Splash into Summer: The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle

My first book about selkies and it was definitely better than I thought it would be. Although the romance of it was a bit OVER THE TOP and Edward/Belle-esque, I enjoyed the story of a selkie torn between the sea he loves and the girl he's lured into being with him.

I thought this story was going to be told through the eyes of the selkie male (named by his 'captor' Eamon) and, it was. However, it is also told through the eyes of the girl, Kait and it seems that it is Kait's story that receives most of the attention in it we find a girl being forced to follow conventions and marry. Her parents have died and it would seem her twin brother Blair thinks he is doing her a favor by setting her up before he pursues his own bride. He believes this to be especially true since Kait's best friend has a baby that isn't quite human, and, because it was thrown out to sea to drown the selkies want some sort of vengeance. Eamon, too, is trapped by duty and a fear of humans, except for he can't stay away from Kait for too long.

It's pretty cool that this story takes place on the island of Shapinsay during the same time period that Balfour Castle was being built, the middle 1800s, when people still believed in faeries and the evil of witches. Kait learns that to keep Eamon with her, she must steal his selkie coat, and hide it in a place that no one would ever look. This is what human men have been doing to beautiful selkie women for ages and it works in reverse, but at what cost. While Eamon and Kait love one another and are bound to one another it must be determined if this love is strong enough to live through so much on both sides of the equation.

Although predictable (what love story isn't?), the ending has a twist that I truly enjoyed. I look forward to reading more lovie-dovie romances by Krista Holle and I need to find more books about selkies, as I don't know any of their legends and lore. I feel like I'm behind the times and must go watch The Secret of Roan Inish and Ondine immediately.

4 Stars   

The over the top romance and Scottish accents (so hard to do successfully on paper) kind of did me in, I do think that my students will like the romance of this book, and if you're looking for a different sort of paranormal and mermaids are too fluffy, I'd suggest a selkie book.

Teacher Advisories
Sex 4/5 
When selkies are on land they are truly naked...um, they don't seem to mind. There's lots of lips touching soft  skin and warm touches and such and Eamon's nude the whole time. There's also a human male who won't leave Kait alone. Kait and Eamon marry and sleep in the same bed. Eamon refers to having sex as 'humping'. They have sex on the beach and in a bed. There's lots of nudity...not written dirtly at all...but it's still there. I'm curious about its YA classification...it seems grown-up in this respect...
Language 0/5 
Nothing.
Substance Abuses 2/5
There's a bonfire where there's drinking. There's some more drinking at the tavern. And, then they drink again. Ah, come on, it's Scotland in the 1800s!!!
Violence 5/5
Blair abuses Kait often, he holds her down or drags her off. I get that he's trying to protect her, but wow, that's controlling and abrasive! Magnum kisses Kate and treats her like property. A baby is drowned, a girl commits suicide. Selkie women are dragged off to be wives. A Selkie man is forced to be a husband, but then he grows to love her...he loved her already actually, but still.

Touchy Subjects
Coerced Relationships
It is selkie lore that in order to trap a selkie and keep them on land you must steal and hide their coat. This makes any selkie relationship a sad affair, especially if that selkie doesn't want to be kept on land.
Brutality towards women
Blair also seems to think that he can force Kait into marrying who he deems fit. He does this by force. It seems that women are not allowed to make choices and they are brutally coerced into making the 'right' choices.

Suicide
After her baby is murdered by its grandfather a woman takes her own life, she is that overcome with grief.

Judgment and Profiling
Humans think that selkies are evil and at the beginning of the book this is shown through the murder of a little selkie baby.



How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Everblue by Brenda Pandos

I have no idea why I wanted to read this book. I think I was totally drawn in by the cover; isn't it beautiful? And, then I realized I could get a mermaid book for ever so cheap ($.99 as an ebook on the Nook) and, well, I do love a mermaid book on the cheap.

I love the setting of this book. It's so cool to think that living amongst everyday average people are merpeople and that there are gates to another world where they live and thrive with rules and cities different than our own. I also loved how the gate we see the most is in Lake Tahoe...so VERY different than the other books. I like how the world is created with air bubbles in homes so there can be furniture and human creature comforts. I also like the characters (even though one of the merboys is named Fin...yes, Fin, as in I have one), frankly, I especially like Fin the most of all.

So, if I like all those things about it...why the low-rating? why the dislike? Let me see if I can break it down.

