Review: Forgive My Fins by Terra 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 – 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:

I read the online first chapter sample ages ago and thought that it sounded like a brilliant light read. My first impression was also that I loved the mermaid lingo Childs used--it made everything feel so much more natural.

Then I read on and I have to say that that one star is for that one chapter. Because I don't know what else it could be for. Not Brody, not Quince who had a complete character flip, and so as hell not for Lily.

Lily. There's a girl who lives across the street from me and her name is Lily. And I do not like her. At all. It may be mean of me to say that since she is five/six years younger than me, but she's irritating and doesn't like me back just as much. So my dislike for character Lily forms from no prejudice. But, my gosh. When I was reading this, all I kept thinking of was my neighbour Lily. This character was the most obsessed, selfish, and ignorant character I've ever read.

Lily, who claims to be in love with this guy Brody for three years, doesn't really seem to know him all that well. In fact, she can hardly talk to him. It's like she's a fish out of water. And for 280 out of a 290 something page book, I was banging my head against the wall asking, "Why?!"

I also need to point out that this character is five weeks away from turning eighteen, and as a seventeen year old who is about to turn eighteen in a little under three months, I feel ashamed that this is how we're being portrayed.

Needless to say, I won't recommend Forgive Me Fins. Ignore the pretty cover and tricky title. Dipping your feet into this isn't worth the few hours it takes to read.

Review: 1 star 

Date Published: May 19th 2012 

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Date Read: January 15th 2013 

Source: Borrowed (sibling) 

Format: Paperback 

Stand Alone/Series: Fins #1