Ok I know I'm not a teen or tween, but adults enjoy fantasy/YA reads too! While I certainly didn't expect another Harry Potter, I was expecting something a bit, well, interesting. This read like a story for a six year old. It just didn't capture my imagination or interest at all...at all at all. The only thing I enjoyed was the name of the child mer-folk being called seawees...but that's it. Very typical teen angst story, young girl falls for boy she cannot have, evil entity endangers mermaids, teen discovers her "power" and saves her beloved mer-folk, yay all is well in the end. The cover of the book was beautiful though, and had a matte finish that was so lovely. Other than that, meh. I don't see where YA reads like this really empower young girls if there's always a boy they're pining after. The message is nice; find the strength within, peace, love, joy, yada yada, so why make half the dialogue so drippy with teenage love and angst. See this is why Harry Potter and in its day LOTR was so well received by ALL ages, it focused on humor, family, friendship and loyalty to yourself and others. Basically, enough with the goopy needy young female protagonists already, let's have one of substance...unless of course that's your thing, then to each her own.