"This story will have you laughing out loud!"
This is author Brenden James' last chance. His first book
was a smashing success and topped all the bestseller lists,
his second book was a total flop. If he doesn't write
another bestseller, his days as an author are over, and he
knows it. His publisher sent him to the British Isles to
write a travel guide. The only things he's seen so far are
sheep and senile residents. Then he gets to the Isle of Man
and winds up in the village of Heather Bay. The weather
sucks and he wants to leave, however, the only ferry
leaving the Isle has just sunk and he's stuck. So he goes
to the local hotel to get a room, only to find there are no
vacancies available. Not quite telling the truth, he tells
the hotel owner he's with a famous travel magazine. Hoping
he'll put their village on the map, she rents him her
houseboat. Naturally, the thing is just about ready to fall
apart. It turns out the village is having their annual
Mermaid festival. So far, nothing is going right on this trip and Brenden
hasn't even started working on his manuscript yet. When the
hotel owner gave him the keys to the houseboat, she also
gave him tickets to see the "live Mermaid show". Having
nothing better to do, Brenden decides to go. The woman in
the tank is the most beautiful woman Brenden has ever seen,
with long flowing red hair and he ends up in her dressing
room after the show. When he becomes a bit on the obnoxious
side, Christine hits him with a dose of pheromones and the
poor man is instantly in lust with her. Things go from bad to worse, from hitting the golf ball
right up the sheep's "anal orifice", to being pulled in the
cold water of the Irish Sea by a supposed "Merman". Well,
at least Brenden has something to write about now. He sends
the first few chapters off his editor, who loves it!
Brenden now has another bestseller in the making. However,
he's also getting to know the people of the village and
still wants to spend more time with Christine. Will Brenden actually submit his manuscript, knowing he
will hurt the village if he does? What of the all talk
about Mermaids? Are they real? Do they really exist? Or is
the whole village mad? MISADVENTURES AND MERFOLK is one of the funniest books I
have read in a long time. I have to admit, when I started
reading it, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to finish it.
But Kelly Reno has done a wonderful job of combining myth
and humor in this story. The village of Heather Bay comes
to life in the pages, right down to the eccentricities of
the locals. Every time poor Brenden tried to visit
Christine, he always ended up trashing the place by
knocking everything over. His first night in the houseboat,
his neighbor tried to attack him with a knife. And I can't
think of a single woman that wouldn't want a visit by
Charlie the Tuna. We even have the appearance of an English
television personality. This book is definitely in
the "must read" category. Posted October 9, 2004
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted November 16, 2006
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When Brendan James arrived in the British
Isles to write an honest and vivid profile of
the craggy landscape and mysterious network
of micro-islands, he found little more than
sheep and senile inhabitants, too toothless to
chat up. But after a serendipitous ferry
sinking, James found himself stranded in a
remote and peculiar village on Isle of Man
called Heather Bay where the locals were
celebrating their annual mermaid festival. At
first glance, the festivities seemed innocent
enough, but as James dug deeper, the
best-selling travel writer found himself
ill-equipped to deal with the lunacy of the
locals who would stop at nothing to persuade
him to write kind and endearing things about
their home. After being enchanted by a local
mermaid impersonator and nearly killed after
interrupting the bizarre mating ritual of a
merman, James vowed to expose the slimy
underbelly of the seemingly innocent
festivities in the alien world he's discovered.
A place where it's considered fashionable to
wear house cats as hats, where mysterious
and seductive creatures lurk within the briny
depths, and where the local church solicits
for an accepts organ donations from tourists.
In summary, Misadventures & Merfolk is the
tale of seaside village gone mad.
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