Bennett Madison

teen fiction (older teens - the main character Sam is 17); mysterious girls with a common secret (mermaids). quite a bit of swearing (f__, b*tch, ho), and characters that speak in misogynistic tones, plus in the beginning Sam's mom appears to be some kind of radical feminist (and hence suffers quite a few jokes at her expense). However ridiculous such a person's actions might be, I feel like this is a personal barb against a particular person or persons, and could have been handled more appropriately (the author's bio blurb at the end says he did attend Sarah Lawrence, but I feel like this kind of rhetoric sets teens up with the wrong ideas). Sam's mom, in the end, turns out to just be confused/trying to figure out who she is, and is redeemed from her ridiculousness, but still.

I liked the story, but had a few issues besides the tone (those first two hateful chapters, in my opinion, could just be omitted entirely, as they add nothing to the story). If Sam's dad knew about the enchanted mirror, that would mean that he'd found it and given it to someone during his last visit 30 years before--and if he'd given it to Sam's mom, it would have shown her who she was (and she wouldn't have to go through all the soul-searching that's driving her family nuts). Sam's mom being a former Girl would answer a lot of questions, except for that magic mirror bit. On the other hand, if Sam's mom is a regular messed up human, does she really need to be that ridiculous? Sam could still have bonded with DeeDee if the mother was absent, period.… (more)

So after reading this I feel like the cover and the title do not totally go with the book. The book tells an expanded version of the Little Mermaid curse but it's not about the romance. It's definitely told from a guys point of view. A raunchy, clever, gross teenage boy.

This book was definitely not what I was expecting from the cover, although I got some hints about it from looking over the goodreads review page. It's definitely an interesting twist on the mermaid fairy tale and I'm glad it wasn't a cookie cutter ending.… (more)