ABANDONED. YA Fantasy. Boy on a ship eventually meets a Mermaid after a incident on the ship in the ocean. Read around 2010-2015.

[Juaquin]

I remember that the book was the first of a series in middle school, around 2010-2015ish.
I'd didn't get to read very far into it but as best as I can remember, the book was about a boy who I believe was a welder and taken on a ship along with his father. The ship is then taken out to sea, but soon afterwards gets ambushed by either a pirate ship, a giant sea creature, or a very bad storm (in order from most likely to least likely from what I can remember). I believe the boy is saved by a mermaid who specifically tells him something along the lines of, "Mermaids having the ability to walk on land by wearing a hat or something." For some reason the mermaid needs to accompany the boy on land and as a result does this. Her tail then, I believe, turns into human legs and she accompany' s the boy. She also speaks of how although mermaids have this ability they tend not to do it because they end up getting all wound up with how amazing the surface world is and never end up returning to the sea as a result.

Sadly that's really as much as I can remember about this story, again, I never got to finish it, but I really want to give it a read and find out what happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. I remembered that some of the novels in the series had a dragon or two as the cover, which is what prompt me to read the series to begin with. Also I believe the story is actually being retold from the POV of the boy from some sort of cell, in an attempt to get his story straight for some reason (Not 100% sure this was part of the actual story or I'm thinking of something else, please take this with a grain of salt.)

[Becca]

Sounds like The Floating Island by Elizabeth Haydon. The mermaid in the book is referred to as a 'merrow'.

I couldn't find a Google Books preview but there's a copy available on archive.org (https://archive.org/details/floatingi...). I found the bit where she explains about walking on land:

"Do you want to hear what happens to merrows who want to walk on the land?" she asked, trying to keep him awake.
Ven blinked. "Merrows want to walk on the land?" he asked shakily, his voice faltering.
"Oh yes; it is a deep and sometimes irresistable desire. And they can do it too, if they are foolish enough."
"How?" Ven asked.
"By giving their red pearl caps to a human man," Amariel said contemptuously. "If a merrow gives in to the desire to walk on the land, and finds a man to entrust with her cap, she will grow legs and be able to do so."

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Juaquin (OP) was last active on the site in November 2020.