The Human World? It’s A Mess. But Life On The Shores Of Lake Huron…

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Matchmaker Bay! I mean, Moonflower Bay! A picturesque small town in Ontario on the shore of Lake Huron, where the seniors are adorably meddlesome and the second chance romance is hot. Eve’s great aunt Lucille has passed away and left Eve the Mermaid Inn with the caveat that she isn’t allowed to sell it for one year.  Moonflower Bay took up enough of Eve’s past, therefore, it is not going to encroach on her future! No way! No how! She takes a sabbatical from her big city life, in big city Toronto, to renovate the inn and increase market value. And she is no-way no-how going to look at her ex. Nope.

LOL!

I love Romance novels! And Jenny Holiday’s sense of humour!

As soon as I saw “Mermaid” in the title, I put this book on my TBR list. I am one of the OG 80s Disney fans, one of the fortunate souls to witness the magnificence of The Little Mermaid on the big screen in 1989. The Disney Treasury hardcover book was the star of my home library, and my Ariel doll was EVERYTHING. Every time I got to swim underwater I’ll swear I grew a tail. I wanted to be part of that world. Then came that fateful day in 1991, when my friend’s mom rented The Little Mermaid from the video store and I got invited over to watch. Yes! My second TLM viewing had finally arrived! My family didn’t have a VCR, so my movie re-watching opportunities were limited to friends’ dens or Sunday nights with eyes glued to CBC. Turned out my friend’s mom had rented the Hans Christian Anderson version, and since home internet was not a thing in 1991, we decided to watch it anyway because it was a cartoon: surely it was child appropriate! 

I gained a quality life lesson from that sea-foamy, not-Disney fairytale tragedy.

So did Eve. Aunt Lucille had a penchant for feminist mermaids and often regaled young Eve with the morals of their stories; the sirens, the silkies and “the story of a mermaid who gave up everything for the prince she loved, only to watch him marry another”. Eight-year-old Eve did not understand the power of her independence, but almost thirty-year-old Eve has built a glorious career from it.

One might take it as a sign that Eve’s grand plan to expunge from her life all things Moonflower Bay will fall to pieces by Day 2. Unwittingly stuck on the inn’s roof, her rescuer is none other than her first love, former teenaged dreamboat and current chief of police, Sawyer. She will not waste any more time on Sawyer, he got enough of her teenage years and no one wants to go back there.

LOL again!

This book is the stuff that my keeper shelves are lined with. It’s fun and funny while subtly poking even more fun at its own inherent (and beloved) corniness. This is certainly not a fluffy, easy-going Romance, but there is plenty of opportunity to laugh while you swoon and wipe the odd tear off your face. There are real, relatable feelings to feel, and all kinds of smalltown adorkableness, such as the four matchmaking seniors – one of whom is spotted shortly after Eve got stuck on the roof because her ladder had disappeared. Hmmm. And then there’s Eve’s new best friend Maya, the local thespian whose focus is to expose her fellow Moonflower Bayers to angsty feminist community theatre. Throw in Sawyer’s BFFs, The Brooder and The Bar Owner, and very soon into the story — if you’re me, at least — you’re thrilled that you not only have this book to read, but that it’s the first in a series.

And I’m not the only one pleased that there’s more to Moonflower Bay: check out this STUNNING BookstaMani by my friend Lacquered.Ink on Instagram!

The detail work is exquisite. Nailed it! (I had to!) When you finish reading Mermaid Inn go back to this post and see if you can match the elements of her fanart to the book. Every time I look at it, I make a new discovery. Pandemic begone, I need a Lacquered.Ink BookstaMani right now!

I took great delight in Mermaid Inn, Dear Reader, and it fell open in my lap at just the right time. I needed flirty fun and a lakeside escape from reality.  This heartfelt romcom delivered. And the mermaid life lessons were a fun twist on a tale as old as time.

Okay, I’ll stop with the Disney references.

Love From,
The True North

P.S. If you enjoy my writing and would like to fuel my romance novel and tea collection (and my website hosting fee), I’d enjoy a ko-fi if you have a few dollars to spare. Follow me on Twitter or Instagram for more #CanLitRomance fun: @CanLitRomance.