Monday Book Review: URBAN MERMAID by Howard Parsons

Urban Mermaid, Tails from Colony Island Book One
by Howard Parsons
Published....

About the book:

Can a mermaid find love and happiness working in the big city?
What will her parents say if she chooses a human for a mate?

Penelope Tench works in the city as the comptroller for a publishing house. She's not happy living and working amongst humans but she has no choice as her home on Colony Island, FL holds nothing for her.

This is the first book in the Colony Island series by Howard Parsons, author of the short story, "Dear Mom, . ."

 

MY TAKE:

This is not your daughter’s mermaid novel.

URBAN MERMAID is an old-fashioned novel with an omniscient, head-hopping narrator but with modern day twists and adult situations. Author Howard Parsons lays out his mermaid world with loving detail, explaining the real world of merfolk that coexist with American coastal communities, from their mythical origins story to the real-world challenges facing them today. Yes, this is fantasy, but the author lays out the complex societal web with precision and earnest attention to detail, making it a totally absorbing and fun read.

Penelope Anne Tench starts the book as a mermaid mired in deep depression. Navigating between her obligations in the human world and her undersea life has become too much to handle, and in the beginning she contemplates ending it all by going west and allowing dehydration to end her life. Until she meets Peter MacPherson, a human who makes her heart sing and sparks fly. Well, at first she doesn’t understand the emotions she’s feeling and the fact that she’s feeling them about a human makes her grumpy, but with time and patience Peter starts to win her over. Peter hasn’t had the best of luck with long-term relationships before this, and at every turn expects the worst, hopes for the best, and plans for both.

This is not your average paranormal or fantasy novel, reading more like a contemporary romance with a side of mermaid tails. The problems facing our “urban mermaid” are more of the everyday and urbane sort, and both her insecurities and Peter’s are the same ones that face us all. The author gives readers a fresh interpretation of mermaid culture as not so different from the rest of coastal America, dealing with the more unique aspects in a totally matter-of-fact way.

A fresh, interesting mermaid story that kept me reading and rooting for that happily-ever-after.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

URBAN MERMAID  is scheduled for release November 30, 2015