Special Feature: Summer Spotlight on...Mermaids and Sirens!

I love to follow bookish trends, and while dystopian fiction is still very much the main buzzed about trend in YA fiction, and if you haven't noticed, Summer 2011 is all about Greek Myths and Legends, I've also noticed another trend emerging recently, that of mermaids and sirens. I was super excited to hear that Stephanie Meyer is obsessed with mermaids and has a "very elaborate outline" for a mermaid novel. So, they must be the next big thing, right?  I guess it makes sense! These books are perfect summer reading with their beach locations, and summer romances. I read Siren by Tricia Rayburn a couple months back, and I really enjoyed that one, so I looked around to see if I could find any books that sounded similar in theme, and I found a whole lot of them!

Have you read any of the books I've featured?

If you have any other mermaid or siren recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

********************

First up is Tempest Rising by Tracey Deebs.  This one was released in the US this month, and will be released in the UK in July by Bloomsbury. It sounds like it has all the right ingredients for an enjoyable Paranormal Romance!

Tempest Rising by Tracey Deebs

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Release date: July 2011

A contemporary paranormal romance out just in time to ride the wave of the newest creature craze: mermaids!

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her—and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

I remember a lot of buzz surrounding Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs when I first started blogging last year, and now it's set to release in the UK from Templar.  I believe they're organising a blog tour for this one, so I'll be checking that out!

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Publisher: Templar

Release date: July 2011

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

Ah - a siren book! I'm looking forward to this one!, even though I almost missed it when I was searching for books for this feature, as the doesn't scream SIREN BOOK to me. I guess that's good in a way - it's different from all the sea-based mermaid books! I haven't seen any foreign rights sales for Ripple (yet!), but it's being published by Razorbill in the US, so there's hope for a UK release!

Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

Release date: July 2011

Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. Each day she goes to school like a normal teenager, and each night she must swim, or the pain will be unbearable. She is a siren - a deadly mermaid destined to lure men to their watery deaths. After a terrible tragedy, Lexi shut herself off from the world, vowing to protect the ones she loves. But she soon finds herself caught between a new boy at school who may have the power to melt her icy exterior, and a handsome water spirit who says he can break Lexi's curse if she gives up everything else. Lexi is faced with the hardest decision she’s ever had to make: the life she's always longed for - or the love she can't live without?

 I love the sound of Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore. I'm a sucker for forbidden romance! I thought this book was out sooner - in June, but no, it looks like it's been pushed back to October. Still, I think it may just be worth the wait! :)

Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Release date: October 2011

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.

Those are my top picks in mermaids and sirens, and if I've piqued you interest, you might like to check out the following books too...

All links lead to Goodreads:


Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic tale by Carolyn Turgeon
Sea by Heidi R. Kling
Sea Change by Aimee Friedman
Siren by Tricia Rayburn
Undercurrent (Siren #2) by Tricia Rayburn


I took my research further and started reading all about mermaid mythology. It's interesting stuff! Here's a good article I found.


Stephenie Meyer quote: source.