Sleeping with the Fishes (Fred the Mermaid) - MaryJanice Davidson

Publisher: Piatkus
Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Publish Date: 2007
Pages: 304

Synopsis

Fredericka Bimm - Fred - is a mermaid. But she is not the stuff of legends . . .

A marine biologist, Fred knows what's in the water so chooses not to expose herself to those toxins. She's allergic to shellfish. The sea creatures she can communicate with won't do her bidding. She doesn't have long blonde hair or a perfect body. And she's definitely not perky! Fred's life is mostly spent trying to conceal her origins - and lately she's been trying to figure out just why there are weird levels of toxins in the local seawater. Then two strangers come into her life. Her new colleague is a sexy - if over-curious - hunk with a mermaid fixation. The other claims he is Artur, the high prince of the black seas - and Fred's rightful ruler!

Review:

First of, I became a fan of Davidson with her Undead series - before it went severely downhill. I had already read one other story by her which basically had the same main character but with a different sci-fi setting (Bionic Woman type) and here, it's basically the same thing. Davidson is certainly playing to her strengths but at the cost of original characters. 

Our heroine is another super tall, loud mouthed woman of the supernatural persuasion with a first name she can't bear to hear unless it's shortened. We're told she never smiles and has super strength and all that inhuman jazz, but everyone still likes her. Mostly concerned with her own problems, like sassy yet stupid fish but she's irresistible to all men, including the two that pop up and try to a) date her or b) claim dominion over her. Like Davidson's other series, these men are ALSO incredibly tall, don't exactly speak like the natives and are always trying to make with the sex.

I get it, the romance genre, in particular the fantasy sub-genre has certain tropes to hit, but damn, there is no variation. The love interests touch the heroine inappropriately as well as insult her human friends/family and she just goes with it - given how she's quite caustic and seems ready to kill a chirpy female intern for basically being a cheerleader and a dolphin lover, this struck me as quite weird.

Verdict:

Probably the best compliment I can give this series is that I like the way they make an effort to do an original mythology for the selected fantasy. I would have liked more details on that as opposed to yet another 'love' triangle. Honestly, the side character of her best friend (who is written as OTT campy gay but is apparently very straight?) is more interesting than the main plot.
The story is very short, and moves so fast but not a lot really happens. Artur, the mermaid king just turns up and is already able to start hitting on Fred, only we're just expected to know who he is and how he found her and why he's so keen on her. Fred isn't' very likeable - our first scene is her walking in on her parents making love (Fred's in her thirties by the way) and she throws a fit, injures her step father, insults them both and makes the whole thing an affront to her, when she turned up unannounced (she'd been invited the day prior but bailed on them for some reason).

There are a lot of conveniences - IE her hippie parents not really having her birth documented by authorities, no vaccinations etc.. no one at work notices she has to get naked in the tank she works in and has a tail, no repercussions for beating up some kids when she was in school..actually her workplace is incredibly slack and oblivious to everything.

If you haven't read her other series and have no knowledge of her other characters, really like mermaids and/or fantasy smut, or want a silly fluff story you can pass the time with - this book could be for you, but otherwise I'd pass on this. Davidson's usual great humour seems to fall flat here and combined with the lack of plot and unlikable heroine, it's more of a slog than a fun read.