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This week, I interviewed Hélène Boudreau!
I've also reviewed REAL MERMAIDS DON'T WEAR TOE RINGS.
In December, Jade stopped by to share her recipe for Peanut Butter Cup S'mores for the holidays.
Mmm, Mmm, yummy!
The final book in the series will release later this year!
O P E N I N G H O O K:
To say I was exited, walking up the steps of Port Toulouse Regional High, would be a bit of an understatement.
Finally, I'd graduated from junior high's mind-numbing field trips, soggy pizza Fridays, and lame school rules, and I'd moved on to the free periods, off-campus lunch privileges, and freedom of high school.
(page 1, US paperback edition)
I've said it not once, not twice, but three times now. The Real Mermaids series is a breath of fun, sweet, humorous fun as we follow half-human, half-mer girl Jade through the trials and tribulations of growing up in a world she never envisioned. This series is full of so many firsts, and REAL MERMAIDS DON'T NEED HIGH HEELS is no exception. Jade is entering high school for the first time. She finally has a boyfriend...she thinks. And she's been reunited with her long-lost mother! What could go wrong?
Only the fact that Jade is put into the eighth-ninth grade split homeroom. She has to return to the middle school wing every day, while her best friend Cori and now-actual boyfriend Luke get to be in the cooler ninth-tenth grade split. Instead, she's in a homeroom with burping, smelly, immature boys, the evil Lainey and, surprise, surprise, Serena, who is still adjusting to her own life on two legs. There's also a fall dance looming where the girls ask the guys, and since Luke is her boyfriend now, that means she's expected to ask him, right? Even though they haven't been on a real date yet and she doesn't even want to go in the first place? And as if she needs even more to worry about, a supermoon is coming, and the Mermish Council wants to invoke Tidal Law to recall all land-walking merfolk to the sea to quell rumors that webbed one (landwalkers) exist and stop a revolution before it can begin. Jade's only just gotten her mother back. There's no way she's losing her again!
Hélène Boudreau continues to balance the awkward pains of growing up for a girl split between two worlds, tying the two together in a fun, fresh way. Comparing this series to Liz Kessler's Emily Windsnap series (I've previously reviewed one of the books and interviewed Kessler), I love the lore and mythology better in Emily Windsnap, but I adore the humor/tone and extra level of maturity in Real Mermaids more. Both are great series, albeit for slightly different age demographics despite the fact that two half-mer girls are roughly the same age. Boudreau creates unique mermaid lore in RMDNHH in a way she hasn't in previous books, pairing a mer-revolution with the coming of a supermoon. Merfolk can't escape the calling of Tidal Law, and it's intriguing to see the unique ways the webbed ones are being effected as they attempt to resist the call. The way the supermoon's appearances changes everyone emotionally despite the fact that they prep a special room to hide out in reminds me of a fun TV series I started watching last summer, H2O: Just Add Water. The girls constantly had to have sleepovers and find new ways to hide from the moon because if they caught its reflection, they instantly changed. At the same time, the situation is wholly different; it's just a fun comparison in my brain.
Readers will have no problem picking up this book in the series--or even starting with it--because again, Boudreau does an adequate job summing up the past, albeit with fewer details now. There are also more characters and motivations to balance now, so it's still a good idea to read the prior books first, though you don't necessarily have to. I still recommend this series for tweens and up, especially now that Jade and her friends have entered high school. The series is still done with a light touch, so the amount of romance is perfect, with none of the drama found in more mature titles.
~*~
C O V E R D E S I G N:
I love the scripty font used for the Real Mermaids part of the title. The way the "M" curls makes me stare, then stare some more. LOVE. I like the uniform way this font is used on all four book covers. It's part of the title, yet also signifies that this is the series title, and not just the book title. This is also the font used for each chapter heading inside the pages. Home run font!
I want that seashell purse! I am seriously coveting it right now. What a perfect summer purse if you just need to throw a couple of small things inside. It's the perfect finishing touch!
This cover actually comes from a scene in the book. Jade wears a beautiful turquoise dress like that, and her corsage reminds me of the flowers and shells on her flipflops, though the corsages are never detailed, so who knows, maybe they do look like this!
The cover is a great mix of mermaid and human, giving enough to warrant a double-take while remaining cute and fun, just like this series!
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: REAL MERMAIDS DON'T NEED HIGH HEELS
Author: Hélène Boudreau
Author: Hélène Boudreau
Release Date: Out Feb. 1, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Received: For Review
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
The only thing that terrifies Jade more than the ocean is dancing at the Fall Formal. Because Jade has two left feet—er, flippers. Who knew being a high school freshman is even more awkward than being a plus-size aqua-phobic mer-girl? At least her only drama is of the human variety...
Or not.
The Mermish Council has just declared that all land-dwelling mers but return to the ocean. Pronto. But there's no way Jade is going to let her mom, or Luke, her...boyfriend? mer-guy-friend?, disappear into the deep, dark ocean. Again. After all, a girl's got to have a date to her first dance.
If Jade can stop mer-mageddon, finding a plus-size dress that doesn't look like a shower curtain should be a piece of cake.
~*~
****Giveaway*****
Ready to check out the Real Mermaids series?
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky is generously giving away a package of the first three books.
Enter now!
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky is generously giving away a package of the first three books.
Enter now!
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