Brendan James has a serious problem. He's a travel guide author, with two books under his belt. The first was literary genius; sharp-witted and rude, it rocketed to best-seller lists. The second...well, let's just say that it had the exact opposite effect. Now, he needs to write his third book, in which he hopes to cover the British Isles. His editor makes it clear to him that it absolutely has to be a terrific book, because the publishers are becoming less-than-enthused about continuing to publish books like his second one. The problem? The book is under deadline...and he hasn't even gotten a single chapter written. It's the dreaded writer's block, and he's only been able to write about elderly people and sheep-not exactly the kind of material to get back on the best-seller's list. Brendan's editor, feeling the pressure, tells Brendan to go to a mermaid festival in Heather Bay.
Misadventures & Merfolk is the title he will use for his book, and is-conveniently-the title of this offering by Kelly Reno. The story chronicles Brendan's time in the village of Heather Bay. Passing himself off as a famous magazine writer, he attends the "Live Mermaid Underwater Fantasy Show", starring one of the local shopkeepers-Christine Hamilton. An encounter with her backstage leaves him rather...entranced. In addition, he hears stories about a fellow by the name of Charlie the Tuna, a fellow who has become infamous due to his way with women-infamous enough to have a number of outraged husbands looking for a bit of payback-and Brendan is on hand to witness Charlie's charm in action early one morning. Events like these help Brendan wipe away his writer's block, and things seem like they get stranger as he continues researching the village.
Brendan obviously is the major part of the "Misadventures" part of this book. Between going around the village finding out info for his book, encountering Christine a number of times, as well as an old flame who happens to do the morning show Wakey-Wakey, and finding out about the legends of the merfolk, Brendan certainly fills his time in Heather Bay. Christine also has quite a bit of interesting backstory as well, which begins with the tales of her dead former lovers, and ends with-well, that would be telling. Charlie also has a great deal of face time, who indulges himself regularly, but is very protective of Christine as well-perhaps too much so.
There's a number of other interesting characters here, too; special mention goes to Claire Westing, proprietor of the Mermaid Inn...and keeper of secrets involving Charlie and Christine; and also Liam O'Leary, a fellow who has a great deal of knowledge concerning merfolk, and owns a cat that apparently has odd methods of getting comfortable. Also of note is Michael Blake, a bartender who is Heather Bay's self-proclaimed Most Eligible Bachelor. He's also involved with a golfing incident that has to be read to be believed.
I found Misadventures and Merfolk to be a
fun read. It starts out as a writer's attempt to break out of writer's
block, and it proceeds into mystery and-there's no better word for it-misadventure;
where a writer learns that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.
This isn't a children's book (don't confuse this with "The Little Mermaid").
It's not the kind of fantasy tale that takes place in a world of imagination-it's
one that takes place in the real world, using the fertile ground of legend.
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