Review: Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:
On Lily Sanderson’s eighteenth birthday she’ll become just a girl—still a mergirl, true, but signing the renunciation will ink Princess Waterlily of Thalassinia out of existence. That leaves plain old Lily living on land, dating the boy she loves, and trying to master this being-human thing once and for all.

Now that Lily and Quince are together, mer bond or not, she’s almost content to give up her place in the royal succession of Thalassinia. But just when she thinks she has everything figured out, the waves start to get rough. Lily’s father sends a certain whirlpool-stirring cousin to stay with her on land. What did Doe do to get herself exiled from Thalassinia and stuck in terraped form when everyone knows how much she hates humans? And why why why is she batting her eyelashes at Lily’s former crush, Brody?
The seafoam on the raging surf comes when a merboy from Lily’s past shows up—Tellin asks Lily for something that clouds her view of the horizon. There’s a future with Quince on land, her loyalty to the kingdom in the sea, and Lily tossing on the waves in the middle. Will she find a way to reconcile her love, her duty, and her own dreams?
Tera Lynn Childs’s sequel to Forgive My Fins offers another tail-flicking romance with plenty of fun, sun, and underwater adventure.

Book 2 in the Fins series
This book is corny and cutesy and full of cheesy sea-based humour- but I LOVE it! These books are so much fun, and I always have a smirk on my face while reading them.


Lily Sanderson is a half human and half mermaid princess- raised underwater but spending time on land with her human aunt, and attending high school. She has made the decision to renounce her title and give up the throne of Thalassinia, and live permanently on the land. This means studying hard to catch up at school and doing well on her SATs, so that she can go to college. But a visiting mer cousin is determined to cause trouble and makes things as difficult for her as possible.


I loved reading this book for the charming story, but also for the characters in it as well- Lily is so funny, and a whirlwind of chaos as wild as her hair, and boyfriend Quince is quirky and lovely, and really supportive of her. In this book we also have Lily's spiteful cousin Dosinia making things really interesting, and throwing everything into confusion for Lily. Lily never shies away from her responsibility though and takes on the difficult task of teaching her cousin some humanity. However, Doe only wants to cause trouble and involves Lily's old crush Brody in her schemes, completely distracting her from her college applications.


Lily loves Quince and is so torn between her desire to stay on land, and her duty to her kingdom, especially when her old friend and a prince from a neighbouring kingdom returns and Lily finds out that things in the kingdom are not as perfect as they seem. This book ends on an unexpected twist, but it really works and makes everything that Lily had decided on in doubt again.


These books aren't very long and I read this one and the previous one in one sitting, but they are little gems- very sweet, cute and imaginative. There's nothing on Amazon yet, but there's going to be another book, right?- RIGHT??!!

The Time Will Come #34

The Time Will Come is a weekly meme hosted by Jodie at Books For Company, where we can spotlight those books that we've had sitting on our shelves for too long. Books that we really want to read but never seem to get around to.

I bought this book because it sounded like such a coming of age/ contemporary gem. A girl finds herself and grows in confidence, and falls in love- all in the beautiful setting of Yellowstone National Park. I couldn't resist buying this book along with a few others whilst The Book Depository had their 10% off sale a few months ago... and I still haven't read it! I really want to read this book!

Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristin Chandler.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
It's K.J.'s junior year in the small town of West End, Montana, and whether she likes it or not, things are different this year. Over the summer, she turned from the blah daughter of a hunting and fishing guide into a noticeably cuter version of the outdoor loner. Normally, K.J. wouldn't care less, but then she meets Virgil, whose mom is studying the controversial wolf packs in nearby Yellowstone Park. And from the moment Virgil casts a glance at her from under his shaggy blond hair, K.J. is uncharacteristically smitten. Soon, both K.J. and Virgil are spending a lot of their time watching the wolves (and each other), and K.J. begins to see herself and her town in a whole new light.

Waiting On Wednesday #11

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we can spotlight those books not published yet that we are eagerly anticipating.

My pick for this week is Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I think it looks incredibly powerful and really different. I love the sound of the description- thrilling and romantic.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old-girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.



The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.


Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.


In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

Sounds good right?
This is published in November this year.

Review: Exile by Rebecca Lim

Exile by Rebecca Lim


My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:
An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, EXILE is the breathtaking sequel to MERCY in a major new paranormal romance series.

Mercy’s search continues ...

Mercy is an angel with a shattered memory, exiled from heaven for a crime she can’t remember committing.
So when she ‘wakes’ inside the body and life of eighteen-year-old Lela Neill, Mercy has only limited recall of her past life. Her strongest memories are of Ryan, the mortal boy who’d begun to fall for her – and she for him.
Mercy soon discovers that circumstances have forced Lela into waitressing at the Green Lantern, a busy city café frequented by suits, cab drivers, strippers, backpackers and the homeless, while caring for her terminally ill mother.
Just as Mercy is adjusting to Lela’s life, her beloved, Luc, reappears in her dreams, and she begins to glimpse her true nature and true feelings for Ryan. What she does not know is that her attempts to contact Ryan may have explosive consequences for everyone around her.
Meanwhile, ‘the Eight’ — the angelic beings responsible for her banishment — remain determined to keep Mercy and Luc apart, forever

Book 2 in the Mercy series
Mercy is a being who is continually dropped into another person's life for an unknown length of time, usually until she can sort out some problem in that person's life. This time, she finds herself in the body of a depressed and angry girl, forced to quit university to care for her dying mother, and working in a coffee shop in a rough area of town. It takes Mercy a lot longer to adapt to this new body, because she has no clue where she has to go for work, or who anybody is, and has to continually make up excuses for her sudden memory loss. The people all around her are rude and harrassed, and Lela's life is a very depressing one, with no glimmer of hope in her future. She does find a way to get in contact with Ryan again, from her previous life as Carmen, and arranges to meet up with him- but will he manage to get there in time?


I thought that this was better than book 1 Mercy, because some of the ideas behind what Mercy really is, were better developed. She also starts to remember little snippets of what she was before, and some of the angels she used to know in another time. We the reader are slowly fed some clues to her background and the reason behind her situation. Mercy is still visited by the mysterious Luc in her dreams and confused by his cryptic advice about "the Eight". The tension keeps building up and up to a climactic shocker of a finish. This book felt a little darker than the first one simply because it was sadder and there was an underlying hopelessness about it.


I loved the idea of her managing to get in touch with Ryan again, from her new body on the other side of the world. He is the only one who believes her story and sees her for who she really is, but I just didn't get their supposedly epic love. I didn't see that much romance in book 1 (unless I missed it) and I actually thought he spent most of the book being quite mean to her, and only started to like her nearer the end, when they were working together to find out what happened to his sister, and learning to trust each other. I love the idea of these books, and seeing Mercy struggle to cope in each new situation. I look forward to seeing where she will end up next, and to finding out some more about the mystery of her background- who is punishing her and why- and to find out if she will manage to escape the endless cycle forced on her and be able to live her own life.

In My Mailbox 2nd October 2011

In My Mailbox is a weekly event hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where we can show off the books we received the past week whether bought, borrowed or given for review.

A very small mailbox this week, which is good because it gives me a chance to catch up on some of my reading pile!

Audiobooks:



• Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck. Book 2 in the Tiger Series
• Death Bringer by Derek Landy. Book 6 in the Skulduggery Pleasant series.

For review:

• ebook of The Promise by Apryl Baker. Thanks to the author for the copy of this book, sent as part of a planned blog tour. Look out for an interview with author Apryl Baker later this month.

What did you get in your mailbox?

Happy reading!