1. The execution of the story
This story is paced like it's a 500 page novel. With little details given over time and/or large chunks given over to explanation of a thing that isn't important at that moment. This book takes up practically a whole year.

2. The back and forth narration doesn't work
I enjoyed the change of narrator in Tangled Tides, it flowed and I got to know the characters. In this book the narration doesn't stay with one character enough for me to get into the story and I found myself rereading a part or a section just to see if I missed something.

3. It's treatment of boys and girls...relationships...men and women
If a mermaid is bonded to a boy once they kiss (an idea I do not mind...mated for life is highly romantic), isn't a forced kiss, well, rape? Ick. That's all I could

4. The strangely forced Christian slant
I am a Christian and I like being one...I don't like Christian just being thrown in for the sake of good Christianness. It just threw me off and...actually made me a little uncomfortable, like I was hanging out with my mother and I was 13 all over again.

Everything about this book has rubbed me the wrong way...I'm not sure I need to read the rest of the series (although I've just downloaded Evergreen, I don't know why...it was cheap). I always feel bad when I genuinely don't like a book, mostly because I'm not really sure if I could do better if I tried and here a person has given their heart and soul and all I can do is read it and bash it. I've also read tons of other reviews, hoping those 4s and 5s (and there are a lot of them) would help me see the story differently. Sometimes I'd read a review and think..."Did we read the same book?". That being said, I do hope you try out this book for yourself and if you rank it higher than me please tell me why, I'd really like to know. I think I would have liked this book better had it been the first mermaid book I'd ever read and not the latest.

I felt sad that for my Splash into Summer week, I chose to read two books that weren't what I thought they would be. On to my first truly selkie book, The Lure of Shapinsay!

2 Stars

A good character or two, nice setting...I don't really like anything else about it

Sex 2/5

I really do find that forced kissing thing deplorable. Fin and Ash kiss...as he is trying to save her life, so they're bonded too. 

Language 0/5

None.

Substance Abuses 0/5

None, this really is a nice clean book.

Violence 3/5

The king and his son get into it. The son is a lech, and he picks a fight or two with Fin. It would seem that the whole entire mer kingdom is being led by a lying, conniving father and son duo. Fin's family is also a bit greedy. He gets into a fight with his cousin, there's an explosion, Ash almost drowns and, then there's that whole entire kiss thing. then there was this big fight before the book begins where Fin's father frightens Ash so much that she thinks he's an alcoholic.


Touchy Subjects

Unwanted anything...
Even if somebody kisses you against your will that's still not cool. 

Secrets
Ash doesn't know that Fin and his sister, her best friend, are mermaids.
Religion
I am guessing that the overt Christianity probably gets this book some readers it wouldn't otherwise. It just seemed contrived and forceful to me.



How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Splash into Summer: Sea Change by Aimee Freidman

Sea Change by Aimee Friedman is a beautiful story of the sea and of budding teen romance and coming-of-age in a small town in the South...it is a story of mystery, suspense, history and family. I can't really tell if it's a story about mermaids. I think it wants to be. I think it thinks it is. I'm not so sure.

Miranda comes from a long Southern family who vacations every year on Selkie (no there aren't any selkies in this book) Island. Miranda and her mother have gone back to the island to pack up their family home. While doing this Miranda falls for a local boy whose mysteriousness seems to be tied into a book of mermaids found on her grandmothers' bookshelf and to the island itself.

The story of Miranda's growth into a girl who becomes a young adult who doesn't just do what she's told and doesn't live in her life by stereotypes. I really liked how Friedman gives us that stereotypical Southern Belle and Southern Gentleman in several of the teen characters, but then she gives us characters who defy those stereotypes. I like that Miranda learns that just because you fight or disagree with your parents that doesn't mean they don't love you or that you don't love them. I especially love that there is a side of Miranda that she didn't even know existed and I love that her grandmother, even in her death, is helping her find that side.

Leo, a boy she meets on the coast of the island, is everything any girl wants in a man. He passionate and compassionate and good-looking, he loves all the things that she loves (science, sea creatures) and is from the island.

The only thing is, Leo, may or may not be a merman.

This is where Aimee Friedman lost me.

She spends all of this time setting up this mystery. Mercreatures are attracted to red and gold; the whole entire town of fishermen is decked out in red and gold. Leo is always mysteriously near water and has a vast knowledge of the lore and science surrounding the island. However, all of this back story never really comes to any type of conclusion.

