Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea

Synopsis:

“For fans of Erin Entrada Kelly and Ali Benjamin comes a poignant yet hopeful novel about a girl navigating grief, trauma, and friendship, from Ashley Herring Blake, the award-winning author of Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World.

Hazel Bly used to live in the perfect house with the perfect family in sunny California. But when a kayaking trip goes horribly wrong, Mum is suddenly gone forever and Hazel is left with crippling anxiety and a jagged scar on her face. After Mum’s death, Hazel, her other mother, Mama, and her little sister, Peach, needed a fresh start. So for the last two years, the Bly girls have lived all over the country, never settling anywhere for more than a few months.

When the family arrives in Rose Harbor, Maine, there’s a wildness to the small town that feels like magic. But when Mama runs into an old childhood friend—Claire—suddenly Hazel’s tight-knit world is infiltrated. To make it worse, she has a daughter Hazel’s age, Lemon, who can’t stop rambling on and on about the Rose Maid, a local 150-year-old mermaid myth.

Soon, Hazel finds herself just as obsessed with the Rose Maid as Lemon is—because what if magic were real? What if grief really could change you so much, you weren’t even yourself anymore? And what if instead you emerged from the darkness stronger than before?”

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Review:

Ashley Herring Blake has done it again. She’s created a middle grade novel even better than the one before. It’s filled with characters learning how to navigate a world that is often filled with heartache and is also very real. After a horrific accident, Hazel is filled with survivor’s guilt, anxiety, and grief. Her mama can’t bear to stay in the home filled with so many memories of Mum, so they begin to travel. They never settle in any place long enough to develop roots. Mama’s own grief keeps her from helping Hazel begin to heal. Eventually, everything comes to a tipping point when Hazel’s world begins to change again and it’s too much for Hazel to accept. You can feel the sadness and grief in Hazel through Ashley’s writing as she tries to hold it together.

I was so excited that I finished this book in time to review it for Pride month! As with Ashley’s other middle grade novels, she fills this story with LGBTQ+ characters in a way that doesn’t seem fake or like she’s checking diversity off a list. Rather, they are fully realized characters with complex backstories who are also LGBTQ+. In Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, Hazel has two moms, her mama’s childhood friend is bisexual, and Hazel meets a friend who uses they/them pronouns. Ashley uses the story where appropriate to explain these identities. It works really well to help young readers learn while also not taking them out of the story to do so.

Verdict:

I’m squeezing this review in on the last day of Pride Month and I’m super excited about it! This is, at times, a heartbreaking story of grief, but it’s also a story of hope, strength, and ultimately growth.

If you’re interested in purchasing Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake, please use my affiliate links for Bookshop.org or Amazon.com. When you purchase from either of these links, I will earn a commission as an affiliate.

Need to Know:

Title: Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 25, 2021
Page Number: 352 pgs.