Waiting on Wednesday (22)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.

By Tera Lynn Childs
Publication Date: July 3, 2012

When Lily Sanderson decided to remain Crown Princess Waterlily of the mermaid kingdom Thalassinia, she knew she couldn’t just coast along in the current. But since she’s spent the last couple of years on land—with gorgeous human Quince by her side—Lily’s not sure she has the fins to lead a kingdom. Even her maddeningly pretentious cousin Dosinia seems to know more about ruling than she does.

But Lily has to dive in deep to keep her promise to Tellin, her mer bond in name only, whose kingdom is suffering in the changing ocean climate. Lily knows this is a seven seas–sized problem: from sea animals dying to oil spills and threats to humans. They’ll need to create some serious waves to make the mer community aware and get it to join together to make things right. Even if that means facing one of the iciest queens in the mer kingdoms.

Just when Lily thinks her double life on land and sea can’t get any more complicated, an ancient mer law might separate Lily and Quince after all. It feels as if the pair is up against a solid tsunami wave!

In this third installment in the series that began with Forgive My Fins and Fins Are Forever, Lily will have to find a way to balance safety and justice for the mer people as well as for the humans she loves

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

From HarperCollins Childrens:

Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but for Lily Sanderson, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily has a secret, and it’s not her huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. 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 she discovered three years ago that her mother was actually a human, Lily finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been going to Seaview High ever since. Living on 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 finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily ever after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

I had read and enjoyed the Oh My Gods! series by Tera Lynn Childs, so I picked up this book, despite my mermaid reservations.  The underwater descriptions are vivid and lovely, making me want to vacation in Thalassinia.  The antagonistic relationship between Lily and Quince is hilarious.  Quince seems like the quintessential bad boy (my favorite) in the beginning, but as he learns who Lily really is and the two spend more time together, you see that he really is a sweetheart (Nat's favorite).  Lily is a fun heroine and perhaps true to form for a "normal" teenager, she makes all the wrong decisions without a thought to the ramifications.  I really did not like the ending; however, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the book.  I reserve judgment on the ending though, since book 2, Fins Are Forever released June 28, 2011 (review coming soon), so this ending set up the story in Forever.  

All in all, I give Forgive My Fins 4 stars - you should definitely read it!  

~ Shel