I didn't mind the strange reason Miranda and Leo have a fight and I didn't mind how Miranda's mother seems to lose her mind once on the island flirting with an old flame and acting like a debutante. I did mind that this is supposed to be a mermaid story, even better a story about a merboy, and there's only a slight instant of tail fin. I don't mind connecting the dots in a mystery, but is it really a mystery if the author only just gives us a wee-bit to be curious about. In the end no questions are answered and, frankly, there are more questions asked. Is the guy on the ferry mer too? Is Miranda part mer? Was her grandmother and, in turn, her mother? At first, I thought that I had a bad copy of the book, that's how much is missing, but after reading other reviews I think this may be the intention of the novel. This book wants a sequel, although I hear there isn't one in the works at all.

This book has a lovely romance and is a great story of the growth of a girl who learns that things can live outside of her comfort zone and knowledge. If you are reading this book in the hopes of having a little mermaid action you may be disappointed. Maybe.

Review from Coffee and Cliffhangers

3 Stars
 
But, I was promised mermaids...*whine, whine, whine*

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 2/5

The connection between Leo and Miranda is pretty intense. They get close to going all the way a couple of times. One time he gets so fresh that she decides she no longer wants to see him, partly because it scares her and partly because he's so fresh. At least that's how I saw it. Miranda's new summer friends may or may not be true friends, one uses her sensuality to lure a guy away from Miranda.

Language 0/5

No cussing.

Substance Abuses 2/5

There are parties. There's underage drinking.

Violence 1/5

Miranda falls off a boat and is saved. There's some strife between the locals and the summer people.


Touchy Subjects

Science and Myth
Miranda's heart says that what she's reading and seeing couldn't possibly be true.

Secrets
Leo's family has secrets. Miranda's family has secrets. The town maybe hiding a big secret. The summer people have their share of secrets.
Relationships
Miranda's mother hasn't really told her a lot about her family and its history. Miranda's mother also acts pretty irresponsibly through-out the book, but expects Miranda to follow all her rules.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper

I wasn't really into the cover of this book, the mermaid is in some sort of misty ecstasy with pastel water splashes and a thunderstorm in the background, so it took me awhile to actually read it, which is sad because Tangled Tides is my favorite mermaid book so far. It combines romance, suspense and mythology to entice the reader to go on the journey with Yara.

This is the first mermaid book that I've read that actually delves into the history of mermaids, talks about how there are more than one type of mer-creature and doesn't have a heroine that cries and whines all the time. Sure, Yara doesn't want to be a mermaid, but she also doesn't understand how much her family and friends are involved with these ancient creatures either.

While Yara is truly the star of the show, Hooper compels us to get to know each of the characters in this universe she's created. There are two warring half-brothers, this creates a love triangle sort of (another part I like about the book a new twist on the triangle of love), who happen to be on the opposite ends of the same side, an adorable old guardian uncle, a bewitching siren and so many beautiful and colorful mermaids that I couldn't pick a favorite secondary character. I like how the story gets told through the voices of three characters, not just one. At first I thought this was going to be annoying, but then realized the story moved forward with each interpretation of the tale and the three very different voices kept me intrigued.

And, if you want action there's that too. The gorgons want their cursed prize, there's a deadly sickness that mermaids get if they stay in our world too long and they're running out of the cure and time, there's a shark attack that I didn't breath through as I read and there are some sexy scenes and kisses that left me quite breathless, and wishing I had fins and a tail and my own blue-haired tattooed man friend.

This is definitely a book for those people who love their water creatures (as there are mermaids, selkies, water sprites, sirens and gorgons), but it also for people who love mythology (I never really thought about where mermaids came from, until I read this book), or just want a good suspenseful romance.

Oh, and I got this book for free, when it was free, it's now $4.99 on your Kindle and I couldn't find an ebook version on Barnes and Noble.

5 Stars

Teacher Advisories
Sex 2/5 
There's some sexy kissing, some heated thigh touching and a strange scene where a siren is licking at the wounds of a mermaid.
Language 3/5 
Damn, shit, hell used in the usually way that teens and young adults use them.
Substance Abuses 2/5
The mermaids and selkies smoke something called C-weed in the form of seagrettes. While it may seem unnecessary at first and a bit gratuidous it's how they stay alive here on Earth and probably don't do so in their home environment as they wouldn't need the plant to stay alive. Some people might find this constant smoking and their dependence on it questionable.
Violence 4/5
There's a pretty violent shark fight where a mermaid's tail feathers get ripped off. Gorgons are pretty mean and violent, many mermaids and selkies perished at their hands. And, then there's that whole thing with the siren and the licking...ick.

