Welcome to my stop on the Coral book tour! Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club for organizing the tour and allowing me to participate as a tour stop!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: CORAL
Author: Sara Ella
Pub. Date: November 12, 2019
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings, Mermaids, Fairy Tales
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iTunes, TBD, Kobo, Google Books

Multiple award-winning young adult author Sara Ella reimagines The Little Mermaid in a powerful and unexpected way.

Sixteen-year-old mermaid Coral has always been different, standing out from her stoic sisters in a society where blending in is key. Worse yet, she fears she has been afflicted with the dreaded Disease. Said to be carried by humans, the Disease imposes emotions on its victims, causing them to commit unspeakable acts. The growing illness inside her, while terrifying, fascinates her very core. Where others see danger, Coral sees life. Could it be the colorless merfolk who are truly ill?

Above the sea, seventeen-year-old Brooke Jordan has nothing left to give. A homeless girl abandoned and forgotten, the only thing Brooke can rely on is the ocean. Her aching feet find refuge within the cool and comforting waves, while her broken heart grows harder with each passing day. When Brooke’s and Coral’s worlds collide, everything alters in an instant. From learning to stand alone, to discovering the strength it takes to rely on another, the girls find that living requires taking that first painful breath. Each must make sacrifices, and when it comes to finding true love? Let’s just say the boys in their lives must learn to swim if they’re ever going to survive the storms.

Battling the odds against them, the girls will do whatever it takes to survive. But what must end for love and life to finally begin?

Taking a new twist on Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tale, this modern-day story explores mental health from several perspectives, questioning what it means to be human in a world where humanity often seems lost.

REVIEW

Coral is a re-telling of one of our favorite stories, The Little Mermaid. However, Coral dives deeper (haha get it?) into the tough topic of mental health. While there is some influence from the classic, Coral is a story of its own. Exploring the topic of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations/actions, we turn to Coral, Brooke, and Hope to further explain the happenings that led them to where they are today.

Please read the author’s trigger warnings before reading the novel.

True love makes life, even a broken one, worth fighting for.

Coral is a relatable character who experiences things all of us do everyday…heartbreak, isolation, and love. Through her stories and the others experienced in this novel, we learn that we are never truly not alone, even when we may feel like it.

Light always awaited her on the other end.

Ella impressed me with her ability to “mask” but highlight mental health in today’s society through a fairy tale re-telling. It is a story of finding peace, love, and unity in a world where we might not always be perceived in a positive light.

I am not nothing and neither are you.

★★★★

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Once upon a time, Sara Ella dreamed she would marry a prince and live in a Disney castle. Today, she spends her days throwing living room dance parties for her two princesses, raising her little prince to be a king, and conquering realms of her own imaginings. Oh, and her husband is definitely more swoon-worthy than any Prince Charming.

Sara’s UNBLEMISHED trilogy has received high praise and multiple awards, but none as rewarding as the love and support she receives from her readers every day. Her new story CORAL, a reimagining of THE LITTLE MERMAID, releases in the fall of 2019.

When she’s not on deadline, Sara Ella can most often be found fangirling on Twitter, Instagram, or her YouTube channel. She may or may not be obsessed with #Bookstagram, and she has a serious condition known as “Coffee Snob-itis.” She believes “Happily Ever After is Never Far Away.”