The Mermaid Call by Alex Cotter

What a lovely shiny proof with beautiful mermaid tail chapter illustrations! I wanted to read this as soon as I heard of it and I was so happy to get my hands on a copy.

Book Summary

A gripping story of myth and mystery about a legendary mermaid and her dark power. When the truth comes out, will it bring freedom or a terrible retribution?

Vivien’s never going to win the Mermaid Crown and she knows it. Does she care? Who wants to be rewarded just for being pretty anyway? So she joins Alice on her quest to find the mermaid of the lake instead. But as the legend starts to unravel, it reveals an ugly truth. And leads the girls into terrible, watery danger… 

Vivien always tries to keep everyone happy and not cause any fuss, but in her head she's really funny and sarcastic. She wants so desperately to be normal, with a typical family and non-frizzy hair, and lots of friends. But despite this her moral compass never goes too far astray. Her best friend Eleni is kind of bitchy, she seems to care more about impressing the cooler than cool Hero. I thought her second-best friend Eric should definitely be promoted to first!

Vivien doesn't even really believe in the mermaid but her desires for a new friend and to make her mum take more of an interest in her, it makes her do anything to help Alice with her search. While following the instructions to find the mermaid, she starts to doubt her convictions, maybe the mermaid is real, and maybe that's not such a good thing?

This was such an uplifting read which kept me rooting for Vivien the whole time. I really wanted her to realise she's wonderful just the way she is.

Mermaid Lemonade is the perfect cocktail to sip while reading stolen diaries and planning secret investigations into mermaids. Half fill a glass with ice and add a splash of blue curacao and 60ml rum, add more ice and then top with lemonade. Do it gently and you'll get the blue colour fading gradually through the drink.