Unfortunately this book was not for me. I ended up DNFing the book quite early on. Loved the concept but the execution wasn't my favorite.

This was a very atmospheric one! I am not one to read many books with an underwater theme. This was a really fun book, not at all what I was expecting!

''The deep follows stanley, a guy who’s struggling to find employment, until one day he receives a call that his childhood friend is in trouble. he thinks nothing of it until witnessing Jason get kidnapped. one thing leads to another, and stanley is thrown overboard by the villains in an attempt to end his life. This leads to his realization that he can breathe underwater, and with help of another underwater friend they embark on a journey to save jason.''

I found the descriptions of the underwater life to be very detailed, and it’s obvious how much work the author put in to this. the story flows pretty well, and i thought the ending was all together good, overall the book is a good YA read if you’re looking to break into the fantasy genre. the vibe is little mermaid with more mystery. a simple, refresher read which is always good in between heavier reads!

read this book very quickly thanks to such an engaging talented author! Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Great characters, setting and storyline. Would highly recommend.

This was a.... strange read. I also didn't realize it was YA - probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. I tried to stray outside of my typical genres with this one and it didn't pay off

This book was, unfortunately, not for me. I've picked it up over and over and DNF each time. Something about the writing felt clunky in a way that just didn't encourage me to keep reading.

One of the thing that draws me to a book is water on the cover. I love stories that are near water. And this book did not dissapoint. Thank you so much for the chance to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Marian Sheriff for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

This story reminded me of a mixture of the two animated movies Shark Tale and Finding Nemo. The writing was so cringy and difficult to get through.

The strangest thing to me though was the sporadically placed google search images within the text. The author would reference something in the ocean and then instead of using descriptive imagery, they would include a picture of it below the text with a caption of the name of the animal or thing. I have never in my thirty years seen something like that in a novel???

I tried so hard with this one, but it just did not deliver. Thank you again for sharing this with me.

Stanley is going through the motions of life, endlessly seeking employment in the pages of the daily newspaper and frequently coming up short. When he receives a call from his friend, Mrs Anderson, a widow whose only son is giving her cause for concern he thinks the young man is just looking for some space away from his interfering mother.

Stanley’s initial scepticism soon gives way to fears that Mrs Anderson was right about Jason when he witnesses him being kidnapped. Trying to save him, Stanley is also taken by the group and finds himself and Jason far out to sea on a boat. And it’s clear the kidnappers want rid of them both.

Certain of his impending death, Stanley is rescued at the last moment by a woman named Lythea. Her ability to breathe underwater is astounding enough but when Stanley finds he too has the same talent it signals the beginning of an epic adventure beneath the waves, as he desperately tries to track down Jason’s kidnappers and save him from a watery end.

Can Stanley get to Jason before he is killed? And what are the secrets behind his amazing new power? Stanley is about to discover more about himself and his family than he ever imagined.
A gripping read!

Thanks, Netgalley, and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!
I love stories exploring the mysteries of the deep and the magic nature of the sea.
I also very much enjoyed the fact that there were pictures included that helped me visualize the world even better. A little slow beginning, but it gets really intriguing somewhere in the middle of the story|!

A shorter tale full of adventure and the sea!

Thank you to NetGalley, Mariam Sheriff, & Book Buzz for a copy.

Another reviewer summarized this book perfectly: “Little Mermaid Noir”.

A bonus, I found, were the added pictures as they enhanced & set the scene for readers.

Add this one to your bookshelf!

A kidnapping gone wrong. What’s a better way to catch your interest? How about an under the sea community you accidentally found yourself in? The Deep does a good job at inviting and showing you this new world under the sea and setting out the ground, rules and atmosphere in a very believable way. Mariam Sheriff has this poetic way of getting things across without just saying what the mundane thing is. At first I was a bit worried but it honestly just added to the fantastical elements of the story. This was a short and entertaining car read for sure. Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

The Deep follows Stanley as he is literally navigating the waters in the underground world to find his friend. The underground world is written beautifully, is imaginative and gave me very much The Little Mermaid vibes. You can tell the author did a lot of research regarding sea creature and plants. I liked pictures of marine environment were included in the book. The pictures, along with the simple, not too violent plot gave me a more YA feel than adult categorization The book is funny, suspenseful, has interesting characters and a quick, but sad resolution. I enjoyed reading it..

In all honesty, I struggled to finish The Deep. The story line was choppy, and it took a long time for it to ease. I liked the premise of the book however.

This is a really interesting book - very different then what I expected from the cover, to be honest.

The hero, Stanley, is living his life without passion, looking for employment. A widow he knows calls and ask for his help with her son Jason. While Stanley is sceptical that there is an issue, he follows Jason and gets wrapped up in a kidnapping that goes wrong.

Enter magical realism and his underwater breathing rescuer Lythea. Can Stanley save Jason, what does this new ability of breathing underwater mean? If you like magical realism, support new novelist and just like a caper involving kidnapping, then The Deep is for you!

A good storyline. Love books that take place on the water. This one has a creepy tone that doesn't let up. Recommend.

Virginie and Jake are living their dream. They've restored a boat and are planning on sailing around to different places. Hearing of an island that is off the main sailing areas, the chart a course to it, Amarante. Things are good for a while, they meet up with three other people at the island. Unfortunately a couple they met at their last port of call shows up and things go from bad to worse. A found some of the story a little boring, but it did keep me reading until the end.

The Deep by Mariam Sheriff through me for a loop--in a fun way.
From the cover, title, and description I was expecting something a little more Nick Cutter, but this was a little more on the fun side and a little less on the dark side. This is not to say that the story didn't have its thrilling or dark moments but it also seemed to take a tongue-in-cheek attitude at times.
Once I was able to adjust my expectations of the book, I had a lot of fun with it. Think Little Mermaid Noir.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #BookBuzz.net, and Mariam Sheriff for the ARC of #TheDeep.

So glad I got a chance to get an arc of this book thank you Netgalley. I feel not enough people are talking about it it was so good. It was a slow beginning but definitely picked up more towards the middle of the book. In this story Stanley was after information regarding the disappearance of Jason which ended him being taken by the same people that had taken Jason. When he was taken out to sea along with Jason and when he witnessed his captors harming Jason and he tried to stop them but in the process he was thrown over the boat to the dark depths of the sea. He then realized he wasn’t dead or drowning when a “mermaid” told him to breathe and he did just that. And he then went on with his new gift to track down the men that had thrown him over and try to save his friend. I didn’t want to get into too much detail but all in all I’m very glad I got a chance to read this book!