Mundie Moms

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Book Review: Just For Fins by Tera Lynn Childs



Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Released on: July 3rd, 2012 TODAY
Source: book from author to review
4 stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

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. -quoted from Goodreads

An enchanting undersea world sprinkled the right amount of romance and given a touch of a modern day fairy tale brought to life, Just for Fins is a fabulous summer time read!

Tera Lynn Childs's is an author who's books are ones that without fail, each time I sit down to read one of them I really enjoy it. She creates these wonderful, sweet romances that leave me wanting more, gives her stories this modern day fairy tale feel to them them, and over all knows how to write a truly good ole' fashion fun read. Not to mention she creates these vivid worlds, and in this case a lively undersea world that makes me want to go back and visit it often. Just for Fins was no exception. I have really enjoyed the Fins series, and getting to see not just Lily grow and change, but she how her and Quince work through the things that always try to tear them apart. Or I should say Quince is another reason why I read this series. I adore the relationship he and Lily have.

It was great seeing Lily fulfill some of her tougher duties as Crown Princess. She has a lot to deal with, and lucky for her a few good friends to help her through it. The whole bonding with Tellin made more sense to me in this book, and I liked seeing the two of them interact on the level they're on with each other, which is one of mutual friendship and respect. My favorite is of course Quince and Lily. They have this sweet romance that makes me smile and makes me want to keep reading just to see what else is going to evolve between them. They also do these little things or say things to each other that make me laugh. Despite their determination to make things work between them, Quince now has to prove himself worthy of being with Lily (Merman people rules), by enduring three grueling trials. They're being together determines their fate, and he won't know what the trials are until he has to do them. Who wouldn't want a guy like Quince doing whatever he could to be by your side?!

One of the other things I enjoyed about Just for Fins was getting to see more of the other kingdoms, how they interact, and how real world situations like global warming, oil spills, drilling and so forth are impacting this under sea world. It made the story  more realistic and authentic. One of Lily's new roles as Crowned Princess is figuring out a way to save some of the kingdoms that are dying off from these problems. I was impressed with the way Lily grew into her role, and she does it well. Part of this story's plot line is Lily learning to embrace her new role and figuring out a way to stop what's happening and the war that's now threatening the kingdoms. There are some books who try to tie in real world issues/global warming issues into their books, and it comes across as preachy, but in Tera's case it came across as mater factly and fit in perfectly with what Lily's undersea world is dealing and how it's destroying some of her neighboring kingdoms, and the ripple effect it's now causing for the rest of them. 

Just for Fins is a fabulous installment to an already awesome series. It's one I definitely recommend picking up and one I'd even recommend to older MG readers. It's a fun, clean cut read. If you're looking for a fun, refreshing under sea adventure that is sprinkled with romance, and wrapped around an engaging plot line I highly recommend picking this book up!

Twitter Tuesday - Cassandra Clare's Oblong Books & Music Signing on July 15th


Cassie announced on her tumblr today that she, Holly Black and Sarah Rees Brennan will hold a signing at Oblong Books and Music on July 15th at 4 p.m.. The details are below:

This event will be held at Oblong Books & Music, 6422 Montgomery St., Rhinebeck, NY on July 15th at 4 p.m.
RSVPs are required for this event. Please RSVP to rsvp@oblongbooks.com 

Holly Black (Black Heart), Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls), & Sarah Rees Brennan (Team Human) come to the HVYAS!
A monthly series, the HVYAS brings the best and brightest YA authors to the Hudson Valley in a memorable and fun party-like “literary salon” atmosphere, with refreshments, conversation, and giveaways for attendees.

Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children. Her books include The Spiderwick Chronicles, White Cat, and Red Glove.
Cassandra Clare is the author of the bestselling Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series. Her books include City of Bones and Clockwork Angel.
Sarah Rees Brennan’s newest book, Team Human, is co-written with Justine Larbalestier. Sarah is also the author of The Demon’s Lexicon.
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We’ll be reading, signing books, and answering questions. I’ll bring something special to read, be it the draft of Clockwork Princess or even a scene or two from The Dark Artifices!
How lucky are the attendees of this event? Clockwork Princess and/or Dark Artifices scenes?? Plus Holly and Sarah?? Hope we hear back from Mundie Moms who can attend. This is a not to be missed event.

July 2012 YA Releases

Happy July! Check out ALL these awesome releases taking place this month! I think I can safely say there won't be a shortage on summer reads in July. 


The Week of July 3rd:

The Week of July 10th:
The Week of July 17th:
The Week of July 24th:
The Week of July 31st:

As always, please let me know if I left off any July releases in the comments below. 
Happy Reading!!

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