I really enjoyed this. Like, I really enjoyed it. So much that I’ve just downloaded the companion short story A Mermaid For Christmas from Amazon.
Flukes is set on an island in the Bahamas and the setting is written very well. I’ve never been, but you do get a sense of what island life is like. It was a good choice off setting, too, because frankly, if you’re going to be a mermaid then you are going to want to be a mermaid in the Bahamas, aren’t you? I mean you’re not going to pick the North Sea or the English Channel or anything! Am I right?
Meena was kind of a hit for me as an MC; she was very caring and loving of her family and the animals in their sanctuary but she didn’t take any crap from Blake. And Blake - yum! I really liked their romance - it was a little bit instalovey, but not too bad and they seemed to have a lovely rapport.
The author kind of plays it safe with the plot. We know right away that Meena is a mermaid and so does she, so there’s no great big ‘I’m a WHAT?!?’ discovery and period of adjustment. There are no huge threats or peril, although there are some good fight scenes and the lack of tension gets infilled by the romance. This was absolutely fine by me, but it does make the plot almost achingly sweet at times.
Flukes was a strange (good strange) mixture of super-sweet romance and saucy New Adult. There’s a decent amount of sex, which is obviously always a result. It’s fairly graphic, too, so Flukes is probably unsuitable for younger readers. ‘Goodness me,’ I thought, fanning myself and bookmarking those Kindle pages for future perusal.
All in all, this was a really sweet book. Emphasis on the sweet, but nevertheless I’d definitely recommend it for a fluffy beach read this summer. Especially if you’re going to the Bahamas.
4 stars