Touchy Subjects
Religion
There's a healing ritual that may seem pretty new-agey to some.
Substance Abuse
It's probably important to note to students that these mermaids and selkies aren't smoking for the fun of it, nor are they addicts. They are doing it to survive.
Brother against Brother
Sure they learn about it when they are taught about civil wars, but kids need to understand the strained relationship between Rownan and Treygan and why they do not get along.
Sacrifice for Family
There's a lot of that going on in this book and it's important to understand a parents' love and their need to make sure their offspring are safe. It is also amazing to think about what Yara and Treygan and Rownan go through because of family.

How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option (not for honors students...reading level is too darned easy, unless, of course, they read it for their independent summer read and for that I have a guide...a guide I should post on this website...hmmm...)

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I prefer to view my steampunk, rather than to read it (I love Wild Wild West, the show and movie, I love Treasure Planet, 9, The Golden Compass, those new Sherlock Holmes movies, The Prestige, Sucker Punch, Hugo, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing and so on). Of course, this comment excludes the original fathers of steampunk HG Wells and Jules Verne, I could read their novels all day and have taken reading challenges, just so I could do this very year. You see, modern (those styled after Wells and Verne) steampunk novels include affectations that drive me completely and utterly insane. It seems to me that these novels are more about the gadgets, the setting, the feel for an anachronistic Victorian England than they are about the characters and the plot...if I have to read one more time about some guy's cravat, I may just...ugh...

I know what you are thinking (or at least will be thinking soon), Stephanie, if you dislike steampunk so much than why do you read it. Hmmmm, I read it in the hopes that one day I will read a steampunk novel that comes closer to Wells and Verne than what I've read so far.

I think this book, The Girl in the Steel Corset, and its novellette companion, The Strange Case of Finley Jayne, may be the closest I've seen yet.

Finley Jayne has literally run away from her job...of course, she did this after clocking the living daylights out of the son whose hands were just a little too friendly. She runs right into millionaire and Duke, Griffin King. He takes her back to his mansion/castle via his velocycle were we meet a group of young castaways. Via the aether Griffin can see the future, read your thoughts, locate your whereabouts and communicate with the dead, Sam Morgan is a big tall hunk of metal, literally, as he was torn into pieces and put back together, who mopes around lamenting his real heart and his true love. His true love happens to be the beyond brilliant Emily Kingston, who can fix anything, as she can communicate with machinery. There's Jasper Renn, a cowboy from the wild west, who is running away from something and joins the crew and there's Jack Dandy, the villian who sports an unrealistic cockney accent on purpose. And, then there's Victorian England and Victoria herself both of which are in danger of being destroyed by a brilliant, but crazy mastermind.

This book is released by Harlequin Teen (didn't even know this division existed) and written by a former romance novelist and you can tell, most of the time in a good way as we get to read more in-depthly about the dresses, the city, the men and the clothes and the walls, seriously beautiful and breath-taking...when it comes to the portrayal of Finley Jayne it didn't work so much. Although, she can punch through walls and throw grown men and machinery across the room, she still light and fluffy and girly...gag.

Frankly, I like the novelette better, Finley seems less conflicted and I like how the story is set up, so we know she wasn't just kicked out of her former employers home. We know that Finley is passionate and strong. It segues nicely into the novel. Although it was released after the novel, I wish I would have read it first, as I would have found Finley less annoying.

Oh, and cravat is only mentioned nine times; how refreshing.

And, since Steampunk looks so pretty on the screen, I'd love to see this as a movie...it's too bad Jude Law is way to old *wimper for the sake of all humanity* to play any of the male characters.

I look forward to reading The Girl in the Clockwork Collar.

4 Stars   

The advisories below cover both the book and its novelette.

Teacher Advisories
Sex 1/5 
There are a couple of kisses and the sexy flirting. I'm not sure I'd count that as more than a one.
Language 2/5 
Phrases and words are used to mean cuss words. The word damn is used rather flagrantly.
Substance Abuses 1/5
There are some dinners with alcohol and some bars with some ale. Do the organites count as a substance?
Violence 4/5
Griff's friend Sam gets into a lot of brawls. Each of the girls gets knocked out at some point. There's fighting...um, Griff harnesses the aether and gets caught up in it...pretty deadly stuff.

