Drowning in new books!

For some reason, a full five of our new books this time around are water-related in some way or other. I don't know why this is, unless it means that, subconsciously, I really want to go swimming.

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman...


Miranda Merchant leaves New York behind for the summer, taking a ferry to Selkie Island, a place of legend. She feels a connection to the island, its history, and to a local boy named Leo. Things head toward romance, and then it all gets paranormal. As per usual.

The Shape of Water by Anne Spollen...


Magda's mother is gone, and now she's consumed by anxiety and loneliness. Her mother always told her the world was filled with secrets the two of them shared, but instead of the strange and the beautiful, now Magda fears, madness. A school of fish begins to haunt her and her only escape is through fires she sets in the marshes near her home. Magda must unravel family secrets to find a stable place in the world.

A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler...


For this one, I'm just giving you the publisher's back cover rant, because it's better than what I could write--it's really good:

Mom knew that the mermaids--hand-carved from driftwood by the owner of a souvenir shop--were all I wanted to take home from Florida. As she bought them, she looked down at me, her eyes not just glittering but snapping with fire like two Forth of July sparklers. She ran her finger down the length of my nose, almost like you'd stroke a favorite pet, and said to the salesman, "We're just alike, me and Aura." And you know, back then, the idea of that didn't scare the absolute hell out of me.

I'll clarify: Aura's schizophrenic mother causes her to shun her creative talent, but as her mother's condition worsens, she embraces her artistic ability, her family, and finally escapes her fears.

The Keening by A. LaFaye...


In 1918, Lyza's greatest regret is that her only artistic talent is carving letters into wood, until her mother's death in the influenza epidemic. Her heartbroken father begins to prepare for the return of Liza's mother, and Liza concentrates on keeping him from being committed to a work farm even as daily funeral marches pass their Maine home. She must rely on her own talents and courage to survive.

See, the water? It's on the cover. I'm sure it's in the book too, but it wasn't on the back cover or in the little part I read...but water! On the cover! It's there.

Looking toward the future, The Carbon Diaries: 2015 by Saci Lloyd, shows us the world five years from now (eep!) when global warming will be/is tearing the world apart.



Laura (not me) turns 16 and is awarded her carbon debit card, but she's busy juggling exams, her band, and trying to catch Ravi's eye. But as natural disasters hit and her parents grow closer to divorce, life just keeps getting worse. Laura must brace for impact as the worst hurricane in history heads straight for her London home, holding on to whatever normalcy she can.

How water? Global warming means flooding, silly. And it's a wonder London is above water for poor Laura. England being an island and all.

You know, now that I'm looking back over these, I'm thinking that some of them also have something else in common...mental illness. Hmm...