Just for Fins [Hardcover]

Tera Lynn Childs (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 3, 2012 | Series: Fins

Tera Lynn Childs brings a delightful mix of wit, romance, and fantasy to her books. Fins, her YA mermaid series, is a great pick for fans of Meg Cabot’s humorous love stories.
 
In Just for Fins, third in the series, half-human, half-mermaid Lily Sanderson has decided to remain Crown Princess Waterlily of the mermaid kingdom Thalassinia. She’s made a promise to help to help Prince Tellin. Climate change and human pollution are causing suffering in his kingdom, and Lily and Tellin have to convince all the mermaid royals to work together to save the oceans.
 
Lily is distracted by the situation with Quince, the boy she loves. He must pass three tests to prove his love for her or they will be parted forever.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

When Lily Sanderson decided to remain Crown Princess Waterlily of the mer kingdom of Thalassinia, she knew she couldn't just coast along in the current. But since she's spent the last couple of years on land, 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, who tells her his kingdom is suffering in the changing ocean climate. Lily knows this is a seven seas–sized problem. They'll need to create some serious waves to make the mer community aware and get it to join together to make things right. Lily has to lead the way, 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 her human boyfriend, 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 and for the humans she loves.

About the Author

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of several books for teens, including the mermaid romances Forgive My Fins and Fins Are Forever, as well as another mythology-inspired series, Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp. Although Tera always dreamed of discovering a secret twin (or triplet), she is sad to report she remains an only child.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (July 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062192159
• ISBN-13: 978-0062192158
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tera Lynn Childs is the award-winning author of the mythology-based Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp, the mermaid tales Forgive My Fins, Fins Are Forever and Just For Fins, and a new trilogy about monster-hunting descendants of Medusa that includes Sweet Venom, Sweet Shadows, and Sweet Legacy (September 3, 2013). She has also epublished two fun chick lit romances, Eye Candy and Straight Stalk. Tera lives nowhere in particular and spends her time writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.

To learn more about TLC, visit teralynnchilds.com or follower her on Twitter @teralynnchilds, like her on Facebook (facebook.com/authortlc), or read her blog (teralynnchilds.blogspot.com). Ask her anything at Formspring (formspring.me/teralynnchilds).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Just Right July 9, 2012

By anne-marie

Format:Hardcover

Being a mermaid crown princess should be easy. Unfortunately sitting Kings and Queens don't take land loving teenage princesses seriously. Throw in graduation and an impossible test of devotion on Quince's part, and it's a miracle Lily Sanderson isn't pulling her scales out.

In the process of trying to help her newly bonded mermate, Tellen, save his kingdom and people Lily is thrown a huge reality check.Turns out all of her time on land has left Lily out of touch with the concerns of other merfolk, the state of the ocean, and her fellow kingdoms. But she's determaned to make a difference and be a great leader. Unfortunately opposition is growing among her kind and as she struggles to bring the kingdoms together she uncovers some disturbing plans by her fellow mer monarchs.

She'll have to hatch a risky political plan to get her point across and keep the peace between humans and their mythical neighbors.

Just For Fins was just the right mix of young to attract the lower spectrum of the YA audience while not being too childish that it completely turns off the adult crowd. It was also socially aware of environmental concerns without being condescending and overly preachy.

Childs is expanding her world building and giving her heroine a lot of new responsibility. She didn't neglect her secondary characters either giving Doe a much more mature air as well. I really like the growth and challenges the characters had to face. The introduction of all the different kingdoms and monarchs balanced out Lily's growth with a world to match. Even though the romance is a secondary plot compared to the previous books, the author still gives the thread a strong and compelling concept to satisfy the die hard romantics.

Just For Fins is another wonderful installment perfect for any age. It struck just the right balance of growth, maturity, and romance to keep fans happy and looking forward to another summer full of fin filled fairytales.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh how I've missed you, Quince. September 18, 2012

By Janus @ The Blair Book Project

Format:Hardcover

Just For Fins is the third instalment of the Fins series. Here we find our protagonist, Lily taking on her first action as crown princess of Thalassinia. But as she treks the path to fulfilling her duties to her kingdom, she realizes she lacks the knowledge of what goes on in the ocean realm. Spending so much time on land, she left herself clueless of the problems hers and other mer kingdoms are facing. Determined to do whatever it takes to help out her mer bond in name only, Tellin, she goes about her way trying to find the best solution to fix these problems. Unfortunately that's not the only thing she'll be worrying about. While struggling to balance both land and sea life, Lily discovers that there is an ancient mer law that Quince must prove himself worthy of the love of a mermaid royalty. He has to take tests and failing those means losing each other. *Sigh* Life couldn't seem to give Princess Waterlily a break...

I cannot tell you how badly I missed Quince! Yes, even though he wasn't the main highlight of this book, I'm really glad to have him back (well, figuratively... you know what I mean). Oh, how I've missed you Quincy! *giggles*

So Lily is now bonded to Tellin (In name only as she insists. Well you better be girl `coz if you hurt Quince, blood will be shed. Whoops! Sorry, I'm getting carried away), and they are trying to fix the problem in Tellin's kingdom, you know, water pollution, starving mer folk, and a king who's too proud to ask for help. I'm glad that these two got along in a mutual, platonic relationship that enabled them to work together as a team or partners... whatever (I'm sorry but my mind just keeps going back to Quince. LOL). I'm just really happy that I won't be worrying about another love triangle dilemma here. Anyway, this event opened Lily to discovering a lot of other worse scenarios in her meeting with the rest of the other kingdoms' mer royalties. And boy, do those kings and queens have quite a pack of personalities!

Speaking of personalities, I wasn't really surprised to find Dosinia, Lily's cousin, to have a change of heart after establishing a bond with Brody. It's nice to see a different side of her that's more positive and more caring, even though she pretends she doesn't care. You're not fooling anyone, Doe, but I'm glad you've changed.

Now let's get back to my favourite topic - QUINCE! Ha ha ha! I'm giggling like a crazy love struck high school girl. Okay, I'm sorry. Let's cut to the chase: I was a little annoyed to find that Quince had to take on a series of tests to prove his love for Lily. I mean, hasn't he done enough of it already? I guess the stupid ancient law doesn't think so. Hmph! Anyway, I think the tests weren't so bad after all and I like how dedicated Quince was to succeed in them. It just made me love him even more. Teehee!

Overall this book was really enjoyable, I liked the first two books better but this was just as fun and cute. This isn't really a heavily-built-plot kind of story so I wasn't expecting anything cutting edge. Tera Lynn Childs' Fins series is the sweetest kind of mermaid series I've read so far. If you want a light, sweet (maybe a bit cheesy to some, but I don't mind), and cute chick flick-like story, you should give this series a shot.

5.0 out of 5 stars Just for fins May 8, 2013

By Grace Coleman

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is amazing and everyone should read it. I know it finds cheesy mermaids And all but it's so good