I started and finished this the same day; heck, it only took a couple of hours, all total, to read this foul-mouthed, vapid, empty piece of garbage. I wanted to like this book, despite a friend's warning of its awfulness rattling around in my head. It had such potential. There are all manner of paranormal beasties starring in books and series today: vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, faeries, even ghosts. Why not mermaids as well? What a shame a perfectly good and quirky concept (half-human mermaid who's a marine biologist and works at an aquarium) was let down by bad writing, a barely-there plotline, and a laughable climax to the "story."First off, we have the heroine, Fredrika, aka Fred, the hybrid mermaid. Aside from the pseudo-amusing personality quirks (look, she's a mermaid who can't swim in human form! Oh my, she gets seasick on boats, how funny!), she stomps, she grumps, she has no patience or social skills, she's selfish and unbelievably foul-mouthed. Yet two men, both absolutely gorgeous (natch!), upon meeting her for the first time, fall in love with her. Why? Because she's just so damn irresistible? No, because she's just so gorgeous no man can resist her, but, of course, she's completely unaware of her ability to induce lustful feelings in men and some women. Aren't we tired of that 'gorgeous, but oblivious' hook yet? I know I certainly am. Speaking of the two men who love her, one is a giant, buff mer-dude with a mane of flaming red hair and red eyes. And yet nobody seems to think that maybe there's something weird about him when seeing him for the first time, that maybe he's not quite human? No screams of "Oh my god, what's wrong with his eyes? What is he?" when he walks into a local mall/eatery? How believable is that? Or maybe everyone thinks he's in a permanent Halloween costume? It makes no sense to me. The other man, a fellow marine biologist who travels the world, falls in love with her because he can see the true color of her hair, which is green not blue. That's it? Really? That's the best the author can come up with?And that brings me to the plot of the book. I use the word plot in only the vaguest sense of the word, just as the author sketched only the vaguest outline of a plot in the story. All the "action" takes place towards the end of the book and the sequence of events is so fast and so absurdly ludicrous that it stretches the point of believability to breaking point. I think there was supposed to be some humor in the situation, but I couldn't find it. And if the author was trying for some sort of mystery, she fell well short of the mark.I have to give Davidson some credit. She actually tells us in the acknowledgments that this is a crappy book, not in so many words, but in essence. She ripped up her manuscript and started over moments from deadline, she probably went through who-knows-how-many rewrites, and finally handed the whole thing over to a group of editors, who did they best they could with what little they had. Her editors failed, however, in making her look all, y'know, smart 'n' stuff (as she put it). I guess it's my fault for not believing her. All in all, Sleeping with the Fishes is just another crude and vulgar example of Davidson's writing "talent." I'd really like to know how she managed to get published in the first place. I just feel sorry for all the poor trees that have to die in order to support her career.
I will say that I did my best to find something good about this book, and I did find a couple things that I liked, but overall the book was lacking.The character of Fred has some issues with the character. She is written like she wants to be independent and doesn't want or need a man in her life, but when two men come into her life that both want her she goes back and forth from interested in them and being annoyed by them. It's almost like her character isn't completely fleshed out and that's sad because she is the main character.Artur seems like he is just there is create conflict in a love triangle and isn't really considered to be part of the love interest at all. He doesn't seem like an appealing character at all.Thomas is interesting in some ways because he is intelligent and goes about things in a way opposite of Artur, but at the same time his character doesn't seem all that fleshed out either.Both Artur and Thomas claim to love Fred, but abandon her at times when she really needs them and don't act like they love her but are more infatuated or mildly interested in her. It just isn't well thought out.Jonas is probably the most interesting character in the book because he is secure and more thought out. He's a secondary character, but I was more interested in his part of the story than about the main storyline itself. If the story had been completely about him (while then it wouldn't have really been about mermaids) it would have been more enjoyable. The sex scene wasn't even thought out all that well it seems either. In many ways it felt like it was added at the last minute and didn't keep me interested like other romance novels have.Overall I think that this particular book could have been better if more time had been given to the main characters and the plot. The whole thing could have been better with a more detailed and developed plot. It was just lacking on so many levels that I couldn't really enjoy the whole book as much as I wanted to.
What do You think about Sleeping With The Fishes (2006)?
This was a quick fun read, but it suffers from one glaring problem – Fred is basically Betsy (of the Undead series) with fins and without the love for shoes. If you’ve read any of that series, it’s really difficult to read this without Betsy’s voice in your head. Despite the voice problems, Fred is a unique character, a half human and half mermaid who works in the only natural choice for a hybrid mermaid – at an aquarium. When she has to figure out who is polluting Boston Harbor (and therefore, oceans everywhere), she ends up with not one, but two love interests. It’s their interactions that will keep you reading.
—Jaime
Fred is a marine biologist. She loves her job and is very good at it, considering she is a mermaid. Her mother is human and her dad, well, was a merman. She is dragged into a mystery involving stinky poop being dumped into the ocean by the Prince Artur of the Dark Undersea. Who is causing the Undersea Folk to avoid the the area? This book reminds me of a Janet Evanovich book. It is laugh out loud funny and Fred is definitely NOT Ariel. I really liked this story and can't wait to find more of her titles.
—Karen
Originally posted on Books are Delicious!This is a fun light romantic fantasy about a not-so-typical mermaid named Fred. It’s sort of like that other MaryJanice Davidson romantic fantasy series about a not-so-typical vampire queen. I enjoyed this book a great deal. MJ has a gift for comedy and I found myself laughing out loud in the dentist office as I read this one.If you enjoyed the Betsy series, you will likely enjoy this one. The cast is almost identical. Fred talks and behaves just like Betsy. She is self-absorbed, abrasive but at her core, lovable and heroic. She also has a thing for big, stoic dudes who want to make her their queen.Yeah, Prince Arthur is Sinclair with a tail.Then there is the flamboyant best friend who was gay as Marc in the Betsy series and is essentially the same in the Fred series only he goes by Jonas and likes women. There are a handful of characters that I haven’t seen in the MJ universe before like Fred’s hippie mother but the characters being recycled from the Betsy series didn’t ruin the book for me.Something unique to this book that I really enjoyed was the third-person point-of-view. I was fun experiencing the story from multiple character angles. This is something I have not seen before in either the Betsy series or MJ’s werewolf series. I particularly enjoyed the subplot between Jonas and Barb.Sleeping with the Fishes delivered everything that is great about MaryJanice Davidson’s writing. My only real critique is that I would have liked it to have been longer so that the relationships between Fred and the men who are head-over-heals in love with her could have been better developed. I get that they think she’s swell because she’s a mermaid or in Arthur’s case, the one that got away but I would have liked to see this developed beyond the initial infatuation phase. Looks like there are two more books in the series for this to happen and I look forward to reading them and spending some more time with these characters.To see more of my reviews, visit my blog Books are Delicious!
—Hayley Knighten
