Within the pages of Son Of A Mermaid series, you can feel Katie O'Sullivan's love for her Northeastern home on Cape Cod and her message to protect the beauty of the sea. Growing up on Long Island, I instantly pictured Sullivan's pristine white beaches that lead out to an endless surf, which reminded me of the coast on Fire Island, where I took numerous summer vacations with my family. In this post, I've reviewed the series and then you can read more about Sullivan's work, inspiration, and what's to come next for the characters.
Part I: Review
Book Type: Novel/ YA Series
Author: Katie O' Sullivan
Page count, first book: 319
Genres: Romance, drama, oceanic conservation, self-discovery, heritage, family
Summary(goodreads.com): Shea MacNamara's life just got complicated...When a freak tornado devastates his Oklahoma farm, fifteen-year-old Shea moves to Cape Cod to live with a grandmother he's never met. Struggling to make sense of his new surroundings, he meets a girl along the shore who changes his life forever.
Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders, where bloody war rages between opposing clans. A fragile peace accord hinges on marriage between the royal families, but treachery and magick lurk in every shadow.With Kae's help, Shea discovers his true heritage and finds that his destiny lies somewhere far below the ocean's surface.
My Review:
There aren't many merman YA books out there, and I was happy to discover another series out there that revolved around these elusive creatures. As previously mentioned, Sullivan's love for her home and surrounding ocean really made me dive into the pages of this series.
The beginning of the series starts off right away with action. Shea's home in Oklahoma is destroyed by a tornado, and his father is presumed dead after the accident, prompting him to move to an oceanic town with his grandmother. Right after this sequence, the reader gets a feel of what life is like under the ocean. We are introduced to a blood thirsty battle for power and a throne. I enjoyed that these merfolk are darker and hungry for power. The struggle between clans adds a realistic human touch.
Sullivan also highlights issues such as marine pollution throughout the series. For example, when Shea moves to Cape Cod, he spends his mornings wandering the beach and collecting garbage, and Sullivan is very specific about what Shea finds; 3 aluminum cans, 5 Styrofoam coffee cups, 2 plastic coffee cup lids, 3 popped blue balloons on yellow string, and much more. This is a sad yet realistic touch. I remember walking the beautiful sandy beaches of Long Island and finding the beach in disarray such as this, especially after a storm.
As Shea is collecting trash, a curious young mermaid named Kae introduces herself and flirts with him too! At the beginning of this series, their romance is very sweet, innocent, and shy, but as royal events unfold and both teens are trapped in danger, their relationship is tested. What I loved about this is that it showed how their relationship evolved, just like the characters. There is a clear progression of maturity throughout each book, which most authors don't accomplish. There is also an antagonist (villain) in the book who later has an inner conflict about who he is. Zan is the dark bad boy with supreme magical abilities. I must admit, he's my favorite :)
But what is a mermaid review without talking about the mermaids? Not only is Kae a gorgeous mermaid of Shea's dreams, but he is described as a handsome merman as well. He has a green tail with gold hints, defined muscles, and sandy blond hair. Without giving too much away as to why he has this ability, he can communicate with other underwater creatures! I wish I could do that! There is also a hierarchy and complex social/economic system for each clan, making the mer-world developed, intriguing, and realistic.
Lastly, Sullivan has fantastic setting and world building imagery. She takes us to various underwater settings throughout the series, from Cape Cod to the Mediterranean and even Atlantis, the capital of merfolk. Everything was pictured clearly and I felt as if I was swimming with Shea. For the next book, I would like to see more of Shea's mother, Bryn. After all, the series is named Son of A Mermaid :)
I give this series (*****) 5 stars.
Part II: Interview With The Author
In this interview, I asked Katie about her writing career, inspiration, her characters, and advice for future mer-writers out there!
Author Biography:
Katie O’Sullivan is an award-winning writer, whose ten novels include My Kind of Crazy, Ghosts Don’t Lie, Crazy About You, and the Son of a Mermaid series for teen readers: Descent, Defiance, Deception, and the yet to be released Destiny. A recovering English major, she earned her degree at Colgate University and now lives on Cape Cod with her family and big dogs, drinking way too much coffee and inventing new excuses not to dust.
She writes YA and romantic suspense novels, as well as working as an editor, magazine columnist and technical writer. Which explains all the coffee.
Social Media Links:
How long have you been writing?
I’ve always wanted to be an author, and worked in various writing careers both during and since college – you know, journalism, advertising, public relations, technical writing… but I didn’t get serious about finishing my first novel until about ten years ago. If I had it to do over again, I would’ve started sooner, but as it was I had kids first and then found time to focus on writing. My first novel was a paranormal romance, followed by more romance and then my YA mermaid series.
What is your favorite genre to write?
That’s hard, because I love writing both YA and romance – if I had to choose only one, I think it would be YA because I still remember the power that books held for me when I was younger. I love to hear from young readers when they enjoy my stories and characters
Do you draw inspiration from any authors?
I think it’s really important for authors to read a lot, and read widely both in and outside of their chosen genres. I also think it’s important to read both indie authors and “establishment” authors, because it’s good to know what’s going on in the industry. I try not to let other authors color my world building, per se, but it’s important to see how others handle situations and characters, to see what works and what doesn’t. (Sirenita's note: As an author myself, I agree with this!)
