**REVIEW** Sea Change byAimee Friedman

Sixteen-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science. . .and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship. . .and reality.Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

Release Date:  June 1, 2010

Published By:  Point

Review Copy: Paperback, 290 pages

*Purchased

Review

With a mysterious edge this was not the mermaid novel I had expected.  It was more about the mysterious unknown of it all and leaving what you believe to be logic and believing in the unbelievable.  Mermaids are made out to be myth but what if they weren't?  What if our logical brains just deny what they can not process?  Sea change tackles that and brings a bittersweet lining with it.  Though this wan't what I had expected I loved the touch of truth and mystery this one brought to the table.

  The setting is absolutely stunning and Friedman did an astounding job really bringing breath into Selkie Island.  There was a special and mysterious feel to the island from before you even got there.  Though you are never sure what is fact and what is fiction, this is all part of the allure.  Miranda is a practical girl that lives her life by the facts and all of the unknown that is on the island strikes her as nothing more than stories.  That is until she meets Leo.  Leo is a local boy and makes her question almost every logical though she has and Miranda wants to find out why.

  Miranda is a very self sufficient character.  She was not afraid to be who she was, despite the fact that the other people her age on the island were expecting the change.  She wasn't perfect though, she had faults that made her realistic.  Her embarrassment over her toes was a little over the top at times but who isn't uncomfortable with something on their body?  The curiosity that overtook her when she found a book on Selkie Island in her grandmothers study was contagious.  When she was trying to sort out everything with her logical mind I was trying to pull her towards the more mythical, causing me to be more involved than I realized.

  The romance was both too quick and well paced.  Confused?  Well upon her and Leo actually meeting up it was like she was sold.  The sparks were flying, her heart was racing and I was dreading it.  I am not opposed to insta love but I like it to have a background, a reason and this didn't have that.  Then however it was like Miranda snapped to and kind of backed off.  Though her feelings remained there and she thought of Leo while walking away, this gave a breather and slowed it down.  Plus Leo made my heart beat a little faster with his sweet ways and I'm not the character in the novel with him.  The chemistry was undeniable and so I was happy that things worked out. 

  Sea Change though not your typical Mer story had history to it and gave a feeling that it all could be real.  I liked that the idea is planted in your head that just because Friedman didn't come full out and say "Yes there are Merfolk here," doesn't mean the thought wasn't placed in your head.  I would like to see a sequel to this and maybe a bit of the mystery and myth lifted to become Leo and Miranda's truth.  

Quotes

I wanted to ask Mom what Delilah had meant - and also how the two of them had ever been close - but I felt dazed by the human hurricane that had just swept over us.

"If he seriously wanted me, he'd skip the stupid dinner, don't you think?"
"I have no idea," I replied honestly.  What did I know about male creatures?

This was intense, I realized as we kissed and kissed in the pouring rain.  This defined intense.  my kiss with T.J. seemed faded, insignificant.  Now I couldn't help but close my eyes as every thought in my head - every question - swam away.

The light from above cast bright patterns on each couple as they pressed close together. There was something sexy about fireworks: the anticipation, the explosion, the release.  My cheeks burned.

  It was easy to go a little mad out on the ocean, I thought, with no specific chart or guide other than the sky.  But madness could be lovely sometimes.