Books for Christian Girls: "Identity" by Annabelle Batie

About this book:

  “Maria Brooks is just a plain orphan girl with a mysterious past. On the day of Maria’s sixteenth birthday, everything seems normal. From being required to do chores at the orphanage to being bullied by girls at school, nothing seems to be amiss. But when Maria goes swimming at the beach the next day, she discovers a secret about herself she didn’t even know: she’s a mermaid.
    As Maria explores her newfound ability to change from mermaid to human, she finds herself in the midst of an underwater war that contains the secret to her past. In the midst of all this, she finds new friendship, but with friendship comes trust, and with trust comes risk. Will she be able to stand strong as the tidal waves of doubt crash against her?”

Series: Book #1 in the “Daughters of the Sea” series.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read; Bible reading; Prayers & a blessing over food; God talks to Maria (what is said is mostly Scriptures or based off of Scriptures); Talks about God/the Creator; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Maria wonders what she’s here for, thinking there has to be more to life; Maria doesn’t believe God can be her friend and that she’s not worthy of Him anyway “even if He did exist”; Grace witnesses to Maria and tells her about the Creator, prays for her, & gives her a Bible (Grace tells her about Jesus and that if you believe that Jesus died on the cross, confession your sins and want to be forgiven, then you’re saved and will go to Heaven when you die); *Spoiler* The next day, Maria reads the Bible and believes it to be true and prays for forgiveness; Maria doesn’t think Isaac would be happy to hear that she’s a Christian *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God, Jesus, trusting, & forgiveness; Mentions of praying, prayers, & blessings over food; Mentions of a Bible, Bible reading, & books of the Bible; A few mentions of being a Christian; A couple mentions of a church & church going (in the mermaid world);
             *Note: Maria and Alex are both half-mermaids and while there are many other mermaids in the book, there is no magic content; When half-mermaids go into the ocean (after their sixteenth birthday), their legs turn into a tail and then when back on the beach turn back into a tail (described as a tingling feeling); Maria feels as if the water is calling her; After Maria first transforms, she wakes up and wonders if she drowned and is in the “afterlife”; A few mentions of other people being evil (or Maria thinking that they are evil); A mention of an item for good luck; A mention of ghosts haunting an old mansion (not actually believed, used to describe how a place looks).

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘duh’, a ‘dumb’, a form of ‘stupid’, a ‘shoot’, and two ‘sheesh’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Pain & Passing out (barely-above-not-detailed); Fighting & Being chased (up to semi-detailed); Being almost attacked by a shark & then seeing it be attacked by mermen and in pain (up to semi-detailed); Maria is uncomfortable with Alex wanting her to come father out into the water; Maria freaks out when she is pulled underwater (by Alex) and is able to breathe (up to semi-detailed); Maria is okay if she dies because of the possible dangers of being a mermaid because “[she] would have died knowing more, and trying, for once, to do something worthwhile”; When fighting (self-defense), Alex thinks about killing his opponent, but does not because he doesn’t “like to kill other merfolk unless [he] had an incredibly good reason for it”; Maria lies once & Alex has lied to Maria and lies to others (he starts to feel guilty about lying to her halfway through; *Spoiler* When she finds out, she is very hurt and upset by him acting as her friend but lied to her, thinking that she can’t trust anyone now *End of Spoiler*); Alex argues with his father & is disrespectful (his parents separated and he hasn’t seen his father for most of his life); Mentions of deaths & grieving (a mother and a wife); Mentions of drowning & almost drowning; Mentions of wars, threats of killing someone else, & kidnappings/being captured; Mentions of prisons & arrests; Mentions of fighting, fights, pain, & injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of bullies, their mean comments, bullying, & being bullied (Maria); Mentions of jealousy (including Maria being jealous of another girl and wishing to have what she has); A couple mentions of slaves; A mention of murder; A mention of theft; A mention of searching for drowned bodies; A mention of a divorce; A mention of eavesdropping;
             *Note: Maria was orphaned as a baby and because of that, has low self-esteem and believes that she’s nothing and not good enough because of what others have told her (*Major Spoilers* Towards the end, she finds out her biological father is a king, but lashes out at him because he abandoned her as a baby; He gave her and her twin up because her mother passed away in childbirth; Maria’s twin does not take the news well at first either, not knowing she was adopted *End of Spoilers*); Maria’s best friend is a teen boy named Isaac and they don’t have the healthiest friendship (he doesn’t encourage her, tries to hold her back from being a mermaid, and cares more about himself; Alex tells her not to let Isaac hold her back because she needs to “focus on [herself] and follow [her] dreams” and Maria thinks that “I couldn’t control Isaac’s actions, I could only control my own. And I needed to do what was best for me.”) *Spoiler* The book ends with some harsh words said between Maria and Isaac *End of Spoiler*; A man tries to adopt Maria under-the-table (by bribing someone) and she feels uncomfortable because it feels like he has an ulterior motive or plan (*Spoiler* She runs away from him and it’s not brought up again *End of Spoiler*); Maria tells a girl that the father she knew wasn’t her “real father” because she was adopted (the girl is upset to hear this); A few mentions of a wife and mother passing away in childbirth.

Sexual Content- Hand holding, Embraces, & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Alex recalls that most girls ooh and ahh over his looks and bravery (also adding that “most girls were [submissive], especially when they met a handsome young guy like me. Girls would do anything to impress a guy they liked.”); Maria wonders if there could ever be something more than being just friends with Alex and begins to fall for him.

-Maria Brooks, age 16
-Alexander “Alex”, age 17
                                1^st person P.O.V. switches between them (Prologue in 3^rd in Reena’s POV)
                                                        304 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ Add a full star for girls who enjoy books about mermaids. }

This was a really different book! I haven’t read too many books that are Christian fiction that have mermaids—actually I don’t know if I’ve ever read a single one now that I think about it as I type this review. I thought it was well done, but I think 13-14 year olds will enjoy it the most. There were a few times that it felt a little too dramatic for my tastes (I think this was because of Maria’s reactions to different events), but it was entertaining and kept my attention throughout the story. I wasn’t a fan of Alex for half the story, so it was good to see his character development. I was pretty sure I knew where the plot was going and would be curious to read the next book of the series when it releases as not everything was cleared up or explained in this book by the end.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!