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Take a fish-phobic girl, divide her by one hot merman, add a splash of his crazy ex-merbitch, and you get one stinky school year.

Sixteen-year-old Marina Valentine is a rule-stretcher in an uptight Texas seaside town. She’s hormonally challenged, curious to a fault, hates fish, and has a dating resume that makes the queen look like a slut. It’s not that guys don’t ask her out. They do. She just has an unfortunate reaction to dating—uncontrollable gags. It’s not exactly a turn on.

One by one, her oddball friends start disappearing—much to the joy of the snobby high school royals—and Marina fears she is a walking bull’s eye. Inquiries into their disappearances lead to startling, gag-worthy discoveries. Toss in an increasingly inconvenient attraction to one of the royals—who holds the key to solving the mystery…in his fin—and it’s an anti-fish girl’s worst nightmare come true. Soon, Marina finds herself at the center of a looming underwater war that’s really going to play games with her love life.

As time closes in—and the Merpeople officially come out of the ocean—Marina must choose between the lives of her friends, the future of an underwater utopia, and the life of her first love. There’s just one problem. Where does a love-shy, fish-phobic, non-mergirl even begin…especially when her enemy may be the one person she trusted above everyone else?

311 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2012

11 people are currently reading
347 people want to read

About the author

Sutton Shields

12 books32 followers
I'm a dork, dreamer, believer in the unbelievable, and author of quirky, fun, romantic stuff.

The Merworld Water Wars series:

FINNED (Wave One)
OVERFALLS (Wave Two)
RIFTED (Wave Three)
DOWNDRIFT (Wave Four), &
BACKRUSH (Wave Five).

Watercolor Love Series:

Watercolor Hearts, #1

One thing I love most is trying to make people smile, even if it means making a fool out of myself (trust me, my inner idiot is bound to make multiple appearances).

I have a completely irrational fear of grasshoppers, worry that piranha may secretly lurk in lakes, and try to find the bright side in everything, even if I annoy myself doing so.

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5 stars
51 (41%)
4 stars
36 (29%)
3 stars
24 (19%)
2 stars
8 (6%)
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3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Ashley - The Bookish Brunette.
152 reviews632 followers
January 15, 2013
Two words: Freaking Awesome.

My favorite books are always the ones that I continually quote throughout and find I simply MUST repeat the character’s lines without fail like every other paragraph. Seriously. And Finned went like this:

“He kept staring at my legs. Did my jeans offend him?” *chuckle*snort* BB repeats line aloud to be certain it’s as funny as it sounds INSIDE my head.


It totally is! *giggle*snort* some more… 2 sentences later:

“Keep an eye on Mr. Smarmy.” *hehe* the whole process then repeats itself.


Okay, so down to business!! Were you wondering if I was actually ever getting to the REVIEW part of this ‘book review’?

Marina Valentine has been BANNISHED by a chick with “lime green hair, orange eyes, and a nose the size of Chesapeake Bay Bridge.” (you like the word pictures as much as I do, don’t you?) for reading (tarot) cards.

She apparently predicted two murders and aided terrorist mentality!! I know right? One of those murders was her very own father, and the Imperia Canon of Peculiar Malfunctions chose to ignore her, and then banish her and her mother AFTER the fact. As a part of her banishment, Marina is blocked from ANY future reading, or they’ll kill her immediately!

“Should you touch even a single card with a bare or gloved hand, we will know, as will the Imperia. Such an offense will result in your immediate execution.”


Hmmm… Smells fishy to me!!

Her and her mother are banished to Saxet Shores, Texas where the ‘Normals’ (anyone who doesn’t belong to the Ravenflames or the Fairhairs) are shunned.

“painting her nails her favorite color, Undead Red.”

… Ummm I believe I need this color. I mean REALLY.


“we’ll throw you a going-to-die party. That’s polite, right?”


Marina’s mom is simply an EPIC, EPIC character… She’s hilarious and every time she popped up in a scene, I knew laughing would soon ensue.

“My keys are gone! Someone’s stolen my keys! Wait. Found them. Let’s go.”

… This is the STORY of my life!!! Whenever I can’t find something- someone has stolen it!!!!! Until I find it in the refrigerator or somewhere equally inappropriate. *sigh*


Troy Tombolo … Fairhair and local heartthrob has stolen Marina’s attention, but they can never be together because of the social hierarchy and its plain to see that something BIGGER than meets the eye is going on.

