Review: Forgive My Fins (Fins #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

Forgive My Fins (Fins #1) by Tera Lynn Childs

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Release Date: May 19th 2010

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Page Count: Hardcover, 293 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy

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. - Good Reads

I was excited to read this - I love mermaids and seeing as how this book is all about a mermaid, I was into it. And it didn't disappoint me horribly, but I didn't love it as much as I expected.

There is a lot of "sea slang" used and I didn't really care for that. I felt it was bordering on being too cute and juvenile, maybe more suited for a preteen. I also couldn't really relate to the heroine Lily much. She was a little too stubborn for my tastes and more often than not I was rolling my eyes at her attitude. Stubborn is good, but there is a fine line and then you're just being stupid. She was also a little more naive than I would expect a nearly 18 year old to be. If I wanted to sum up this book, it was basically about a girl who is stupidly stubborn and wrong and everyone but her can see it and that it drags out that way until the end. There was really nothing else to this story: no action, no other storylines. At the end though, there is an epilogue, which points that there will be a second book out, and it in fact out now: Fins Are Forever.

It seems like the story could get more interesting in the next book, but I'm honestly not really jumping out of my seat to go get it. I will end up reading it most likely, but I didn't get caught up in the story enough to really get involved. I think Forgive My Fins could have easily been one book, despite the ending being slightly unsatisfactory for the feelings invested.