Review: Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Title: Forgive My Fins
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Published: 19th May 2010
Series: Fins #1
Source: Own Kindle Copy

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. - From Goodreads

I have a really weird fear, not only am I afraid of open water I am also afraid of fish. The big ones scare the bejezus out of me and make me want to crawn into my nice safe dry bed, far from the water, and hide. For this book however I cast aside the heebie jeebies and prepared to dive into the deep end of a story about a mermaid. A good thing to because I really enjoyed it!

On the outside Lily looks like a normal teenage girl, she even has a crush on the school hottie, but she has one massive secret; she is a mermaid princess! With a mermaid father and human mother Lily never quite feels like she belongs anywhere and has been spending the last few years going to high school as a human. When the Brody, Lily's crush, does not live up to expectations Quince, Lily's annoying neighbour, steps in.

I really liked Lily, but her focus was a bit annoying and I did not really understand why she hated her neighbour so much! Apart from that I thought she was an interesting character and you can tell she is conflicted about where she belongs. It was quite refreshing to have a strong female character who stepped up to take charge especially when they are underwater! I also really liked Quince and found him to be a very likeable character, maybe I just have a thing for bad boys who are really very sweet!

As I have mentioned above, I love that when we were in the underwater world, which is Lily's Kingdom, she was the one who was confident and knew what was going on and Quince was the one who was uncertain and unsure. I felt rather empowering reading it as often it is the female character who is portrayed unsure and needs the male character to help her on her journey. I like that there was a real challenge for the male character, metaphorically and literally, which was just part of Lily's everyday.

It was great that part of the story was set underwater and the world beneath the sea was painted as a beautiful and exciting place. I found it a little hard to picture, only because my mind kept picturing Spongebob Square Pants and all the other cartoons like Shark Tale and Little Mermaid. When I could get rid of these from my mind I loved reading about this new and different world, which was painted to be a beautiful underwater fairytale kingdom.

I thought this was a fun read that moved at a good pace and the story often kept you on your toes. It had likeable characters you wanted to get to know better. It also had an ending that I was not expecting and I can't wait to read the next book in the series to see what happens next!!