American Mermaid is a delightful debut from Julia Langbein full of humor and heart. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This novel is beautifully written. It's a strange combination of lyrical, surreal, and funny. The story moves back and forth between Penelope's life in LA where she's been hired to join a screenwriting team to adapt her wildly successful novel and passages from her novel.

What is haunting are the parallels from the novel to Penny's life. Sylvia, the protagonist from Penny's novel, also titled American Mermaid, also seems to appear in Penny's L.A. life, sabotaging the screenplay, which is completely ruining everything that made the book important to Penny (and Sylvia isn't happy about it). Is Sylvia real? Is Penny crazy? Is the entire Hollywood community crazy?

I loved the magical realism aspects of the story, how reality bends and it's hard to know what is real and what isn't. There's also some great explorations of family, independence/financial responsibilities, culture, and sexuality. All with a good dose of humor.

At the beginning of the novel, I didn't care much for the dips into the book, but then I caught the groove and I found myself going back and forth over which storyline I liked the most, and by the end, I really loved the way they worked and played off each other.

Great read!

Good stuff. This has the elements of a good story, along with good writing. I wasn't sure I'd like this, but I stayed engaged and glad I picked it up. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

**American Mermaid. The book blurb sounded interesting…author writes book about a woman finding out she really is a mermaid, not a human confined to a wheelchair. When the story is picked up to become a movie the author has to fight the studio to keep her story true to her conception. The execution, however, never grabbed this reader’s interest. The text written in the first person is extremely wordy as the heroine’s flitting inner thoughts intrude on all of her actions, making it hard to follow the actual story to its conclusion. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.

Equal parts clever and frustrating, American Mermaid weaves two separates tales (tails!) until they are inseparable. At times compelling, the novel was ultimately a let down for me as I found no likeable characters and no one to cheer for. Still, there's a whole lot of clever and a lot of good writing. Not sorry I read it, just wish I enjoyed it.

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein is a suspenseful fantasy set in real time. I love the way mermaid mythology, science and a tragic story of love and betrayal are written. As a lover of mermaids and strong female leads, this novel is spot on. I enjoyed the writing style of the author which provided believable details without doing a deep dive. I am going to definitely recommend this title.

Hilarious! Moving! Complicated! Fun!
American Mermaid is like no other book - follow Penelope as she quits her low paying English teaching job to move to LA to write the screen play for her surprise best selling novel about a Mermaid.

Words alone cannot describe how witty and sharp the dialogue Julia Langbein has created. The characters are both bigger than life and as common as your office mates. You will root for Penny to keep her pride and her
respect and maintain the great character she created while slowly and surely, Hollywood chips away at the concept. If you love a fresh and hilarious new voice, all things mermaid (and special, and fantastical) or just want a novel where a woman fights to maintain her autonomy and voice, America Mermaid is for you! #Doubleday

lost a star because, while I can suspend disbelief for impossible science, I really couldn't for the eventual cartoonish bwah-ha-ha I will destroy the world villian in the story.

Also, the painting "The Depths of the Sea" by Edward Burne-Jones came across the transom while I was reading this book, which was kind of creeptastic.

“American Mermaid” is the debut novel by Julia Langbein.

Like many of us (me!), we dream of publishing it a novel and it doing well. That is exactly what happened to high school English teacher, Penelope. She heads to Hollywood because her story is about to become a movie. Yet, Hollywood has other ideas for Penelope’s tale. “American Mermaid” is part feminism, part comedy, and part reflection of the dark side of dreams possibly becoming true.

Interspersed throughout Penelope narration are excerpts of her novel—a device that I loved. Parts of the book are choppy, but there is plenty of this book to enjoy—so much that I think I need to read it a second time.

Three and a half stars.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and Net Galley for the privilege of reviewing this book.

Wow! I didn't know what to expect when I started this book and it really blew me away. I loved how the author weaved the protagonist's story with the book she has written. It kept me guessing till the end. I loved how the image of the mermaid was used but flipped, especially since I was reading this when the new "Little Mermaid" film trailers with a Black mermaid was making the news. I don't want to give anything away but if like books about feminist but flawed women then this is for you.

I loved this weird little book. It had such lovely and sharp turns of phrases married with the crude. At first, I was skeptical about the inserts of the book-within-the-book but that became extremely compelling. There were a few plot points I didn't quite grasp the ultimate point of -- Derek, Schrodinger's asexuality, etc. -- but overall, a great read.

Beautifully written, wildly humorous, compelling mystery about a mermaid baby found washed up on a beach and surgically altered to live as a crippled human. Her evil adoptive father threatens a cataclysmic environmental event. Will she save the world?

Thank you net galley and Doubleday Books for the opportunity to read American mermaid!

I don’t think I have ever read a book about mermaids that was so UN-fairytale like…and I mean that in the best possible way!

Penelope (Penny) is an English high school teacher, who is surprised to find out that the book that she has written is now a best seller. Hollywood now wants to turn it into a movie! She quits her job, moved to LA, but as the screen writers want to change Sylvia, the main character in her novel, strange things start to happen. Penny wonders if she is utterly losing it, or if her strong female character is stmtanding up against Hollywood and using her voice to stay true to who she is.

