An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller.
From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.
Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news… years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.
After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.
Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.
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The characters were wonderful. I could almost feel the pain, heartache and happiness they went thru to finally make peace with themselves and each other.
This book was an exceptional read. I did not want it to end.
This book was very vivid and emotional with characters with many flaws but you love them just the same. I could picture all the places so easily in my head. Wonderfully written.
I fell in love with the pair of sisters in this story and cried and laughed along with them to the end. Barbara O’Neal tells a wonderful story about sisters and secrets. I don’t normally enjoy first person present tense, but Ms. O’Neal is a master with the technique! I finished this book in 2 days, a fast read for me.
I was beyond thrilled when I learned that one of my all-time favorite authors, Barbara O’Neal, had a new book out. Hers are ensconced on my keeper shelf and get re-read from time to time…by read, I mean savor, treasure, feel my heart fill up and my spirits renew. This new book has a gripping premise, rich backstory, difficult complications, and her trademark sensuality, by which I mean so much more than sex. Her descriptions of food and physical setting are nearly tactile, they’re so richly realized, and yes, the lovemaking is uniquely beautiful and devoid of cliches.
Another splendid story I didn’t want to leave and cannot recommend highly enough. If you haven’t read her as Barbara Samuel or Barbara O’Neal, give yourself this inexpressibly delicious treat tout suite!
I am always interested in books about sisters and the bond between them because of the bond that I have with my sisters. When I read the first line of this book, I knew that it was going to be an emotional story about the two sisters and the relationship between them.
“My sister has been dead for nearly fifteen years when I see her on the TV news.” (p1)
Josie and Kit grew up on the beach in California where their dad owned a restaurant overlooking the ocean. The family was extremely dysfunctional and the parents very neglectful so Josie and Kit bonded together to take care of themselves. They led an idyllic life at the beach and spent as much time as possible surfing. The two sisters were very close until Josie got involved with drugs when she was a teenager and then was killed when a train was blown up in France. Kit missed her sister and her long hours as a doctor in the ER helped her cope with her sorrow. Fifteen years after Josie has died, Kit sees her in a news segment from New Zealand in the back of a crowd. She and her mother are both sure that it’s Josie so Kit goes to Auckland to try to find out if her sister really is alive and if so, why she abandoned her family. While she is trying to find her sister, she remembers their time together growing up and isn’t sure if she’ll embrace her sister or hug her, if she can even find her.
The story is told in alternating chapters with both sisters reminiscing about their past together growing up. Mermaids are a symbol of the magic of childhood and the way we weave beauty into our stories not matter what. Mermaids meant so much to the sisters that they had matching mermaid tattoos on their arms.
This is one of my favorite books of 2019.
This was an excellent book with a very different premise. I enjoyed the way the story was told alternately between two sisters that had been apart for several years, one presumed dead. It’s a story of heartache, forgiveness and renewal. I really enjoyed the authors style of writing and highly recommend this book. It definitely deserves a big 5 stars!
Thank you to Lakeside Publishing, the author and NetGalley for an arc of this book.
This review is my own unbiased opinion.
When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal is the story of Kit Bianci who is sent on a mission to discover if a woman in New Zealand is her dead sister. Josie Bianci was killed 15 years ago in a terrorist attack on a Paris train. At least that’s what Kit believed. Until she sees her on the news. While taking a break, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, California, sees live coverage of a club fire in Auckland, New Zealand. There she sees a woman, known locally as Mari Edwards, stumbling in the background that looks like her sister. In fact, the resemblance is almost too unbelievable. At the urging of her mother, Kit travels to Auckland to discover if Mari is her sister and discover why she has hidden herself for so many years. Her journey begins with memories of the past: their childhood days on the beach, the adopted teenage boy who becomes their older protective brother, and the series of tragedies that upend their lives and haunt them today. What secrets will be uncovered? Will the truth haunt her further? One thing is certain, their lives will never be the same again.
The opening lines of the first chapter hooked me, but by the fourth chapter, I wondered if I would finish it at all. I pushed through, hoping it would get better. The identity of the woman known as Mari is revealed fairly quickly. The real mystery is a bit more murkier that details the series of tragedies that tore them apart. And a side story about a murdered 1930s actress. I did not care for Kit at all. She was cold, unfeeling and just bland. Right off the bat, Kit laments that “it’s hard to be the children of parents who are obsessed with each other.” Ok…..? She describes her father’s passion for her mother as “intense, sexual and possessive” but wasn’t sure she would call it love and her mother’s love for him was “to excess more than she loved her children.” Ummm, ok? I enjoyed Mari’s perspective a bit more but even her story was resolved too neatly and too easily. For the majority of the book, it read like two very different stories, Kit’s and Mari’s, that would eventually merge and very quickly get resolved. Overall, the story was bogged down with too many side stories, flashbacks and a resolution that felt rushed and unrealistic. I do not recommend When We Believed in Mermaids.
When We Believed in Mermaids is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook.
Moving story of love & reconciliation between sisters and also a romance. I enjoyed the writing style, the way the author uses words to open her characters’ hearts to the reader, and the fab narrators. I needed to catch up on the most recent Barbara O’Neal books & am so glad I started with this one!
