Wrecked

March 15, 2012
A girl runs afoul of the wicked sea witch but finds love with one of her minions in this new take on the mermaid theme. Miranda lives with her wealthy grandmother on a small island off South Carolina. After a beach party, she pilots her boat on a joyride, but a freak storm wrecks the craft, killing four of her friends and putting her boyfriend into a coma. A mysterious boy swims her to safety. Unaccountably, her schoolmates and the adults at her private school all blame her for the accident, despite proof that she wasn't drinking. Miranda takes refuge on a deserted beach where she meets a boy who suddenly appears there. Christian isn't actually a merman but a "betwixtman," living either down below or up above. He is, however, a creature of the sea and, of course, impossibly handsome. The Sea Witch has commanded him to collect Miranda's soul, but, naturally, he falls in love with the girl and plots to kill the witch instead. Meanwhile the witch appears on land with her own plot to collect Miranda's soul. Although the concept here seems an original-enough twist on mermaid stories, the execution doesn't stand above the average, and the resolution seems far too easy. For paranormal-romance addicts only. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

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July 1, 2012

Gr 8 Up-High school senior and soccer star Miranda O'Rouke has it all: a large home on a beautiful island, good friends, a devoted boyfriend, and a bright future. But all that changes after a beach party where four of Miranda's friends die in a boating accident and she was the driver. In the aftermath, Miranda must endure self-blame and her community's scorn. She finds solace with Christian, the merman who saved her life that night. However, she doesn't know what he is or that he was sent to claim her soul for Sephie, the "benevolent dictator" of "Down Below." With gaping plot inconsistencies, Wrecked has potential but never delivers. Some readers may relate to the protagonist's survivor guilt, and Christian's perspective every few chapters is a nice addition. However, Miranda comes across as whiny, and her romance with Christian becomes "love" after just a few days. Readers will feel for her-the accident was not her fault-and the way the entire community shuns her is disproportionally cruel and unrealistic. Errors in plot and syntax are confusing and, at times, humorous (e.g., in one scene, Miranda's clothes change mid-conversation-one minute she's in her underwear, but a paragraph later she's wearing a Speedo). For recent books featuring mermen, Anne Greenwood Brown's Lies Beneath (Delacorte, 2012) and Zoraida Cordova's The Vicious Deep (Sourcebooks, 2012) are better choices.-Leigh Collazo, Ed Willkie Middle School, Fort Worth, TX

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