A review by sindri_inn_arsaeli
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

Did not finish book.

3.0

DNF. The reader was quite pleasant, so this was fully the author's fault. I read the title, and expected to eventually meet a "Mrs. Hancock." I read the back and expected an unconventional "romance" with perhaps a touch of magical realism. What I got was a slog through not entirely likeable characters, and believe me, I gave it a GOOD chance, I was over halfway through and the two "main" characters had barely started talking to each other again, and certainly were not in any kind of romance yet. The author seems to have a very clear idea of what constitutes a gritty realism, and it is purely bodily functions... What she picks and chooses to be overly descriptive of was Not my cup of tea. After getting a few scant paragraphs of description spattered at the introduction of the Mermaid, a titular curio!, followed later by a chapter and a half of description, discussion, and follow up action surrounding a Bucket Of Piss, (which is very important to someone's story, but that someone being a tertiary character,) I decided I had already renewed the book once, it was due at my library, and I couldn't put any more time into something I was over half way through and still not sufficiently invested in. May others have better luck than I.