Book Type: NA (although this book says it’s listed for young readers, this is definitely for 18-year olds and older)
Author: Nichole Chase
Pages: 162
Summary (Goodreads.com): Meena has a secret guarded closely by her family—a secret as dangerous as the sea and buried just as deep. When court-appointed community-service workers are assigned to Flukes, the family-owned animal sanctuary, everyone is on high alert. It doesn’t help that Meena finds herself attracted to sexy-as-sin Blake Weathering, one of the new workers. If he wasn’t so distracting, she might be able to land Flukes a much-needed cruise-line contract. Blake Weathering, the first in his family to attend public school, has developed a tough image. Unfortunately, it lands him in trouble. Now banned from his high school graduation ceremony, getting his diploma is dependent upon a community-service gig cleaning up fish crap. No diploma, no trust fund fortune—and no way to escape his overbearing father. The last thing he needs is the distraction of a mysterious girl with teal eyes who pulls at his heartstrings. When Blake discovers Meena’s secret, they are both thrown into a desperate search for information about her past. Two worlds pull them in opposite directions, and they will have to fight to hold on to all that really matters.
My Review:
Flukes is the type of novel that belongs in several different genres and age groups, creating a bit of a disjointed reading experience that contained too many intimate scenes to be considered young adult. However, even with some of its issues, I overall enjoyed reading the novel, and would recommend this as a quick summer read.
First, let’s open with the positives:
The beginning of this novel starts with a poignant prologue that was truly moving when we learn where Meena came from and the circumstances behind her adoption. From this moment onward, I was hooked! Continuing on, Chase did an excellent job on setting detail by creating a low-key Caribbean animal sanctuary in need of funds to land a contract. I really enjoyed that the family paid more attention to keeping the animals happy but later realized they needed to spruce up their establishment. I’ve been to plenty of sanctuaries where this is the case, so I found the setting immersible and realistic.
Additionally, the character descriptions were natural. None of the descriptions went on for paragraphs, and we learned about Meena, Blake, her friend Violet, and the parents through dialogue tags and actions sequences. Dialogue was also another key literary device utilized in this novel, and even though some reviewers on Goodreads complained about cursing, I found it used sparingly, and it was appropriate to use between two bantering teenagers. The romance was also very sweet, but as a reader, I felt the plot was rushed and skimmed over opportunities to deepen the mermaid theme.
Unexplained Character Background and Overboard Romance:
The main problem I had with this novel were several unexplained background details that left gaps in the character development and overall plot. To start, Meena is a mermaid that must transform within a day or so in the ocean, but the process isn’t explained. Sometimes she can enter the water and stay human while other times, she grows a tail. How does her transformation work? Does she summon her tail willingly?
Another issue was how people reacted to Meena as a mermaid along with the backstory of her best friend, Violet. They were supposed to be friends since childhood, but when did Violet find out Meena was a mermaid? When people find out about Meena’s secret, including Blake and his family, everyone took it too well. How are they not surprised or shocked by the existence of these mythical creatures?
The beginning of this novel had great romance scenes with cute flirty moments, but when Meena and Blake start dating, things started to get a little cheesy. Blake is the typical stereotype of a bad boy with a kind heart, who is rich and also speaks French. The characters fell in love way too quickly, and within the course of a few months, they started talking about moving in together and starting a family.
One of the most interesting elements in the plot wasn’t explained. There are sirens in the novel who hate mermaids for their beauty (sirens are ugly monsters in this version) and one almost killed Meena, but this was quickly glossed over instead of making this the initiating event.
But the biggest problem I found with this book was the amount of detailed sex scenes toward the end of the novel. I have no problem with sex in young adult novels. In fact, showing a healthy relationship between two main characters provides a good example for teenagers. However, the scenes in this book are way too descriptive, bordering on adult romance/erotica, creating an uncomfortable reading experience. After all, these characters are eighteen! The book even ends abruptly mid sex scene with her parents not that far away.
Concluding Thoughts:
While I enjoyed the summer romance, taking care of the animals, and connection to dolphins, this book had some major issues in plot development and age appropriateness. I give this book 2.5 stars.