Review: 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 – 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.

Forgive My Fins is a very light and fairly fast paced read. Lily, the protag, seems practical and down to earth in a lot of ways and even mature when she talks about her need to protect her people by keeping their existence a secret and when she thinks about one day becoming the ruler of the sea and all the responsibility that will entail, but for the most part she was a very immature and oblivious character. Most of the characters were except for Quince and a few of the merfolk that we meet.

Quince is a great character. He was by far my favorite. He was strong mentally and physically, knew what he wanted and went for it. He had a great sense of humor and was very protective of Lily. Some strange things happen to him in this book and he always took them well and rolled with the punches, adapting quickly to his circumstances. He did feel like he was somehow older and more mature than every other teenager in the story, though.

The mermaid angle was neat and I enjoyed seeing the undersea kingdom. If one was to think too much while reading this story, one might find questions and possible holes and what not so I tried not to over think the story.

The ending was slightly irritating to me because it seemed to make all the mermaid drama meaningless and for someone who is so very loyal and loving to friends and family, Lily seems to be able to drop them easily and follow whatever it is that she wants with single minded purpose.

Overall, I felt like Forgive My Fins read like a younger YA even though the characters were getting ready to graduate high school. It was a light and entertaining read that I don't think holds up to a great amount of scrutiny, so I recommend that one pick up this book without major expectations.

My final grade is a C+

Forgive My Fins