Never had my impression of the book changed so quickly

If you asked me while I was reading the first part of the book, I would have given it 5 stars. Easily. The atmosphere, the sea and the wind and the magic and that town, that place. Mysterious, beautiful, cursed, sea-claimed and sea-born, I loved it. With the rain and the lighthouse and tangled beach grass and those tiny lavender cakes, it was - a complete sensory experience that I adored. I wanted to be here. I was.


But then everything after THE BIG REVEAL - in just a moment, like a switch flipped off, I have stopped to care. Just rushed what turned out to be a retelling of the Little Mermaid - the Andersen version, not Disney - till the end to put it on read and reach the resolution. Not to mention that the reveal just - did not work, really, not with the first person narration and with some of the actions before the reveal kind of relying on ignorance, at least to be narrated like that.

Trigger warnings for this book, because it seriously needs it:
Graphic suicide, drowning