Review by Kelly Jarvis: Water Wishes: Bound by Tides by Freya Aguiar

Water Wishes: Bound by Tides is the perfect summer read for young adults and all who enjoy mermaid folklore! This novel tells the story of Bay, a teenage girl called by the ocean though her father forbids her from visiting the coast because her mother drowned at sea. When Bay discovers that her mother is not dead but is a mermaid and the Queen of the Pacific, she escapes her father’s care and tries to uncover the truth of her own past. The adventure takes her to coastal towns in the liminal space between the land and the sea where mermaid lore is more than a story, and before long, Bay submerges beneath the waves, learning the secrets her father hoped to keep from her.

In addition to being a story about finding true identity, this is a tale of found family. Bay encounters twins, Catalina and Cyrus, who become a family to her as she faces dangers she never anticipated. Catalina, the captain of a ship named The Contessa, is a mermaid, and Cyrus, a wise-cracking and suspicious teen, ignites new feelings of frustration and love in Bay. Bay must learn to accept help from the people who love her and to reconcile the competing voices in her head (the “Light-Voice” and the “Darkness”) in order to understand her past and make difficult choices about her future. Although her story is a fantastical one complete with mermaids and sea-witches, her path is one that young adult readers can recognize and learn from.

I love this beautiful book which is perfect for the nostalgia of a summer afternoon! Aguiar’s descriptions of the sea and the seaside villages where merfolk roam transported me to the ocean and made me long for crisp, salt breezes. I especially loved the writer’s creation of mermaid folklore, structuring it as an alternate universe filled with unique rules and regulations. Mermaids in this novel can willfully transform themselves into humans, and the villages situated along the liminal coasts are careful not to produce harmful waste that can damage the oceans. This novel is a perfect combination of teenage rebellion, young love, and fantasy quests, with lots of twists and turns to keep readers guessing, and I can’t wait for the sequel! If a young adult in your life enjoys stories of the sea, pick up a copy of Water Wishes: Bound by Tides today! You can find it here.

Kelly Jarvis works as the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine and teaches writing and literature at Central Connecticut State University. Her work has been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Her debut novella, Selkie Moon, was released in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/