Struggling with Mermaids

When We Believed in Mermaids
by Barbara O’Neal

Do you ever have a book that you are just struggling through? I’m sure you have, if you’re a reader, every single book you pick up is not AMAZING. Well, I’m having that issue with Barbara O’Neal’s When We Believed in Mermaids. The cover and title totally got me, and then I read the beginning of the synopsis and was like, Yep, this will be good! Goodreads has this book rated at a 4.29. And yet, I don’t feel that much has happened in the book so far. I have had two people tell me they almost did not finish the book, but had to keep reading because it gets better. I’m about 60% through this book and it’s still so slow.

So my question is this: If a book is so bad that you almost don’t finish it, and then well over halfway through, it gets amazing, does it really deserve 4 or 5 stars? I feel like a book that deserves 4 or 5 stars has gripped me from the beginning, maybe a few chapters to give me perspective on the book, but I just can’t imagine how this book could get so amazing that I rate it at a 4 or 5. We shall see, but I’m unconvinced at this point.

I would love some feedback from anyone that has read and finished, or not finished, this book. Did you end up loving it, did you love it from the start, did you hate it?