Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine

If you've stuck around this blog long enough, you know I'm totally in love with Florence + The Machine, a British rock/soul/alternative/magical woodland band, led by red headed goddess Florence Welch.
Their music is very reminiscent of the ocean and especially merpeople, and I've recommended it be used in mer-films many times,  but the band themselves had not put that imagery into their videos.
Anyway, the video for new single Never Let Me Go premiered on MSN yesterday (it'll be on youtube officially tomorrow morning. You can watch it here: http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/florence-and-the-machine-never-let-me-go-video-premiere/2t6mw8gg


Ok, so there's no mermaids in the video right? I was a bit disappointed with the video when it first premiered myself. But now that it's had some time to grow on me, I think the video might be a messed up retelling of The Little Mermaid, and I mean the original one and not the Disney one (both are cool though!).

Florence's character is the mermaid figure, while the boy (that's Jamie Campbell Bower by the way, best known for his role in Tim Burton's beloved remake of Sweeney Todd) is the human. The general idea is that Florence is some creature from the sea that can't stay on land too long, and randomly wanders into this skating rink  and there's a boy and they have a weird little romance, but her time runs out and she turns to sea foam, MUCH like the original Hans Christian Anderson telling of The Little Mermaid.
This is all fan speculation of course. The great thing about Florence + The Machine's music is that it can mean something different to every person who hears it. Never Let Me Go might be a song of hope and surrender to some, or a sad and sweet anthem of being lost.

Anyway, the song reflects beautifully on ocean themes and I think I'm starting to like the video a lot more.
What are your thoughts?

-Randi

Spotlight: Lucy (Daughters of the Sea #3)

Hey guys! Garrett and I have been at a loss for posts lately, but we finally have a small event we can write up....


The third book in Kathryn Lasky's Daughters of the Sea series is being published on March 1, and since that is coming up soon, I'd thought I'd do a little post on it, answer a few questions people have asked me about the series ect.                                                                      
Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:


A choice between love and survival . . .Lucy's family is excited to spend the summer in Bar Harbor, Maine. Her minister father is pleased to preside over such a prestigious congregation, and his social-climbing wife is ecstatic at the chance to find a rich husband for her daughter.Yet Lucy wants nothing to do with the Bar Harbor social scene; she's simply excited to spend the summer by the sea, watching the waves from her favorite spot on the cliff. Despite having never gone swimming, Lucy feels an intense connection to the ocean, and meets a handsome ship-builder who shows Lucy a world she's never known, yet somehow always longed for.However, her mother will stop at nothing to keep Lucy and the ship builder apart, even if it means throwing Lucy into the arms of a wealthy man with a dangerous secret. Can Lucy break free and embrace her destiny as a daughter of the sea? Or is she doomed to waste away in a gilded cage, slowly dying of a broken heart?




Alright, sounds pretty cool right? I've actually had more than a few people inbox me on Goodreads and ask some things about this particular series, so here are some things you should know before starting the book:






1. You should read the the books before it (Hannah and May respectively). May didn't particularly depend upon Hannah as far as plot details and such, but it was good to read them together.


2. This series is decidedly more middle grade than Young Adult, which is not a bad thing. I still liked them, but the writing is descriptive yet simple and there isn't a whole lot of complexity, but they are interesting. That might change with this installment however. May leaned more towards Young Adult than Hannah (there was a love interest, some family drama, whereas Hannah was firmly set in the middle grade).


3. It''s turn of the century historical fiction, which I personally loved. Mermaid books are either urban fantasy or set back in the ancient days of the Greeks, so this is a really fresh perspective on the legends and lore. Lasky is well researched in the era, and presents it very well for young and old readers.


4. This book is the set-up for the finale' due in the fourth book. While there haven't been a lot of details released about the last DOTS book (Ha! DOTS! That's cute!) we do know that it ultimately involves the sister's going home to the sea. I'm hoping to see more of that in this book.






What are y'all's thoughts? Looking forward to it? Happy reading :)






-Randi

Katy Perry The Mermaid

So, we've mentioned on the MerBlog before how Katy Perry and Lady Gaga were both donning mermaid outfits, and except for a few Twitter pics, we haven't really seen Katy Perry in all her finned glory. Now, as you can see from the picture to the right, Katy Perry's mermaid photo has finally been released into the world!
This was part of a photo shoot, not a music video as I originally thought. I really love the mixture in this picture: we have the overall pop-star diva look, mixed with the more cotton-candy aspects of mermaid lore. Love the pink hair, too!
Katy Perry makes a really awesome mermaid, I have to say. So, between Lady Gaga's Yuyi and Katy Perry's unnamed mermaid, who do you think made a better sultry sea vixen?

