Book: Flipping The Scales, Pete Tarsi

Series: Flipping The Scales #1

Publisher: e-reader

Release Date: November 13^th, 2014

Rating: 4 stars

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This book is beyond adorable. It’s a very enjoyable tail (haha!) about a human and a mermaid that switch places. I loved Tarsi’s twist on the mermaid myth, and how he made it completely his own.

 Mermaids are able to come to land for one day during the full moon. When two mers, Lorelei and Marina, come on land one month, disaster strikes when Marina’s tail goes missing. Enter Meredith, a studious seventeen-year-old human who accidentally stumbles across Marina’s tail and is unconsciously driven to put the tail on and go into the water.

Marina and Meredith are literally fish out of water as they try to adapt to their new habitats while their friends try and figure out a way to get the girls back to their normal states. All the characters in this book are wonderfully unique, different and likable.

The mermaid world that Tarsi creates is brilliantly done, and is never too far-fetched or unrealistic. Meredith and Marina learn new things because of their experiences, and the importance of friends and family. Meredith, who was always a very studious girl, learns to be more self-confident and not take life so seriously, while Marina, who was averse to being on land, learns the value of having new experiences and that it’s sometimes worth taking a risk.

Tarsi split the book 50-50 from Marina being on land with Meredith’s friends Jill and Hailey, and Meredith being in the sea with Lorelei. I loved the world Tarsi created the under the sea, and loved how Tarsi overemphasised the simplicity of everyday life. Driving and even kissing is something we take for granted, but is all a brand new experience for Marina.

Even though this book is a young adult novel, its language would speak to a younger audience, perhaps 12 onwards. But it’s still enjoyable enough for me, at 21, to appreciate. I’d love to pick up the sequel and see Tarsi expand this world of the mermaids and see what else he can create.