On her thirteenth birthday, Molly Seabrook is shocked to learn that her mum is a mermaid, and that she and her three older sisters will transform into a mermaid whenever they're near water. Molly is less than pleased — she just wants to fit in, and having to hide her powers from everyone at school, including her best friend Ada Shen, will make that harder than ever.
The books in the series:
- And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid (2019)
- Don't Tell Him I'm a Mermaid (2020)
And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid contains examples of:
- Alliterative Family: The Seabrook sisters are named Myla, Margot, Melissa, Molly, and Minnie. They have an aunt named Maureen, and their grandmother was named Murielle. Their ancestors include Mira, Marilla, Myra, Morwenna, and Mericia.
- Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Molly works at the family fish 'n' chip shop, where she's forced to wear a haddock costume that not only looks ridiculous but also is unbearably hot. When she transforms at work, the costume has the advantage of hiding her tail from others, but it also makes it hard to catch herself when she falls.
- Blackmail:
- In the first book, Molly transforms into a mermaid at the zoo, and popular girl Felicity Davison sees her. In a case of mutual blackmail, Felicity agrees not to tell anyone about Molly's ability if Molly doesn't tell anyone that Felicity's mother has cancer.
- In the second book, the Waverley twins try to trick Molly into transforming in front of other humans so the Seabrooks will be banished to the ocean again. When Molly catches on, she and Margot hatch a plan to trap the Waverleys in their shop, near a giant vat of water that will cause them to transform, and film them. They threaten to post the footage online unless the Waverleys leave them alone.
- Broken Angel: The Waverley twins are sirens who cut off their wings so they can pass as ordinary merfolk.
- Disappeared Dad: Molly's human dad left after she was born. Myla is the only sister who's old enough to really remember him. Five-year-old Minnie, who's too young to transform, is the daughter of a different human man, who is also out of the picture.
- Discreet Drink Disposal: Ada's uncle once got really drunk and gave her a vodka and Coke. It tasted so awful that after one sip, she poured it in a cactus. The cactus died soon after.
- Dramatic Drop: In the second book, Molly and Margot tell Mum that they've figured out that the Waverley twins are mermaids. They describe the twins as having freakishly pale, almost white eyes. Mum drops her mug, which shatters and scalds her legs with hot tea, because she realises the Waverleys are sirens.
- Eskimos Aren't Real: Ada's five-year-old cousin Li Jun tells Molly, 'Earthworms aren't real. I'm not stupid.'
- Fantastic Racism: There have been millennia of hatred between mermaids and sirens, who resemble mermaids with wings, caused by complicated reasons including land grabbing, trade sanctions, and religious differences. The mermaids accuse sirens of luring sailors to their deaths. Sirens say that's just propaganda. When the mermaids came on land, they could have included sirens in their agreement with the English government, but they didn't, leaving most sirens stranded in the most polluted areas of the ocean.
- Fictional Sport: Mermaids play Clamdunk, a game in which players' efforts to score goals are hindered by the other team's efforts to take the pearls attached to their tails, which takes a player out of the game. The game ends when one of the teams (usually but not always the losing one) has lost all its pearls.
- Furniture Blockade: At the beginning of the second book, a broken dishwasher shoots water all over the kitchen, causing Mum and the four older sisters to transform. Then Minnie starts trying to get into the room. Minnie is too young to be trusted with the truth, so Margot shoves a dining chair into the door and sits in it.
- Gaia's Lament: There used to be a great underwater queendom called Meire, but pollution forced all the merfolk to move onto land. They have an agreement with the human government that they can live on land as long as nobody learns their true nature; if word gets out, they'll have to go back to Meire, which would be a death sentence.
- Held Back in School: Felicity's friend Briony Tate got held back a year after a case of glandular fever caused her to miss several months of school.
- Living Lie Detector: Every mermaid has a merpower, which only works when they're in mer form. Melissa's is the ability to tell when people are lying.
- Magic Pants: Every time someone transforms into a mermaid, their clothes are replaced by a top that's the same colour as their tail. When they transform back, their original clothes are restored.
- Omniglot: Myla's merpower is the ability to understand every sea language, with the exception of Kelpish, which is only spoken in rivers and streams. She uses her ability to study ancient aquatic texts.
- Revenge Is a Dish Best Served: Margot blows snot bubbles into the gravy of customers who offend her.
- Skinny Dipping: Molly's mum goes skinny dipping every day at lunchtime, which the other kids tease her for.
- Super-Strength: This is Margot's merpower, as she learned when she picked up a speedboat with her left thumb.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: After Molly's falling-out with Ada, Margot puts cayenne pepper in her ketchup, knowing how much she hates spicy food.
- Themed Party: Every Seabrook girl gets a fish-themed birthday party, whether she wants it or not, with fish balloons and a whale piñata full of fish-shaped confetti.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Molly loves white chocolate, and carries Milky Bar buttons with her everywhere.
- Underwater City: Margot takes Molly to look at Balaena, the abandoned capital city of Meire, through a telescope. She sees towering buildings and ancient shipwrecks, lit up by the electroreceptive fish the merfolk used to power the city.
- When I Was Your Age...: Aunt Maureen, who watches the younger girls while Mum and Myla are out of town, is nasty and strict and thinks the younger generation is work-shy. When Molly tries to get out of work due to a chest infection, Maureen says, 'When I was your age, I was down the mines every weekend, influenza or not.' Molly highly doubts this is true, but doesn't say anything.
