Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - The Girl from the Sea

I absolutely adored the art style and color palette, but was shocked to discover that this story was not as lighthearted as I thought that it would be. Mental health and coming to terms with sexuality were at the forefront of this one, along with strained familial relationships (a recently divorced mother and a younger brother who outed his older sister/our main character Morgan... yuck).

My main "issue" with this is that I wish that Keltie's subplot wasn't included - it felt thrown in and I would've much rather kept 100% of my focus on Morgan's journey. Their romance was cute though, and felt super realistic (sans the fact that

Keltie was a selkie (aka seal-folk)

. I also didn't really understand why Morgan was friends with the girls she was friends with - there didn't seem to be much chemistry and the dynamic was just off (beyond having a "leader" of the group).

Ultimately I enjoyed this more than The Witch Boy, but I don't think Ostertag's stories are for me.

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comrade_mia's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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lolajh's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

A quite cute story of teenage lesbian first love between a human and a selkie, a twist on the mythology where the romance is not between a selkie and a man, where the man forces them to marry him, but instead a sweet and pure love between these two girls. Keltie, the selkie, I would have loved to have as the main character with her pov, as Morgan is a teen dealing with internalised homophobia and wanting to keep Keltie a secret (which Keltie is uncomfortable about), and is a rather overdone trope in lesbian media. Keltie seems to be very comfortable with who she is, and it is portrayed that where she is from being a lesbian isn't a big deal, and explains why she is so confused about Morgan wanting to keep her a secret. If the book was from Keltie's pov, where we could see her life with the seals and her childhood where being a lesbian is normalised, I think this book could've gone a different way and been more interesting. Seeing Morgan overcome her internalised homophobia and come to accept herself was still lovely to see, however we did have the opportunity for a book about lesbians that didn't revolve around tragedy and homophobia, but we didn't. And the ending wasn't even happy, which is understandable in most 'first love' scenarios, I just really was hoping for a happier ending, or even a time skip at the end where Keltie and Morgan reunite. Plus, I'm getting tired of the whole "girls dating girls can't get pregnant" joke, not very progressive.

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lukawarm's review

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

violetgarden's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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