Terri Farley’s Seven Tears into the Sea is a standalone novel. For the first ten years of her life, Gwen Cooke lived in the small, Oceanside town of Mirage Beach. One night, she slips out to the sea shore and meets a strange boy. As a ten year old, she told her parents about said boy which eventually sparked some nasty rumors. To escape the rumors, Gwen moves away from her childhood home. Seven years later, she returns to her home and, once again, meets the strange boy.
Gwen is a seemingly average character. She gossips with her friends, is concerned about her public appearance and falls for strange and mysterious boys. There is no strange ability, quirk, or talent to distinguish her from other urban fantasy protagonists. Her one prevalent behavior is to stubbornly ignore obvious things that are right in front of her. Coupled with other traits, normally this stubbornness can be overlooked. Without these other traits, it makes Gwen annoying. Luckily for Gwen, she is surrounded by one dimensional and flat characters making her seem interesting by comparison.
Seven Years into the Sea was a disappointing read. It explores the unique mythology of selkies, a mythical, sea creature that is often overlooked thanks to mermaids and sirens. While reading a book about selkies is exciting, I was disappointed by the lack of world building and expansion on the mythology of the story. The plot was interesting and moving, but there were many problems with the story. All of the characters were one dimensional or weren’t fleshed out. Regardless of the role they played in the plot, there were no backstories revealed and no expansion on the little information Gwen knew about them. The book is honestly to short and if Terri had taken the time to develop the characters and explore the mythology, this book could have been amazing. I give this 279 page book 3.5 stars.