Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

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 -- the instant 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 sailed quite as smoothly as you planned.

I liked this way more than I thought I would. I haven't really read a lot of mermaid books so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was fantastic!

I spent a good bit of the book trying to figure out whether I like Lily's obsession with fish terminology or not, but in the end it only added to her character. I really like Lily for the most part, but my one big gripe is how absolutely blind she is to everything around her.On the one hand, this was incredibly annoying to read, but on the other hand, I can kind of see it. Remember those crushes you pined for and thought you were in love with? Yeah, it happened to most of us so I'll let it slide for Lily. I, for one, didn't see the charm in Brody whatsoever but Lily was simply blinded by her crush obsession.

Quince was seriously awesome. I don't think I've ever liked a "bad boy" character as much as I liked him. Quince had depth! How often does it happen that the boy has depth, especially the bad boy? And when Lily continued to be a big fat jerk to him even though there were times he actually helped her out, I just wanted to hug him.

The descriptions were pretty good too. I loved all the mer-building and technology descriptions. It was nice to hear realistic descriptions of things like houses and the whole clothes situation as compared to The Little Mermaid type stuff. Also, the powers were a cool little touch even if they didn't really get to be used that much. It reminded me of the Australian show H2O: Just Add Water which I was obsessed with a while ago. One thing I really could have done without though, was the epilogue. Sure, it promises a sequel, but it just kind of ruined the moment for me.

Final thoughts: If you're looking for a romance with a splash ( ;]) this should definitely be your pick. The characters were good and the exploration of the merworld was really fun. This is a really cute read with the addition of awesome mermaid stuff.


Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publish Date: May 2010
Pages: 293
Series: Fins #1
Source: Library
Rating: 4 stars