Joint Review: Forgive My Fins

Today I have an experiment for you. My regular cinema buddy and guest reviewer Sarah and I have decided to try to do a joint review – it’s our first attempt so bear with us! The book we’ve decided to review if Forgive My Fins…

Forgive My Fins

- Tara Lyn Childs

Publisher: UK - Templar

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.

Mel: Forgive My Fins is about a teenaged mermaid, Lily who has spent the last three years living on land in order to learn more about her mother who was human. She does all the usual teenaged things – gossip with her best, have a crush on a boy, rivalry with her annoying neighbor and of course has a bath where she can transform her legs into a tail. In that respect it reminded a little of the Splash film from the 80s with Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks…

Sarah: Me too!  Now, I read quite a lot of YA books, and Forgive My Fins doesn't really step off the beaten track in terms of storyline, but I don't know about you Mel, but I really liked Lily.  Her ocean-themed insults are brilliant, and she's a wonderfully feisty character who makes a LOT of mistakes.  So many in fact, that she makes my teenage years seem relatively smooth (I can predict Mel is squawking a 'what? like hell' at the computer screen right now!).  And, is it really wrong of me to fancy the boy-lead, Quince (even if he does have a ridiculous name....)?

Mel: I have to agree that her nautical insults are fantastic -and very easy to pick up -  I nearly called someone a blowfish today! Lily's mistakes are numerous and I thought she was very naive a lot of time - especially with regards to her crush, Brody. I was shocked at one point when Lily reminded me that she was nearly eighteen as I thought she was acting more like a fifteen year old - but this can be explained by her upbringing as a mermaid! But Quince was definitely good crush material! He was so manly, understandable and swoonsome! :-)

Sarah: Ok, so now I'm a little concerned at us both swooning over a fictitious eighteen year old...  I also loved Tera Child's underwater world - lovely descriptions with a hefty dose of inventiveness.  My criticisms though?  Quince, and especially best friend Shannen, accept the 'Lily is a mermaid' revelation WAY too easily - come on, it's meant to be set in our world, if someone told me they were a mermaid I'd be smiling and nodding whilst reaching for the straightjacket.  Saying 'oh yeah, you do use a lot of nautical words' really isn't a convincing explanation for immediate acceptance!

Mel: But some of us do try and leave the straightjacket at home for our crazy friends whenever possible! ;-) I agree everyone seemed to accept the mermaid bt easily - and with little proof (no showing off her tail to prove it). But the writing was so easy and the banter between characters such fun that I never really questioned it much - until now! The underwater scenes are great - although I was wondering how they kept things on tables - especially food at mealtimes. But the city and rituals are inventive. Overall, I really 'swam' through the pages of the book (sorry - you have to give me at least one pun!) and had a lot of fun.

Sarah: Definitely - it's a wonderfully pacy book that's very easy to read and keeps you interested right to the very end.  All in all, nothing ground breaking, but definitely worth a read.  One for fans of Lili St Crow and Kelley Armstrong's YA series, 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Mel: I'd recommend for fans of Tamora Pierce and Lauren Kate. 7 out of 10.

Early Review: Lost Voices

Lost Voices

-          Sarah Porter

Publisher: Harcourt Books

Ecopy courtesy of netgalley & Harcourt Books

Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of her grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce's own remarkable singing talent makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However, her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder?

 I’ve been really torn about Lost Voices. It is beautifully written with the descriptions of the sea and the mermaids voices mesmerising. The language was simple but elegant and I managed to read the story quickly. I also liked the unique twist on mermaids who are similar to Sirens, luring sailors to death with their song. They are also all the girls that were beaten, abused and unloved, who had nowhere else to go. I thought that was a great twist and I really felt for them, at least initially.

However, I struggled to connect to the main character, Luce. She had had a hard life and was without hope, yet there was some spark of defiance in her that I admired in the beginning. Yet, when she became a mermaid I found my sympathy for her draining away. She knew that drowning people was wrong, but she never stopped it. The other mermaids never seemed to have the same conscience so I can forgive them, but Luce carried on DESPITE feeling bad about it. She never expressed her qualms – just swam off alone occasionally. This really annoyed me as the spark in her in the beginning implied that she was more human. Overall mermaids are like any group of teenage girls and while I didn’t really connect to them, I did understand how they could act that with all they had been through.

I loved the idea of mermaids here and am curious at how the rest of the trilogy plays out, but I need more of a connection to the main character. However, the writing was enjoyable and story different from the usual supernatural Romeo and Juliet style story – that made a refreshing change!

Recommended for fans of Lauren Kate and Mean Girls. 6 out of 10