A series of disappearances, her mother goes completely crazy and Troy FINALLY confesses his feelings for Marina in a very BOY-like way (insensitive jerks!) … and Marina isn’t sure she can take anymore. But she’s about to find out she can survive all that and MORE.

Marina was a fantastic character, her mother was SIMPLY FABULOUS and Troy had some SUPER swoon-worthy moments when his guy-filter was working…

“My heart stops when I’m near you and bleeds when I’m away from you.”
*dies*


FINNED is a fun, sharp-witted tale of Merpeople, Normals, first love, some heart-pounding action and a centuries old war that everyone is still fighting.

And MerRacing?? Oh. My. God. BEST THING EVER!!! Seriously- one of the coolest freaking scenes I’ve ever read in my life. Troy is like the Kyle Busch of the Merworld. I love it!!
Profile Image for Summer.
84 reviews10 followers
July 15, 2017
There were some issues with connecting the superpowers and mermaids, but overall I enjoyed the book. I'm pretty sure I have not encountered that amount of humor in a mermaid book yet. It was a fast read and super cheesy - which was great.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.
Profile Image for Amber Garr.
Author 33 books450 followers
February 23, 2014
I’m not sure why I waited so long to read this book and now I’m kicking myself for it. Holy merp! I absolutely loved this story! From the very first chapter, I felt like I’d been transported to a Kim Harrison/Kelley Armstrong urban fantasy world with the coolest human powers and a society that punished them for being different. In all honesty, I would have been happy just reading about the Imperia and the Normals without including all of the merfolk mythology. But alas, this is a merperson book, and I found myself equally entertained when we started learning about their world. I would love to spend a day in Sutton’s head – her creativity just blows my mind. We follow Marina as she’s banished to TX (a place I wouldn’t want to banished to) and forbidden to use her Reader abilities without facing certain execution. There, she eventually learns of the merps and their civil wars and has a chance to visit their magical underwater cities (okay, now I would love to be banished there). Marina is full of snark (with a capital S) and Sutton manages to do this without making her annoying. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue, the action, and the budding romance. Oh and let me tell you about Manakel – a horny, Australian, earth angel – yep, yum. I’m so looking forward to seeing more of him in the sequels! Although not a cliffhanger, the ending certainly leaves you wanting more and I downloaded the second book (Overfalls) right away because I simply couldn’t get enough.

The Good: FABULOUS characters and a brand new world filled with every type of magical, human, and mythological creature that could possibly ever exist. And written well enough not to be confusing.

The Issue: Hmm...in all honesty, this is a tough one. I suppose I would liked to have spent more time in the "Human" world learning about those with special abilities and why they're all put in institutions.

The Rating: Five stars. A fantastic book with a refreshing take on folklore and a writer who knows how to keep you entertained. By all means, check out this book now!

Originally appeared at www.ambergarr.com
Profile Image for Laura.
1 review
November 28, 2012
Shields humor is brilliant! Fun, unique and hilarious from start to finish. I can't wait to see what's next in Marina's world!
Profile Image for Take Me Away To A Great Read.
502 reviews2 followers
June 10, 2014
4 out of 5 Stars

I loved this highly original mermaid tail by Sutton Shields. Sutton's writing is fun, quirky and makes you laugh, but is also highly imaginative, the details that she put into creating this world was unbelievable. I would love to just spend a day with Sutton and have her sweet charming creativity rub off on me!

The story at first was a little confusing for me as I was expecting a mermaid tail and did not understand everything about the Normals, but yet they could read cards, and were being banished. Later on in the story it did make more sense and these things did get cleared up for me. I just was waiting on the edge of my seat of the merworld to begin.

Troy is the most popular boy in school and he is a Fairhair. The most popular girl is Katrina and she is a Ravenflame. They sit together in the cafeteria and are a couple. Troy teases Marina, dares her to get up in front of the class and read a poem. He thinks she won't do it or that it will embarrass her. Marina does read her poem to Troy's surprise and wins over some of the students. When Marina drops her books Troy helps her pick them up and they touch, immediately they feel a connection.

When the fantasy and merworld did begin I was not disappointed, it was wonderful. The way that Marina was able to travel under water and breath was amazing. The city and the description of it, made me so jealous of Marina. I so wanted to be her! I love the underwater car racing and that is all I will say, no more spoiling!