One of my current favorite authors is Penny Reid, who writes indie contemporary romance with quirky characters. In YA, I adore classic authors like Scott Westerfeld, Carl Hiasson, Suzanne Collins, as well as Eion Colfer and Rick Reardon.
I’d like to think that my world building is more along those classic lines, but there are also plenty of indie YA authors I enjoy – in fact I just finished reading A Thousand Faces by Janci Patterson which totally blew me away.
Interview Questions:
1) Thank you for stopping by for an interview, Katie! When did you first discover your love of writing?
Hi, Sirenita! Thanks for inviting me to your blog. I discovered my love of writing in second grade, and actually wrote my first “book” during the summer between 3rd and 4th grades. My aunt worked at a print shop at the time, and printed up 50 copies, including illustrations she added herself, which I gave away to friends and family. I had my first book signing on the playground at school, lol. And then waited a few decades before venturing into the publishing world for real.
Publishing is a tough business, and I was thrilled when I was offered my first contract from a small publisher. I probably should’ve done more research along the way, because my first three publishers ended up going out of business and owing royalties to their authors (including me.) My current romance publisher is The Wild Rose Press, who are well established and very reputable. My current YA publisher is Wicked Whale Publishing, which is a smaller small-press based here on Cape Cod, with a small but growing stable of authors and books.
2) The first element that I loved about your Son of a Mermaid series is the beautiful imagery of not only the ocean, but of Cape Cod. Where does this inspiration come from?
I actually live year-round on Cape Cod, and walk along the shore almost every single day in all kinds of weather.
My husband grew up in Massachusetts, and his family had a summer house here. I grew up in New Jersey, and my family summered on the Jersey Shore, but our childhood memories were a lot alike, and we knew we wanted to have those same kind of summer beach days to our own kids. Soon after we got married, we started looking for a summer cottage of our own… and then after a while we moved here permanently.
3) As a young adult writer myself, I appreciate the multitude of themes in your series. What do you feel is the most important theme when writing YA literature?
Not to sound like a mom, but I think it’s important to have empowering messages in YA books. The teen characters in the stories – whether human or paranormal – are making decisions just like the readers do in their everyday lives, and decisions should have consequences.
It’s important for teens to know they have power over their own lives – that they shouldn’t cave to bullies or peer pressure, or blindly follow what their parents want for them. I quoted Emerson on the dedication page to Deception: “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
4) The mermaids in your novel are beautiful! When I was reading Kae’s description, I couldn’t help but think of Ondina from Mako Mermaids. What books, movies, or TV shows inspired the mermaids in your series?
When she was younger, my daughter and I spent a summer watching Aquamarine over and over again, as well as catching episodes of the television series H2O. I liked the idea of mermaids being able to shift their tails to legs on their own, without a sea witch like Ursula controlling the process. The actual character of Kae is based more on my best friend from high school than on a specific actress. I base most of my characters on actual people rather than images or actors, because that makes them seem more real to me.
5) What about Shea? With his blonde hair and defined muscles, I pictured him as a young Jesse McCartney! Who was the inspiration behind this character?
Again, I base my characters on actual people – in the case of Shea, I based him on my oldest son who was around that age when I started writing the series. He’s now 22 and just graduated from the Air Force Academy (and really has all those well-defined muscles.) If I had to choose an actor, I’d say maybe a teenaged Chris Pine… or Jesse McCartney would be good too!
6) At this point in the series, the characters are still not only discovering themselves, but navigating the treacherous understanding of teenage love. Without giving too much away, what can we expect for the next book in the series regarding romance?
I’ve gotten a little pushback over the years from adult readers about my portrayal of teen love, and for creating the love triangle in the second book, which is apparently all too stereotypical. But again, watching my own kids navigate their ways through teen love and angst, I think a lot of it is realistic. The self-doubts, the misinterpretations of actions, the complications of close friends and mixed signals… heck, I can remember lots of that from my own high school years too.
As far as how my characters will work out their romantic entanglements… you’ll have to wait and see.
7) Will Zan continue to evolve or has he chosen a dark path?
Zan’s entire life has been so dark that it’s hard for him to see another way. He knows that most of what he used to believe were lies, but he doesn’t feel like he deserves anything good because of all the bad in his past.
8) Do you have any other books similar to this one that readers might enjoy?
No, this is my only YA series so far.
I think when I finish with Destiny, there are a few prequel ideas I want to explore, but there’s also another paranormal idea I’d like to explore. We’ll see what happens next!
9) What advice would you give to young authors or writers who want to write about mermaids?
My advice to other writers is to read widely and write often. If writing is your dream, never give up. Keep learning, keep writing, and don’t let the critics discourage you.
10) Share any last thoughts or words with the readers! :)
I’d like to thank your readers for being interested in my books, and remind them that when they read a book they enjoy, the best thing they can do is post a review. It helps other readers find new authors, and helps the authors remember why they write in the first place.
Writing reviews doesn’t have to be like writing a book report – think of it more like talking to your best friend and telling them you found a great new story. What did you like about it and why should other people read it? If you can answer those questions, you can write a review.
Sirenita, thanks for inviting me! It’s been fun.
Click here to purchase the first book in Katie's series.