What I loved: The realism! I believed it. I could see it. I understood it. It made sense to me. Also, when I found out Julia Langbein did stand up comedy, things clicked! There were so many laugh out loud funny moments in such a serious book. Her dry sarcasm and humor is my kind of humor and I devoured it!

What I did not love: The book was choppy. There were also inconsistencies in the storyline and plot holes that I wondered if I missed pages, or even full chapters. Going back, I definitely didn’t. There were just long lapses of time.

Overall, I give this book 4 out of five stars.

Julia Langbein is so wickedly talented that I think she could make anything funny. With her first novel, American Mermaid, she has chosen to lampoon Hollywood, the book industry, teaching, teenagers, and men among other things. In it, Penelope Schleeman has quit her high school teaching job to move to Hollywood after her first novel, American Mermaid, hits it big and she is asked to help write the screenplay. Langbein intersperses chapters of the fictional American Mermaid with Penelope’s struggles in LA with her scriptwriting partners, her agent, and going to parties to network. Midway through the novel begins to lag a bit, but Langbein manages to pull it back together to give readers a laugh-out-loud but ultimately serious novel about capitalism, the environment, the entertainment industry, and how to find happiness.

WOW!! Just finished this "wild ride"! American Mermaid is the story of Penelope, a high school teacher/writer who moves to L. A. to work with screenwriters as they develop her book into a movie. It's also the story of Sylvia, the mermaid from Penelope's book, American Mermaid. I don't believe I've ever read anything like this, where fictional and even "more fictional" characters interact in the most bizarre manner! This book brings in current topics of femininity, climate change, and capitalism as they relate to mermaids - yes, mermaids!

This is a fun read - it's incredibly well written in back-and-forth chapters between what's real and what's "fictional". It's one of the most creative stories that I've read. I did get a tad bogged down in parts, and would have liked it to move more quickly. Truthfully, there's so much in this book, I feel I should read it a few more times to really digest all the ins and outs of it thoroughly. HIGHLY RECOMMEND for a cerebral read!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review American Mermaid.

Julia Langbein’s American Mermaid is two stories in one. There’s the tale of Sylvia, a mermaid whose earnest story pulls at the heartstrings. Then there’s the story of Penelope, the writer whose book about Sylvia’s journey. Penelope’s book, American Mermaid, goes viral and Penelope heads to Hollywood to adapt her novel for the screen with the help of two slick bros. The experience is disheartening, to put it mildly, and sends Penelope into a bit of a spiral during her time in LA. Things begin to happen that seem beyond the realm of circumstance, and Pen wonders if the character she’s created is exacting revenge on her and the people involved in its desecration.
I honestly laughed my tail off so many times, especially towards the end of this book. It’s a well-crafted, witty read and I think it will be a huge hit—maybe even a movie! 5 stars.
This ARC was provided by NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

A truly unique read, Julia Langbein captures Penelope’s voice in both her journey in the glamorous Hollywood as well as Sylvia, the character from her book, perfectly. Langbein used the “novel in a novel” method where the readers could experience reading excerpts from the story the main character authored.
Penelope, a high school English teacher, wrote a surprisingly instant bestselling novel that is destined to become a movie. We navigate through Penelope’s ups and downs within a competitive “male-led” Hollywood. In addition to Penelope’s journey, the reader is also given the opportunity to read excerpts from the hit novel, where we get to know Sylvia and what she represents.
Langbein hit the mark on feminism, climate responsibility, and the ins and outs of competitive Hollywood. Penelope’s parts were humorous and the situations she got herself into were hilarious. Penelope goes to great lengths to protect the character she’s created. The further we read, we question if this character truly is a figment of Penelope’s imagination or if there’s a Sylvia among us.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book.

This is an interesting novel in which elements of science fiction, feminism and climate responsibility are combined. Honestly, I have never read anything quite like this. The catalyst is a novel written by the struggling teacher, Penelope, which is sold to Hollywood.

The author brilliantly combines the new novel, screen adaptation and the actual book. This is a complex and unusual novel. As a debut author, I admire the extraordinary style Langbein has utilized in this novel. Of course, I admire the feminist aspects as well as the emphasis on the neglect of our planet.

Yes, this is a winner. It is totally original and very engaging.

Thank you Netgalley.

An engaging read. Langbein’s mermaid tale is smart, funny, and feminist — three of my favorite characteristics in fiction, especially when they occur together. It is cynical and hopeful in *almost* equal measure.

It’s the story of high school English teacher called Penelope who surprised herself with a first novel so successful she’s offered a contract to write the movie script when she sells the rights to a Hollywood movie producer. Penelope is naïve to the ways of Hollywood, which provides opportunities for much of the novel’s cynicism and social critique. The device of the book-within-the-book is a little gimmicky but effectively highlights the similarities of Penelope’s story and the mermaid’s tale.

Thanks to #NetGalley for ARC in exchange for honest review.

Penelope Schleeman is your typical teacher, intelligent, caring and poor. She has a Cinderella moment when her book American Mermaid, becomes a bestseller. She’s able to quit her teaching job to head to Hollywood to oversee her book turned into a movie. It seems like a dream come true, but it turns out that Hollywood wants to turn her feminist warrior mermaid into a teenage sexpot – and then things get weird. A timely novel about the real power that women have, even if the world doesn’t always want us to know it, or show it