Marina has many enemies now that she knows the truth about the merworld and they will stop at nothing to destroy her. King Zale and his mers want her to stop digging and except what they think her fate should be.

I will say I was crying at the end of this book and I couldn't wait for book 2! I also loved the sexual snarky banter between Marina and the earth angel Manakel. I loved the conversations between Troy and Manakel and how they would love to ruffle each others feathers! I would have given this book 5 out of 5 stars if the Merworld had started a little sooner in the book and if I understood the first part of the book sooner but the book was amazing and I absolutely loved it! This book left me wanting more so many things are left unanswered at the end, I need book 2!
12 reviews
November 29, 2012
Sense of humor required--NOT for those with a stick up their butt (although reading this MAY help remove it). This book takes you on a vivid, romantic, humorous ride through a world everyone can only wish was real.

Spoiler free, for the most part.

New author, first novel, awesome start. The dialogue is unique--UNIQUE. It's clever, witty, quirky, and laugh until you get tears in your eyes, fun! The banter between Marina and all other characters is brilliantly done. It's QUICK and challenging with double meanings and subtle pop-culture references. This may NOT be everyone's cup of tea, but for me, I love the 'OOOOOH, I GET IT!' moments.

And the characters! Character development is not a problem in this book. You can't help but fall in love with all of them, even the baddies are deliciously fun to hate. The main character is my favorite, though. Marina is stubborn, outspoken, stands her ground, and doesn't fall at the feet of the first hot guy to test her hormones--she makes him man up. Don't get me started on the hormones and gags--Marina Valentine is absolutely hilarious and never dull.

The world is so creative--both above ground and under the sea. Plot-wise, there is A LOT going on, but it's not boring at all, and it effectively sets up future books in the series. The build up to Trey's clue meaning (also very funny and fitting with the characters/world), the big confrontation/reveal at the end, and the deliverer mystery were well-done. Clearly the author is keeping a lot of secrets close to the vest, though you do get SOME answers at the end of this one. It will be fascinating to see how the series unfolds.

There just wasn't a boring chapter, and it's difficult to stop reading once you start. It's a great balance of action and romance with the humor seamlessly woven throughout. I'd recommend this as a fun, addicting read to anyone who loves a good time and a good laugh.

Profile Image for Raquel.
418 reviews8 followers
June 16, 2013
I picked this up not realizing it was a YA but decided to try it anyway because the premise sounded cool.

Parts of it were. Cool, I mean. What totally killed it for me was the cheesy hero. He had some monologues that were put of this world sappy. The whole book felt pretty juvenile in a really awkward way to me. I've read and enjoyed plenty of YA novels in my time. This one felt... younger than some of the great ones I've enjoyed.
Profile Image for Ruth Robert.
7 reviews4 followers
August 8, 2018
Awesomely amazing book

The storyline was beautiful, well written and I love marina Valentine, she is beautiful, sassy, strong and crazy, my very idea of a heroine with a sharp tongue, this is a must read for anyone who loves mermaids and magic.
Profile Image for Nat.
933 reviews11 followers
February 1, 2020
This one of the few ''humerus' books that made me laugh instead of cringe. Especially the mother character. Aah what a lovely mermaid book
Profile Image for Donnielle Tyner.
Author 9 books279 followers
July 15, 2015
I don't have strong feelings about this book and that is what sort of upsets me. I love mermaid books and I love people with superpowers, BUT I feel that the author didn't mix those two major aspects of this book very well. Shields gave you a small taste of the world outside of the Mer-town, but never goes back to and gives more. It was weird that this book started off with the MC, Marina, going to trial for being a human with unusual abilities and then rushes off to the mer-world. Then the author throws in a little Angel action and BAM a weird mixture of supernatural craziness. SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS! I hope she gets to them in the other books.

Marina is an okay MC, she's 16 and I can accept some of her immaturity, but there really wasn't any growth for her. I do love how snarky she is and all her clever witticisms. Troy, however, UGH. Cliched. Trooped. Corny!!! His many declarations of his feelings were awkward and as I mentioned earlier, corn-balls. I rolled my eyes every time he gushed poetic! That is not what I'm looking for in a romantic lead. I was more interested in the side characters, especially Airianna and Treeva. Airi's character arc had more promise and development than the main character and Treeva was just witty and cool.

