Of Poseidon

For a sweet mermaid romance, Emma McIntosh’s story starts out rough. Her father has recently died of cancer, and her best friend is mauled to death by a shark in the opening scene. Baggage enough for any 18-year-old, but then the hot guy who witnessed the carnage at the beach shows up in Emma’s world history class. Galen is gorgeous, seems to have money to burn, and is completely focused on Emma. He claims to know Emma’s “secret”—one she doesn’t even know she has. He also has a sister with a big mouth, whose willingness to wade into any fray soon pushes Emma into awareness that her love-hate feelings for the ocean are more than just a consequence of her friend’s death. Banks’s first novel has some beginner’s bumps, notably the lack of a self-contained plot, but also a great deal of charm. The mix of first-person and third-person present-tense narration is not seamless, though it imparts immediacy and warmth. Much background is given and few questions are answered, but Emma’s emotions propel the narrative. Ages 13–up. Agent: Lucy Carson, the Friedrich Agency. (May)