Loved it, was deep
At times heart-wrenching, at times nearly unfathomable, but ultimately satisfying, When We Believed in Mermaids is the story of two sisters growing up in an unstable home, the result of their care-free upbringing, and the choices they make as adults. It was hard to put down. The writing is descriptive and engaging and the story is brought to a satisfying conclusion.
I was caught up in Kit’s search for her sister. Great book!
Wonderful story about two sisters, who had lost then found each other. Although it was hard for them to come to turns with their past.
I wasn’t crazy about the book. It had a lot of twists but some didn’t seem to go with the characters. Others have truly enjoyed it. I think it depends on your personal credibility meter.
I generally read an excerpt of a book, or at least the back cover, prior to purchasing or reading; with When We Believed in Mermaids, that was not the case. I purchased the book and dove headlong.
This was a really good book, regardless of the fact that I felt Ms. O’Neal jumped into my past life and wrote about a very personal time when my family went through this type of trauma with my brother. Let me explain my word usage of trauma – the book will not leave you triggered, unless, of course, you too had a sibling who faked their own death or in my case, went “missing” and was presumed to have died only to turn up years later with family in tow, as was the case here.
I have an extremely difficult time reviewing this book from an objective point, as again, I had no idea what I was getting into so I wasn’t properly prepared when reading it. I will give it my best shot.
When We Believed in Mermaids is very well-written, with two protagonists, telling the story from each point of view. I liked the style of writing, the plot was, obviously for me, very relatable – but I wonder if others may have thought, “Wow, could you imagine?”
My gut tells me Ms. O’neal wrote this from a fictionalized perspective, I mean really, who has actually had a sibling who faked their own death or allowed themselves to stay missing and would have had no idea how very, very close to home she hit. If I were to speak from my own experience, however, the ending would not have so easily tied itself into such a neat bow, especially so quickly. If only…
Do read this book – if nothing else, you can learn a surface scratch of what it feels like when or if you ever decide to fake your own death and leave your family wondering.
Very well done, Ms. O’Neal (but I’m not recommending it to my mother – I’m afraid it would send her over the edge, again.)
“My sister has been dead for nearly fifteen years when I see her on the TV news.”
With an opening line like that I was expecting to fall into this story and not come up for air until I finished it, especially with the reviews I was seeing but that was not the case…. far from it. There were several times through this book where it almost ended up being a DNF. I am happy I stuck it out.
From page one I was hooked and slowly through the first half of the book I started losing interest. I thought that there would end up being more depth and just MORE….I couldn’t explain what and I still can’t. After I made it over that halfway mark it was like everything started coming together. Kit goes on this journey to find her sister and ends up finding a lost part of herself and that is when I started to really begin to fall for this story. It was as if this one piece of the puzzle finally started to fit and I just wanted to know what would happen.
This review was hard for me because the end was totally worth it but a good chunk of the story, I wasn’t invested in. When We Believed in Mermaids is one of those stories that I think will stick with me in a way I am not sure any other book has. If half stars were a thing, I would give this three and half but because we can’t I had to go lower with three just because so much of the story was just dry.
I picked this one up on a whim and downloaded the audio version and loved it. It was full of heart and had me craving what was going to happen next. Kit is an ER doctor and one night while working she happens to see a news report of a club fire in New Zealand and not really thinking anything of it until she notices a woman who looks just like her sister who died 15 years ago. Then her mother tells her of seeing the same newscast and demands she goes to find her sister. This starts the adventure of her lifetime. She didn’t expect to find her sister Josie but when she she does it will not only be a change to her life but to her sister’s too. Will they find their way back to a normal life or will their lives forever be changed now? I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it.
3 stars.
What a story!! So Josie has been dead for 15 years and then one day Kit (her sister) sees an identical woman on TV in New Zealand!! So now she is on the hunt. Crazy right?!?!
Ok so I want to say I think I am in the minority with this rating because I have got nothing but good reviews from people about this book. I will also say I didn’t hate the book. I did love the story. I just couldn’t take the pace of this book. I was also not really invested in many of the characters. Dylan’s story and Victoria’s story seemed much more believable. Sadly the Sapphire house story conclusion kind of just blew up at the end. I wanted more from that.
Now on to the good stuff. The girls past life was rough and the story was heart breaking and heart warming. I think hearing about the earthquake a million times became a little redundant but it hurt all the same. Josie was a mess. Dylan was a mess. The girls parents were a mess. It was quite sad actually.
The author was able to paint a picture of everything very clearly. Her words were perfect. There were some beautiful love stories here and some crazy heart wrenching back stories. To find out the “why’s” to all the things that happened in this book was gut wrenching. The end was beautiful!!
This book is an emotional roller coaster. Each character has the scars of life and what they do with those scars is different for each but damaging for all. The book shows how it takes a village to raise a child and each persons influence creates who we become. Tragedy and hope weave a story of two sisters.
Too much drama and too unrealistic. There are some heavy issues, and I think they should have been addressed more thoroughly and seriously. Josie is completely selfish and her extreme actions seem unnecessary. I don’t mind an ending that leaves it up to the reader to decide precisely how things end, but there are just too many loose ends at the end for me. I needed a little more closure.