I'm not sure if I'll read the other's in the series, this book with all its potential didn't make me yearn to find out what happens to the characters.

Profile Image for Donna.
1,626 reviews34 followers
February 8, 2016
I don't know what I expected when I picked out this book, but I certainly wasn't expecting this. Marina Valentine has the ability to read cards and predict the future. This gets her into trouble time and again. She is banished and sent to Saxet Shores, TX. This appears to have been her plan. Her new school seems to be working well for her until she starts to realize things are not as they seem.

This is a paranormal book. There are mermaids, mermen, some kind of angel and more. The characters are great. I liked Troy but I really liked Manakel much more for some reason. He wasn't featured a whole lot in the book but he always seemed to be there when he was needed. Dr. Tenly is another character I really liked. He is kind of like a absent-minded professor. He is really quite kooky and I enjoyed his character. As for Treeva, she is a hoot and a very unexpected character. This book has me intrigued and I plan to read more. I have to know what happens next in the Merworld Water Wars.

If you like romance or paranormal books then you will enjoy this because there is plenty of both. Also, if you were fascinated by stories of mermaids as a child, then this book is for you. I loved the vivid detail in the mermaid world. It made me wish it really was a place you could visit. I could vividly picture it in my mind.
Profile Image for Elen Tabita Bertoldi.
79 reviews5 followers
September 21, 2016
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I loved this book. Usually I'm not interested in mermaid books, but this one is a exceeption.

It's impossible to not like Marina and her friends and how they are all so different but still great friends that understand each other, or at least try to.

There's so many funny moments, funny joked and obviously Marina's funny puns. No matter how dire a situation was, she still had a joke for everything.

I found the book intriguing and certainly not predictable, so at least for me it was impossible to not finish this book.

And not forgetting about the romance. I loved the romance, not overly done, not too fast, and not too silly. Marina didn't forget who she was just because she was crushing in someone, and she still had to deal with the problems of their relationship in her own way and had to overcome her sickness with all things pertaining romance.

Valenyuck day anyone?
Profile Image for Cloud.
461 reviews1 follower
August 20, 2013
I downloaded this when it was free, and I'm glad that I did. It's different and interesting. And yet some of the same old tropes get paraded about for all to admire. One negative, is that the main character and her friends seem to be different from normal people. This is pretty much the start of the first chapter and talked about. It's the reason why her and her mom are moved to this town. After a few more chapters it is pretty much dropped and never mentioned again. I would have liked to have seen where the author was intending those powers of hers to go. I know this is YA, but some of the sappy romance was just a bit too cliche at times. I enjoyed getting to know the side characters and other town residents as the main characters social circle expanded. The second half of the book was much faster paced I felt and really hit it's stride. I would keep an eye out for the next just to see what these crazy kids get up to next.
Profile Image for Niala.
128 reviews14 followers
May 13, 2013

Needless to say I was
[image error]
pun intended

For Sutton Shields debut novel the world created took me on a journey of wonder and awe. Full of wit, whimsy and humor..

Marina Valentine is a fish phobic card reader that gets banished (along with here mom) to a town full of mere-people (unknown and to be discovered by her)

Troy Tombolo is the prince of the sea with all the princely facets *swoon...sigh* .... enough said...

Really looking forward to the Second Installment in this series

7 reviews3 followers
December 22, 2012
I can tell that Finned is actually a good book and I think I will enjoy it because I'm really into mermaids and I actually want to study them and I hope this book is like a big help to get me to get more schema then what I have now and the people who already read it I am so jealous because you guys might have read a book that the universe sent you and you got to thank the universe for giving you something that you might deserve.
Profile Image for Mickie Hann.
43 reviews
February 4, 2014
I'm taking this book with a grain of salt. There are too many things that don't add up, like she gags on all fishy things, but is able to hold a seal pup....ummm they have fishy breath! But I'll enjoy it for the way the characters converse.

Update: I gave up
Profile Image for Amber.
976 reviews95 followers
July 27, 2013
TONS OF FUN and a touching love story! <3
Profile Image for Victoria Adewale.
12 reviews
June 7, 2014
Amazing

I would want everyone to see this book I gave it 5 stars because it is great that a girl that has trouble ment a boy that is perfect for her.
75 reviews
November 27, 2014
Perfect

This book was so perfect it had me on my toes it was filled with so much emotion I love this book
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews