Review: Fins Are Forever

Fins Are Forever, by Terra Lynn Childs (sequel to Forgive My Fins). The GoodReads summary:

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?

I'm not typically big on sequels, but this one actually wasn't too bad. I usually feel like sequels (or third books, or fourth books . . .) just aren't as good as the first. But in the case of this book, it was just as cute and adorable as the first. I don't know anything about writing books, but it seems to me that it might be easier to write a good sequel if you don't have to live up to the drama and intense emotion of the first. And since both the books in this series are light and fluffy, the second one didn't have impossible standards to live up to.

Usually one of the things I hate in sequels is that the relationship between the guy and girl gets boring, because they already got together at the end of the first one--so there's zero romantic tension in the sequel. While it's true that Fins Are Forever starts off with Quince and Lily as a couple, I didn't miss the romantic tension, because there never really was any in the first book either--their relationship has always been light and fun. And I don't have a problem with that.

Sorry, I realize this is less of a review and more of a "pros and cons of sequels," but I never really know how to write reviews of sequels. (Probably because since I rarely read them, I don't get much practice. But still.) So anyway, I had fun reading this book. The characters were still as lovable as in the first, and it was good to get to see Lily's hated-cousin Docinia gain some depth. It's a quick read, so pick it (or the first if you haven't read it yet) up sometime when you have 2 or 3 hours to spare.