Girls of the Ocean

Cass has spent years scraping by in a St. Augustine campground, covering her free-spirited mother's diner shifts and dreaming of a normal life. Then a stormy swim changes everything: Cass grows a tail. She isn't a mermaid, her mother explains—she's a Girl of the Ocean, born to secretly save drowning strangers. But when the father Cass barely remembers suddenly returns with promises of a better life, she must decide who to trust and what she's willing to sacrifice to protect her gift, her mother, and herself.

• A fresh, grounded twist on the mermaid myth—these girls aren't sunning on rocks, they're secret rescuers of the sea.
• An emotional poverty-to-power story: a girl who cleans everything to survive discovers she was born extraordinary.
• The mother-daughter bond at the heart of the book gives it warmth beyond the fantasy hook.
• A clean, safe read for tween girls—crush-level romance and no objectionable content.

“Old lives can float.”

Perfect for a tween or early-teen girl who loved mermaid stories and wants an emotional contemporary fantasy about family secrets, friendship, and finding your own strength.