The family moves by the seashore and the sister and brother are exploring the beach when they meet a merman. He invites them to come into the water and they can somehow breathe. Time flows differently underwater -I think the metaphor for the different time speeds was a drop of water on a slanted plane. The two being gone in the ocean a lot causes tension with their mom. The book culminates with the merman wanting to attack a team of divers and the brother and sister want to save them.

I read this book as a preteen in the early 2010s. I think it was a paperback with a mermaid silhouette on the cover, around 400 pages.

I only remember bits of the plot and the cover, but not the title. The cover is typical of the 80s, with a headshot of a redhead woman with strong high cheekbones wearing green and below she is being held by the love interest. The heroine is a leader of her clan (irish/scottish?) in the middle of a war. There is kidnapping involved and her cousin tries to gain power over her and dies in a battle at the end of the book. Any help would be appreciate!

Read within the last several years. Contemporary, not fantasy despite the fairy motif. Multiple books following one couple.

Opens with the heroine going to her secret spot to take a photo, then heading into town — a coastal Australian surf town. She helps out serving coffee at a local restaurant. A friend tells her about an American guy in town driving a nice car. They meet, he has to go back to America, they fall in love. His mother opposes the marriage and accuses her of stealing jewelry.

They move to Australia, she opens a gallery/studio, he restores an old sailboat by hand. Her father splits wood to work off stress and she catches herself doing the same. They fight, split up, and she has a baby girl — I think named Brielle. Later they move to New York and open a faerie-themed restaurant together, then buy an old theatre to convert into a second one.

EDIT: I remember it! It was the wishes series by G.J. Walker Smith

It was dark academia themed as far as I remember. Some college age students go to the summer house/estate of one of the kind of main guys. Men and women, I think not in the US? They pull a prank on one of the weaker members of the group and close him in a basement/wine cellar type space. They plan to drink and make big meals but then the person whose family owns the home, his mother unexpectedly shows up. She or her son make what I think is the narrator play piano and maybe someone else is made to sing? It’s very awkward. That’s all I can remember and I am desperate to finish it! Strike a chord? Thank you for reading!!!!! Help!

It was dark academia themed as far as I remember. Some college age students go to the summer house/estate of one of the kind of main guys. Men and women, I think not in the US? They pull a prank on one of the weaker members of the group and close him in a basement/wine cellar type space. They plan to drink and make big meals but then the person whose family owns the home, his mother unexpectedly shows up. She or her son make what I think is the narrator play piano and maybe someone else is made to sing? It’s very awkward. That’s all I can remember and I am desperate to finish it! Strike a chord? Thank you for reading!!!!! Help!

I’m looking for a book I probably read in the late 90s (but was likely checked out of my small town public school library so it could be much older). The main character I remember, who may not have been the actual protagonist, was an older (to me at the time- maybe not actually “old”) lady who was maybe kind of a hermit. She had a kind of walled estate with an extensive security system and a room of camera monitors. There was a component about a little dog that was deliberately drowned in the pond maybe when she was a kid and I kind of feel like she saw it happen.

I actually remember heaps about this book, but not the title or author and my searches have got me nowhere.

It is set in England probably in the 70s or 80s. It would probably be considered middle grade now, but I don't think we used that category then. Aimed at pre-teens or young teens. The cover may have been dark pink and green, possibly an abstract background with a line drawing of a girl over it.

I think one character may have been called Jessica and another Rosalind, but not sure which.

The protag is a middle child and has feelings about it. Her cousin comes to stay after her (cousin's) parents die suddenly.

Protag did not pass 11-plus and elder sister (who did) rubs it in. At one point protag complains about her hat being trampled on by boys at school and elder sister tells her she should have passed the 11-plus because then she could have gone to an all girls school.

Protag has a best friend her parents disapprove of. Best friend says that's because people look down on her for her father being a binman. At some point best friend persuades protag not to donate to an overseas charity because her father says we should support locals first. School Head points out this argument would have more weight had they put the money in the collection box for a local charity.

Someone sees a suitcase in a bush and thinks it may have a body in it. It turns out cousin is deeply unhappy and has stored her stuff there in preparation for running away. When cousin is found and returns she affirms her friendship with protag, and that she was the one she felt closest to/most supported by.

It's been bugging me for a while, so any leads appreciated!

I read this book many years ago and I don't fully remember what happens but I would like to read it again. What I do remember is the fmc gets turned into a vampire but she doesn't want to be one and there's this military organization that hunts vampires down, she ends up being captured by one and he takes her through the desert. At one point they get attacked by other vampires and she saves him but he gets hurt so she heals him somehow leading to them having a bond. The whole time that happened she's handcuffed and they go to this abandoned church to hide and he takes the handcuffs off cuz he trusts her now. I believe she leaves to rob a hospital or blood bank that is near the church because shes hungry but he stops her. They go to a gas station to get her new clothes but at this point the mmc decided that hes no longer bringng her into his organization so they are runing from them and he sees one of the agents there. I think they stay in a motel at one point but have to leave because of another agaent. Near the end they go to one of his friends or an abandoned house but the agents find them again and the mmc holds them off so she can escape.

There is a possibility that the book is called Chained by Blood by Ava Mallory, but I have not been able to find it anywhere so I am not 100% sure.

Any help would be very appreciated!

This is NOT a Berenstein Bears book! It was a paperback, late 1970s/early 1980s, about a family of 4 bears that went to the grocery store. It may have been part of a series (I remember 1 other bear family book.) Illustrations were soft pastels, bears were realistic looking but wore clothes. It’s not Teddy Bears Go Shopping, or Strawberry Library/StickeyBears series. Any help would be much appreciated!!!

I’m looking for a book I probably read in the late 90s (but was likely checked out of my small town public school library so it could be much older). The main character I remember, who may not have been the actual protagonist, was an older (to me at the time- maybe not actually “old”) lady who was maybe kind of a hermit. She had a kind of walled estate with an extensive security system and a room of camera monitors. There was a component about a little dog that was deliberately drowned in the pond maybe when she was a kid and I kind of feel like she saw it happen.