Will I love The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea?

I picked up this book, partly because of the queer/BIPOC representation, and partly because I love the Golden Age of Sail (and mermaids!) I'd previously read Maggie Tokuda-Hall's short story "Shark Week" in Mermaids Never Drown, so it was great to read a full-length novel by the same author. I feel this book does something really original with mermaids - and witches, and pirates - as well as telling a great story about love and friendship.

I can’t help it, I am an absolute sucker for a girl dressing up as a boy. It’s a classic trope in lesbian fiction, and while it’s reminiscent of trans masculine narratives, it’s also a fantastical reflection of butch/femme dynamics, and these two things can co-exist in the literary world. Flora/Florian is a really special protagonist, and her relationship with Evelyn is as exciting as the overall story. Tokuda-Hall has clearly had so much fun weaving in a variety of fantasy elements, throwing us mermaids, witches, pirates, and, of course, the Sea.