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Review: Fins Are Forever

AUTHOR: Tera Lynn Childs
SERIES: Fins, book 2
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
PUBLICATION DATE: June 28, 2011
ISBN: 9780061914683
PAGES: 272
SOURCE: my library
GENRE: fantasy (mermaids), romance
GIVE IT TO: MS girls

SUMMARY: Picks up a few days after the conclusion of Forgive My Fins. With her 18th birthday rapidly approaching, Lily decides to live as a human and renounce her claim to the throne of Thalassinia. She soon discovers that between SAT testing, a college interview, her trouble-making cousin coming to live with her, and a strange proposition from a childhood friend, life as a human isn’t any easier than being a mermaid princess.

MOVIE COMPARISON: Mermaid girl in love with a human–reminds me of Splash

RATING BREAKDOWN:

  • Overall: 2/5 stars
  • Creativity: 4/5 stars
  • Characters: 3/5 stars–love Quince and Lily
  • Engrossing: 2/5 stars
  • Writing: 3/5 stars
  • Appeal to teens: 5/5 stars–my students LOVE Forgive My Fins and are eager to check out the sequel
  • Appropriate length to tell the story: 4/5 stars

CONTENT:

  • Language: none
  • Sexuality: mild; some kissing
  • Violence: none
  • Drugs/Alcohol: none

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: We have multiple copies of both Forgive My Fins and Fins Are Forever in my library. Both are very popular, and I recommend them highly and often.

WARNING: The reviews on this site are intended for librarians who need thorough book reviews in order to make informed purchasing decisions. As such, anything below this warning may contain mild spoilers. I try not to give away too much, but I do review the entire book.

WHAT I LIKED: Most of what I like about Fins Are Forever really took place in the previous book. I loved the premise of a mermaid princess in love with a human. I loved Lily and Quince and was happy to see them together again in this sequel. I liked the introduction to Lily’s cousin, Doe, and think she is even more interesting than Lily. The mer-world itself is unique, and I like the environmental message of the polluted oceans and warming waters making the mer-kingdoms sick.

I really like the ending, which sets up an interesting premise and love triangle for a third Fins installment in July 2012 (Just for Fins).

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: I really wanted to love this book as much as I loved Forgive My Fins, but it just didn’t happen for me. The story takes forever to get going, drags in the middle, and finally gets interesting at the very end, only to be quickly resolved.

And WHEN did Lily get so bossy and controlling? Sure, she was a bit hot-tempered in the first book, but honestly, who cares if Doe is exiled and may never be allowed to go back to the sea? What she did to be exiled borders on unforgivable. She’s manipulative and just plain horrible to Lily, and I have trouble understanding why Lily would care one lick what happens to her.

For me, the last few pages and the conflict they introduce are the most interesting parts of the whole book. I would have loved to see that be the conflict rather than Doe’s trouble-making and Lily’s apprehension over her grades and upcoming SAT test.

I would also have loved to read Doe’s perspective; alternating Lily/Doe chapters would have made FAF far more interesting.

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