Between The Sea And The Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore (Review)

I started my awesome Merbooks challenge this year with this book. If you haven't started yours yet, get going! It's going to be fantastic!

Here's the synopsis of the book from Goodreads before I start.

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alander, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alander band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.

I had a lot of really high expectations for this book, and sad to say, a lot of them didn't come true.

1. There's no real danger in the story, besides losing their sire belt *coughcoughvirginitycoughcough*. Sure, it hurts to walk on land. But there is no driving danger for the mermaids or the winged people, which puts little drive into the plot.
2.Esmerine is hopelessly boring. And so is everyone else in the story. I connected with none of the characters and none of them even felt the slightest bit real.
3. The book wasn't intricate and felt more aimed at middle grade readers, save for a lot of sexual references (which were annoying and ugly). There was no pizzazz.
4.The Mermaids eat fish. I hate to say this, because I know a lot of fish eat other fish (insert Social  Network references here) but this seemed a bit like cannibalism to me. And on a similar note, and this is a really small nitpick, but the food is all human stuff and not magical :(
5. The winged/finned romance is....well pointless. I didn't feel any sparks, and it certainly wasn't very fun to read about ALL THE TIME. This is where a lot of Young Adult authors start to lose me. They concentrate way too much on the romance of it all.
But despite a lot of flaws, I still managed to enjoy bits and pieces of the book. It referenced some of the original mermaid myths. But altogether, it's pretty skip-able.

Get Unleashed...

Today the finalized cover for Tempest Unleashed, the 2012 sequel to last year's fin-tastic Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs, was officially debuted on Tracy's blog. Here's the cover:

Below is the synopsis. If you haven't read the first book yet, read at your own risk, because minor spoilers may be lurking below.
Tempest Maguire is happy with her decision to embrace her mermaid nature and live among her mother’s clan within the ocean’s depths. Even though training to one day ascend the throne for the aging mermaid queen is rigorous, she finds refuge in the arms of Kona, the selkie who first opened her up to her mermaid side. But when word comes that one of her brothers has been gravely injured on land, Tempest immediately rushes to his side—which also brings her back to her old flame, Mark. And in her absence, a deadly battle begins raging at the hands of Tempest’s old nemesis, the sea witch Tiamat. As the dangerous war erupts, Tempest’s two loves—Kona and Mark, sea and land—will collide for the first time, both to protect her and to force her to choose.
What do you guys think? Myself, I'm uber-excited! I've been waiting for this book for quite some time. Plus, I think this one's got a lot more mermaid action than the previous. As much as I love selkies, I prefer mermaids a whole lot more.
So, are you guys ready to be Unleashed?

H2O: Just Add Water Spin-Off Series In The Works?

Usually, when there's rumors about things going on in the H2O world, I ignore them, because it's usually just rumors. Being that I don't even live in the country where the show is filmed, it makes it even more difficult to keep up with news. But Wikipedia now features a small tidbit of information that made me wonder if it was legit or not. Of course, Wikipedia's usually wrong, but guess what? Not this time! The Wikipedia article linked back to an actual site of upcoming Australian productions, and it turns out that the H2O spinoff is listed as one of them! Read the decription of this new show, Mako: Island of Secrets, below:

When 15-year-old Zac goes camping on Mako Island, he has no idea his every move is being monitored by real-life mermaids Sirena, Nixie and Lyla, whose job it is to ward off trespassers. When he comes into contact with the magical waters of the Moon Pool on the night of a full moon, Zac is given a taste of Mako’s powers, waking the next day to discover he
has been granted fin-like feet and the power to control water… causing all sorts of trouble for Sirena, Nixie and Lyla.

So it looks like the new show is going to feature a merman. That's an interesting change, because so far only mermaids have been featured in H2O. The show is scheduled for release in late 2012.

What do you guys think? Are you excited for a new H2O series?

Are You Up For A Challenge?

It's a new year, and I'm super-excited about it. Why? Because this year is filled with mermaid books galore, and I'm ready for some heavy reading! But not only am I excited for all these mermaid books, I'm also really looking forward to the first ever MerBooks Reading Challenge.
For those aware of this blog's origins, it began as a group for mermaid-book lovers on the social networking site Goodreads. And for the first time since the group's launch, we're holding a year-long reading challenge. In a nutshell (read: seashell), you have a year to read ten mermaid books. Doesn't seem too hard, right?
If you want to join in on the fun, go here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/33768._O_MERBOOKS_The_Group_For_All_Things_Mermaid_O_
It's free to join Goodreads, and you'll be among the first to learn about upcoming mermaid books, talk with authors, and talk about all things mermaid!
Hope to see you there!