October 7, 2025 by Delacorte
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Max’s parents are divorced, and it's painful to spend time with his father. Big Max is a local councilman, a former high school football star, and the owner of a successful used car dealership who cares what other people think about him to the extent that he will only take Max out to eat at a fancy restaurant to celebrate, not go to the peanut butter sandwich food truck that Max would prefer. His mother is working on her graduate degree in geography, and has rented a house in a small coastal Texas town to finish up her research. Getting a break from his dad works for Max, and he even asks his mother if he can introduce himself as “Milo” to people he meets. He does miss his Nana and Pops, the parents of his father’s second wife who still remain in contact with him after his father divorces their daughter and marries his third wife. They are traveling, but keep in touch by phone. When Max and his mother arrive at Lafite Island, Max investigates the beach and finds an injured octopus. He gets it water and constructs a way to transport the animal out of a discarded grill, and meets Emmett, who wants to help. The two boys take the animal to the Junipers’ rescue facility, where they get the care that the octopus, whom they name Ursula, needs. Max meets Ollie Juniper, who encourages him to help out at the facility. Emmett is being raised by his grandparents because his mother, a photographer, isn’t in the picture, and Ollie is sad because a chimp at the rescue, Ramona, has gone to another facility. The two had been like sisters. Ursula is not going to survive long, but lays thousands of eggs, and Max watches their progress. Thinking that he can reunite Ollie and Ramona, he agrees to go back home to a zoo camp his father has gotten him into, and afterwards, Nana and Pops help the group travel to visit Ramona. Ursula does pass away, but Emmett takes comfort in her many children.
Strengths: The title comes from the fact that octopi have three hearts and blue blood, which is clever. Kelly does a great job with the details about animals, as evidenced in her 2019 Song for a Whale. The best part of this was the father-son dynamic, and I loved that Max understood how overbearing his father was, and was able to distance himself from him while still maintaining a relationship with him. Nana and Pops were also good characters, and it was great that they were still in contact with Max. Ollie and Emmett’s problems don’t overshadow the story, which is filled with a lot of fantastic details about the lives of octopi.
Weaknesses: This is a bit slow paced, but any books involving marine life seem to be! Whenever I see a book set at the seashore, I now expect the story to be a bit sad and contemplative.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed the mix of marine life and personal issues in Pyron’s Octopus Moon, Faruqi and Khan’s Saving Sunshine, or Venkatraman’s Safe Harbor.
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