September Girls by Bennett Madison

September Girls by Bennett Madison
"In September Girls, Sam is spending the summer in a beach town filled with beautiful blond girls who all seem inexplicably attracted to him. But that’s not the only reason why he thinks the Girls are strange. They only wear flats because heels make their feet bleed. They never go swimming in the water. And they all want something from him.

Sam finds himself in an unexpected summer romance when he falls for one of the Girls, DeeDee. But as they get closer, she pulls away without explanation. Sam knows that if he is going to win her back, he’ll have to learn the Girls’ secret."- summary from Amazon

I've noticed there's a lot of extremes with this book- either love or hate. I'm more in the middle- this was a good book but I didn't think it was amazing by any means. If I were in the business of giving stars, it'd be 3.5 out of 5. Madison does a really good job putting a twist on the whole mermaid mythology, and it's very interesting, especially when reading the chapters from the girls' perspectives. They're a bit vague in the beginning, but reveal more as the story goes on.

Most of the book though is from Sam's perspective, and he's a typical teenage boy, which means cursing and thinking about sex a lot. So if stuff like that bothers you, this isn't the book to read. Sam is more introspective and thoughtful though, which gives the book a more grounded, intimate feel to it. It's really a character-based novel and I feel like if you don't care about the characters, the book won't be good. Not a lot happens in the book, so it's certainly not a page-turner. I spent much longer reading this book than most books I read because there wasn't that urgency. I did really like how Madison handled the ending, and it was just very realistic.

Overall, like I said earlier, it's a good book but I feel like it's something you need to read a snippet of online before making your decision to read it. See if it's the kind of book for you.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.