Read this when I was 11 and loved it. I don't remember much about it now, except loving it and reading it about 5 times. ( )

This is the second book Lasky's series 'Daughters of the Sea'. I remember reading and reviewing the first one, Hannah, but couldn't recall the story. Fifteen-year-old May is the foster daughter of a lighthouse keeper, Gar, and his hypochondriac wife, Zeeba. Gar found May when she was just a baby. She was floating in the sea in a treasure chest. Zeeba makes May's life a misery, resenting her because of how healthy she is and how much she enjoys reading and learning from books. However, May is starting to rebel against Zeeba's demands. She feels a deep longing for the sea, although she has been forbidden from dipping even a single toe in the water like the other children of the bay.

One night May dives into the sea and finds herself transformed into a mermaid which must have been what Gar was fearful of. Every night she escapes into the sea. She loves her time in the water, but events on land become increasingly difficult. While trying to unravel the secret of her birth, and find her family, two men have captured May’s attention, Rudd and Hugh. Rudd is overly persistant, but there is something about him that May doesn't like. He decides that if can't have May, no one will. Hugh, a visiting astronomer, seems to share the same interests as May and be spending a lot of time with her. One of the summer visitors to the island is a girl named Hannah (from Lasky's first book). May discovers she is her sister who is also a mermaid, but trying to resist the pull of the sea.

We originally bought this book for the children's section of the library, but upon seeing the 'Mills & Boon' type cover I decided that I better have a read to check out the content. After reading it, we are moving the series to the teen's area due to the age of the protagonist, the romance and the content. The story was okay but I was unimpressed with the quality of the binding which I don't believe will last long, and the cover, which as I said before, resembled a 'Mills & Boon'. ( )

I loved the love triangle, and the lighthouse and astronomical aspects were a lovely touch, but it just couldn't compare to the first Daughters of the Sea book, "Hannah".

And I LOVE Kathryn Lasky, but May's stepmother was such a blatant copy of Zeena (Zenobia) from Edith Wharton's masterpiece "Ethan Frome" that it made me cringe, literally. ( )

This book was so much better than the first one. May is a wonderful character and the two guys that love her add the perfect amount of tension to the story. I loved how Kathryn Lasky connected May and Hannah's stories and then went on to add to them. ( )