Touchy Subjects
Contacting the dead
Griff uses the aether to talk to his parents who are dead. Some people may think that the aether is some sort of evil spirit.
Queen and country
Poor dear Queen Victoria gets turned into an automaton, some people may find this offensive. Queen Victoria is also kind of mean and secretive.
Machines taking over the world
Scary idea because it's so real...

How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau

Here is another book for my mermaid challenge.

Just in case you've forgotten it's lovely marvelous details or you want to play along you can find all the information you need by clicking on The 2012 MerBooks Mermaid Book Reading Challenge.

How could you not love a book that starts off with a girl getting her period while trying on swimsuits damaging the one she decides to buy and ends with a recipe for Chocolate Mug Cake (something I'm definitely going to try in the future)? The answer is that there is no possible way that you couldn't.

After Jade reaches puberty, things about her begin to change...a certain boy begins to notice her lovely wavy hair and curvy figure and one day in the bathtub she begins to notice that instead of feet she's sporting a shimmering blue-green tail.

I love the voice of Jade, she's sassy and quick-witted, just how I feel every middle grade school girl should be. She thinks she's too curvy (there's a whole scene with a tankini that is just too real and adorable), she thinks she's not beautiful (without wavy red hair, how could she be anything else?), and she is missing her mother, who drowned a year ago, more than anything.

But, is her mother really dead or is that her mother she hears calling her? Can she stand being part mermaid? Trying to find these answers means that she has to keep telling big lies to her best friend and it means that she could be putting herself into more danger than she realized.

The best part of this book is the fact that the mermaid stuff seems to be par for the course in Port Toulouse and the story isn't really about keeping the secret or finding her true love or identity, but in finding out what really happened to her mother.

What can I say? This book is cute and fun and light and fluffy. A perfect summer read for any girl age 9 to, um, 36.

Oh and book two just came out...yippers!


4 Stars   

Teacher Advisories
Sex 1/5 
I think there may be long look or two and a "kiss made of awesome"...seriously, I feel like a prude even giving this a one. A boy takes off his shoe to show a girl his webbed toes...Jade spends the first chapter talking about getting her period for the first time, no inappropriate words are used.
Language 0/5 
This book makes a point of making sure that 13 year old girls shouldn't even be saying the work "crap" and they really shouldn't should they.
Substance Abuses 0/5
Um, yep, I got nothin'...unless you count a crazy addiction to chocolate.
Violence 1/5
Jade's mother is kidnapped by some 'freshies' and forced to live in the area where the fresh and salt water mixes (what's that called? I can't remember from 4th grade geography...) everybody thinks she drowned. Jade rescues her and her captors chase them around, there's some fighting and some high-pitched merwords.

Touchy Subjects
Getting your period or as I like to call it "Special Monthly Time"
Some parents may not be comfortable having a girl who is part mermaid talk to their children about the embarrassment of getting your period. I found the scene in the book mortifying and realistic.
Telling lies
The twist on this book is that Jade's parents know she may be a mermaid. Jade lies to her best friend a lot. Eventually everyone ask for and gets forgiveness.
The First Kiss
I'm guessing most kids who are reading this book for the first time have never been kissed. That's a good thing and they should know that.

How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option (not for honors students...reading level is too darned easy, unless, of course, they read it for their independent summer read and for that I have a guide...a guide I should post on this website...hmmm...)

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

OK, so I'm sorry to admit it, but this book is my first ever horror novel. Yes, that's right folks I own, but have never read Amityville Horror, Psycho, The Woman in Black, The House on Haunted Hill...the closest I've ever come to reading any type of horror novel is reading those creepy little books Tales for the Midnight Hour and More Tales for the Midnight Hour.

I could not have picked a better book to begin this adventure.

Cas comes from a long line of ghost killers. He has a special weapon that propels ghosts back to the Nether Regions. Cas doesn't understand the true power behind this tool he just knows that he must use it to finally vanquish one of the most horrid ghosts of all, a girl properly named Anna Dressed in Blood as her body and the white dress she wears are dripping and soaked with her blood. He knows that killing her will bring him one step closer to vanquishing the evil spirit that killed his father.

But, it isn't that easy.

