Lily is a mermaid, going to high school on land because she found out her mother was a human and she wanted to experience that life. She visits home frequently and has a crush on the star of the swim team, and the hate version of a crush on the boy next door.

It's a set up for a simperingly sweet story, but unfortunately Lily is a vapid, idiotic, and mean girl, and Childs lets her hate the boy next door for so long with no reason (this book is all tell and no show) that it takes a long time to see why he is worth liking, and the book ends before you see why he even likes her.

It doesn't help that the mermaid politics are not explained in any kind of detail, and you're expected to believe that Lily is supposed to get married and take the throne in two months when she's spent the last three years on land as a human and not being trained in any way to be an effective monarch.

Gave it two stars only because I loved Quince.