By the Sea by Katherine McIntyre

Most children have an imaginary friend. They hang around for a few years, and then they disappear as the child moves on to different things.

Megan is different, she was so close with her imaginary friend Niall that he followed her for years, but he would only meet her by the sea.

When the restaurant where she works hires a new waiter, Megan feels as though she is seeing a ghost. He IS Niall. He looks exactly like him. But, that can’t be real. His name is Mason.

This seems like a charming innocent love story between a now-grown woman and her imaginary friend.

When she figured out the real reason he had to leave her, I couldn’t help bust burst out laughing. He is a seal that can transform into a human, but before having the choice to live on land or in the water, he must spend seven years in the sea. That is why he had to leave her as a child.

He cannot return to the sea because someone had stolen his pelt that allows him to transform back into a seal. Upon discovering that it was some sort of demon that had stolen it, Megan’s life is put in danger as the demon attacks her.

Niall comes to her rescue and she must try to find his pelt before it is too late.

Katherine’s writing style was good enough to keep me interested. It was written at a quick pace and didn’t seem to fall off, but after hitting the midway part of the book, the story just took a strange turn and lost me.

2/5 Stars