First, there's the fact that most humans who get near her are ripped into two pieces their spirits trapped within the house forever. Second, Anna isn't your ordinary spirit needing to cross over, she has her own ghostly problems. And, finally, there's the fact that Cas find Anna just plain mesmerizing. He doesn't want to kill her, he wants to save her.

This book is descriptive, fast-paced (seriously, you will be hooked two pages in to the first chapter) and ended in such a way that I wanted more without feeling annoyed that I had to wait for another book to come out.

And, while Cas is an wonderfully believable narrator, yes, I do know boys that cuss that much and yes, I would love to be his friend, he is not my favorite character. My favorite character is Anna and I can't wait for her return for the beyond.

And, to give credit where credit is due, I must thank Hayden at The Teen Book Worm for suggesting this book for my classroom library. His suggestion and wonderful review compelled me to read it. I can't wait for the second in the series. I hope the cat comes back.


5 Stars
Who knew that blood and gore could be so darned entertaining?!

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 1/5

I think there may be a kiss and some hand-holding...um, yep, there's just that.

Language 5/5

This book is chock full of the F-Word and shit and damn so much I lost track...lots and lots of cussing. Frankly, I was really taken aback by this, not because I care, but because of marketing...this tells me I may have lived in the Bible Belt a little too long.

Substance Abuses 2/5

There's references to drinking. Two boys get drunk and bully a girl and another boy. There's smoking, too.

Violence 5/5

Well, Anna is a ghost known for ripping people apart. This happens to one of the students and it is described in great, gross detail. Then said student's torn to bits body comes back to talk to Cas. Um, there's a basement full of such people...ghosts who are trapped in Anna's house. A nasty spirit eats a cat...horrible! Anna is such a scary ghost because she was murdered (again something that is given in great detail) and her guardian cast a spell on her spirit. Lots of blood and guts and gore.


Touchy Subjects

Life after Death
I assume that when you read a book about ghost you get pretty curious about the afterlife.

Revenge
Cas has become a slayer of ghost in the hopes of finding the spirit who killed his father. He hopes to kill this spirit and in some ways is blinded by this fact.
Family Secrets
Anna is murdered by her mother, an evil controlling hag.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

I'm not sure how I feel about Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs. On the one hand I love the continuation of the story from the first book, I love the character Quince and I love the Lily is learning more and more how to be herself. On the other hand, I felt that new  characters were added just to add meat to the very thin story, I thought that the story was predictable to the point of boredom and, well, there's a whole lot of Dosinia and Doe (as she is called) is the character we spent the whole entire first book disliking--frankly, I disliked her soooo much that, even at the end of this book and we find out a few things about her, I still wanted her to get eaten by a shark.

Although the bond has been severed, at the end of the first book, Lily and Quince decided that they should be together. This means that Lily must give up her kingdom...for a boy. I was willing to accept this fate for Lily as she spent the whole book crying and not listening to her heart and needed to be shown that her true happiness really does matter. In this book she jeopardizes (although by the end we all see why) her future and her happiness, and I still can't decide if it's because she was too stubborn to get it or if Doe is a bigger b-word than I thought.

Which brings me to the fact that I don't like Doe. I suppose that I should be grateful that Childs has written her character so well that I want to vomit every time she's around, which in this book is often, as she's been banished from the kingdom and forced to live with humans. Of course, Brody is back and there's another boy who is heir to a throne in dire straits. Because of this fact, there's more relationship tension between Quince and Lily...tension caused by Lily and her inability to trust people...ugh.

Part of the problem I may have with this book is that I felt that the first one ended so nicely. Actually, this book has a pretty sweetastic ending also, it just took me about 45 pages to understand that there could, in fact, be more to the story.

It may not sound like I enjoyed this book, I did like it, I just know I would have liked it more had it been a stand alone and not a sequel.

3 Stars
 

I'm looking forward to the third book, Just For Fins, and I still love myself some Tera Lynn Childs, however, this particular book didn't totally live up to my expectations. 

Teacher Advisories 

Sex 1/5

There's some kissing...um, that's all, probably like three kisses total.

Language 1/5

The only reason why I say 1 is because my mother always says that people know what you are saying when you replace a cuss word with another word. Childs is excellent at using sea-words for cuss words. I love it, some may not.

Substance Abuses 0/5

Unless you count chlorine, which is toxic to mermaids.

Violence 1/5

There are some intense arguments used with harsh language.


Touchy Subjects

Family
What happens when a family member you hate has to move in with you?

