Street in San Francisco-lots of curves to get from one point to another.The story is written in first person and in the present tense, e..g., “I eat my sandwich at the table…” vs. “I ate my sandwich at the table….” Each chapter rotates between Kit and Josie (whose name is now Mari in New Zealand) as the story weaves together their tumultuous past and fairly benign present. At first, it’s a bit easy to get confused, yet after a few switches and flashbacks, it flows well. The author likely chose the present tense due to the numerous flashbacks in the book (where she moves into past tense to subtly help the reader). It is also written with much flowery prose with a huge dose of adverb-induced descriptions of foods, atmosphere, ocean, weather, shops, Javier’s this and that…more on him soon. That will either play into the reader’s immersion or push away others…kind of a personal choice, i.e., either lovely, romantic, beautiful…or sappy maybe even cheesy at times, depending on your taste. Most of the time I enjoyed the style.What’s good about the book? The flashbacks are better than the present-day story, IMO. The descriptions of their childhood including the interaction with their parents, their unique attraction/love of their adopted older brother, and some of the tragic and traumatic incidents they faced were all well done–more interesting than the present-day story to find Josie/Marie. In the flashbacks, the sisters come alive with realistic emotions and react as you might expect. For instance, it’s easy to believe Kit (in her present state) to be a loner who either works or surfs (alone). The backstory reveals abandonment and a form of abuse by her parents that support this. Josie’s abandonment by her parents pushes her toward a much different path, one of drug addiction and sexual promiscuity. Her current world is much more mainstream-maybe overcompensation for her past.Without spoiling too much, the story shows how two sisters can overcome the difficulties of a dysfunctional family and environment…and survive or even grow later in their lives. In the end, it does include a healthy dose of forgiveness and redemption, leaving us with the satisfying ending most readers desire.What was not so good? The story idea starts off with a bang. Once Kit gets to New Zealand, rather than marching forward to find her sister, she gets caught in a love affair with Javier, a rather cardboard character who says little but touches Kit in variously well-described ways. The relationship seems a sideshow (one of those curves on Lombard Street) to the overall novel and gets in the way in the first third of the book. Maybe it’s someone for Kit to interact with during the scenes where she would have been alone. Javier is a singer/guitarist star of some sort who only seems to have to perform if he wants to and is hanging around New Zealand for no apparent purpose other than to show up in scenes in this book.Another distraction is an old house on an overlook that Mari’s husband (another uninteresting character) buys for her as a surprise. The house carries a secret related to a death/murder that happened long ago, one we are told about later in the story. There is also a great deal of time spent describing this house. The whole set-up has nothing to do with the main story. If it were left out, the main story would carry on without impact.Where the backstory is good, the sisters and their life and decisions in the present is a little harder to buy. Kit, a loner and someone who trusts almost no one, suddenly decides to let a stranger (Javier) into her life as soon as she arrives in New Zealand. She should be out looking for her sister, who she hasn’t seen in 15 years. Maybe the author was showing some hesitancy to face her sister, but I didn’t read it that way. Either way, IMO, she should have really struggled to let her guard down, given her past and present life. Josie (Mari in the present), who has had a troubled past, lives a perfect life with a perfect family. Above I related that to overcompensating. Still…it’s really stretches the ends of the spectrum.What was bad? Nothing.Bottom line: The story was a quick read, had some notable weaknesses, but it was entertaining enough and immersed you in another place. You DO want to know what happens when the sisters finally meet. And the ending works.

This story is so well written and beautiful in its telling . I highly recommend reading it. I believe I will have to read more Barbara O’Neal asap.

What an absolute gem this book is! It waited in my TBR lists until today, when I devoured it in one sitting.Barbara O'Neal has boldly set most of this story in Auckland, New Zealand, and I'm not sure if she's ever been here, but she did pretty well with local facts.This story gets pretty emotional as truths are revealed and hearts get involved.The opening lines of this compelling story just grab you and you have to read on.Kit and her widowed mother are the only two left of what was once a family. They have faced so many losses. Now, Kit spends gruelling hours in her ER job in Santa Cruz, or she's surfing the local waves.But looking up at a TV monitor during a news broadcast, she sees a face that she thought never to see again. Because it's the unmistakable face of her sister Josie who died in a train explosion fifteen years earlier.Her mother is also convinced it's Josie and urges her to go to New Zealand and see if she can find her.What happens after Kit arrives in Auckland, takes up most of the story.Many secrets and lies are about to be revealed.How could her beloved but troubled sister, let her family think she was dead?What will happen when those in Josie's new life discover her lies?And what happens to Kit's icy heart, when she meets an extraordinary man who just might be her match?

Loved it! We'll written characters, good pace and unexpected twists.

I read this book in a day! I just couldn't put it down, I wanted to know more and more about the characters and was hoping all the time for the story to come good in the end. The way the places are described the ocean the smells of weather of food, I found myself totally absorbed in this incredible story. This book would make a fantastic holiday read, as it drags you in very quickly.

Love Barbara’s books, couldn’t put this down, she knows how to create good characters you believe in, the stories are different each time. Her descriptions of places bring them to life.

Had trouble putting it down. A very well written story that really pulls you in and doesn’t let go!! The title intrigued me, I am so glad it did.Thank you Barbara & Kindle for an amazing few hours of enjoyable reading. Much appreciated ❤️