Forgive my Fins - Book Review

Forgive My Fins – Book Review

Tera Lynn Childs

YA Paranormal

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

Review:

From the beginning I had heard nothing but good things about ‘Forgive my fins’ and was glad that it turned out to be such a fun and light hearted read. With a really sweet storyline and cute romance, I flew through this book very quickly and at the end I was just left going, ‘Awwww’. It really is a lovely story.

Despite being half-mermaid, the main character, Lily Sanderson is in many ways a typical teenager. Her words and antics made me squee, cringe and quite often laugh out loud. I especially loved her fishy analogies and cuss words of ‘Damselfish’, ‘Blowfish’ and my personal favourite, ‘oh lord love a lobster’. However, she is also a very timid girl and a hopeless romantic.

For the last three years she has been crushing on Brody Bennett, the gorgeous (newly single) captain of the swim team. Yet despite her best efforts, she has never managed to tell him how she feels, although Lily is certain they are destined for one another. So with the spring dance looming – Lily conspires that this will be the night she confesses her love. What she doesn’t expect, is for her annoying next door neighbour Quince, to interfere with her plans.  Therefore, after an accidental kiss, Lily finds herself bonded (essentially married) not to the man of her dreams, but to bad boy ‘blowfish’ Quince, who incidentally, can’t swim. A much needed when dating a mermaid.

In the chaos that follows, the author Tera Lynn Childs gives us one of the most adorable and sweetest of paranormal romances. Telling a story of first love, friendship and the need to be true to yourself , with plenty of comedy rolled into the mix, ‘Forgive my Fins’ is a fantastic read.

Although at times Lily could be a little annoying in her unchangeable views about Brody, and I thought that there were a few small plot issues – the goodness of this book ultimately outweighed the few niggles that I had with it. So overall it was a really fun read and I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel, ‘Fins are Forever’ which is to be published in the UK on the 1^st April 2012. Check it out J