Love
What is love? Does it mean that you have to give up being yourself and your goals to be with someone? How old do you have to be to know you have met 'the one'?

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option
2] There's an excellent character project that Childs uses to flesh out her characters. It can be found at Books, Boys, Buzz

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Mermaids and werewolves and vampires and faeries and hags and shape-shifters and waterspirits, if you can name a paranormal, I'm sure they are at least mentioned in Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.

This book rocked my socks off! It's soooo very awesome! It's so awesome, in fact, that I'm sorry it took me two years to read it, so awesome in fact that I'm sorry I don't have the second book right now!

This is one of those cool books that on the surface seems like a cute romp into paranormal land, but is actually a commentary on discrimination, service and relationships.

Evie is seriously that perfect female heroine that I've been looking for when I read teen SF books. She's so girly (pink and animal print are incorporated into everything she wears), but she can also kick major butt using her pink rhinestone encrusted taser, nicknamed Tasy, of course. She falls for a shape-shifter and has doubts, but not the whiny (sorry, I'm about to compare her to two teen girls who annoy the dickens out of me) "I can't live without you" doubts of Bella Swan or "the too tough too touch me blocked-headedness" of Katniss Everdeen. Evie is the rock-star of these girls.

While the plot of this book is not new, the approach is. And, don't let the cover fool you, this book isn't at all fluffy and girly (unless you want to count Evie's pink heeled boots). In the world of Paranormalcy there are humans who know that paranormals exist these humans have taken it upon themselves to defend the world against these creatures and have created an agency to do this. Evie is part of this agency. After she meets a shape-shifting teenage boy, much like herself, she begins to wonder where she fits into the whole thing. Is she trapped? Is she a pawn? Is she an asset? And, most importantly, what does she want?

This book is told with enough humor and seriousness that I found myself laughing seconds after a sad event and I found myself sharing bits of this book to my student in the hallways and at lunch.

It's another one of those books that makes me wish I could have read it when I was 14 and it's another one of those books that I can't wait for my daughter to find.


5 Stars

Teacher Advisories

Sex 1/5 

There are also some nice steamy kisses, embraces and long kiss scenes. Really teen books have the best kissing scenes! A faerie named Reth inappropriately touches Evie all the time, even after you figure out it's still kind of creepy and a little bit pervy.

Language 1/5

I love, love, love when an author uses a fake word in the place of an expletive. Norman Mailer did it with the word 'fug' and Kiersten White does it with *bleep*, it's funny, your kids will love it...I found myself doing it at home. It sure beats cussing!!!

Substance Abuses 0/5

Unless you count getting totally intoxicated on someone's soul...than I bump it up to a 1/5.

Violence 2/5

So, the IPCA fights paranormals. One vamp decides he'd rather die than be confined. A strange creature is going around killing paranormals lots of werewolves and vampires die. A hag dies, a mermaid dies, a werewolf dies, some of the creatures that die we get to know and that's sad...there's lots of violent death.

Touchy Subjects

Slavery and Indentured Servitude
While this is truly a fun teen paranormal romp there are several grown-up and timely themes. IPCA decides who's bad, IPCA locks up and classifies those who are bad, Evie must then decide if who's right. While Evie is deciding if she's actually just a pawn in a game where every side sucks the life out of the other, we must also decide what it means to be truly free. Paranormals are neutered, neutralized and locked up. They are let out only to serve IPCA.

Family
Evie comes from foster homes and has no parents. Raquel takes care of her, but she isn't really a mother per se. Lend's family is everything she desires, but they still have their flaws. Vivian has a family, but have they taught her to be what she is.
Normality
What does it mean to be normal? And, doesn't normal come in many different forms.

Inter (racial ?) relationships
Paranormals date, marry and have children with mortals sometimes to the chagrin and disappoint of their family and friends. These relationships can be seen as allegorical to interracial relationships, and we can see the wonderfulness, but also the troubles that people have when they are in relationships that are defined by society.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

2] Websites

Author's website


Questions for Discussion (from here)

1. It has been said that the book speaks in metaphors regarding issues such as animal rights,  human rights and slavery. Would you agree with this and why? Support your answer using details from the book.

2. Evie’s relationship with Raquel is similar to a mother/daughter relationship. Would you have liked to see their relationship end differently than the way it did? Explain your answer.

3. If you could meet any type of paranormal from the book which would you choose? Why?