From the moment I cracked open 'When We Believed in Mermaids,' I was completely swept away. Barbara O'Neal has this incredible ability to make you *feel* every single emotion right alongside her characters. I found myself laughing during Kit's sarcastic ER moments one minute, then clutching tissues when Josie's past trauma surfaced the next.

The way O'Neal writes about New Zealand made me smell the saltwater - and I've never even been there! Those surfing scenes had me holding my breath like I was riding the waves myself. Though I'll admit, as someone who's never surfed, some technical details went over my head.

What really got me was how real the sisters felt. Their messy, complicated relationship reminded me so much of my own family dynamics. That moment when Kit first sees Josie on TV? Chills. Actual chills running down my arms.

I stayed up way too late finishing this because I *had* to know how everything resolved. Was it predictable in parts? Maybe. But sometimes you want that comforting certainty in a story about chaos and healing.

Pro tip: Don't let the 'women's fiction' label scare you off (looking at you, male readers!). This isn't some fluffy romance - it's a deep dive into how families fracture and mend, with writing so vivid you'll forget you're reading words on a page.