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. ( )

It's not something I'd read again, it's a light read, a little entertaining since I've always been fascinated with mermaids. It has an average plot, an average storyline, and predictable characters. It made me laugh sometimes but I prefer her Queen Betsy series. Despite all I've mentioned, I'm still going to read the rest of the series just to find out whom she ends up with. ( )

More fun from MaryJanice Davidson. I love how her heroine doesn't go for all the traditional romantic stereotypes and darned well makes sure even the laddies vying for her attention help her get stuff done. It's a entertaining light read, but don't expect anything too deep out of this one. (*groan* there are so many puns I could make...) ( )

I picked up this book because I really enjoy MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead series about Betsy the Vampire, and since there are so many series about vampires, I was looking forward to a new supernatural series with mermaids for a change. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t live up to my expectations. In the author’s defence, she does include an Acknowledgement at the start of the book that mentions that the writing of the book was plagued with troubles both personal and professional. That being said, perhaps the book should not have come out until these issues could be resolved, because the errors throughout are extremely distracting.

I found the overall plot to be fine – someone is polluting the harbour waters, and Fred (the mermaid) and her friends team up to find out who’s behind it. Not completely original, but just fine. But, while the characters have pasts and personalities, there’s little else going on with any of them. For the most part, they’re not that bright, and have some odd priorities, but they’re likeable enough. Except for maybe Fred who is bitter and rather depressing. However, when you compile an average plot with average characters, you’d better hope for some snappy dialogue to keep people reading, and that’s where Sleeping With the Fishes is sorely lacking. The dialogue doesn’t flow naturally, and sometimes I had to re-read portions to figure out who’s saying what. But my biggest issue with Sleeping With the Fishes is that there are some GLARING continuity errors. For example: why does Fred have to call and ask a friend to find out the name of someone she dated? The book contradicts itself more than once, and while the ending which sets up a future love-triangle almost intrigued enough to give Swimming Without A Net - the 2nd novel in the series a try, the lazy writing will keep me away. ( )

In the front of the book, MJD thanks her editor for keeping Sleeping with the Fishes from being "Betsy with fins" by suggesting the switch to third-person. But the truth is, you know what you're getting with a contemporary paranormal romance by MaryJanice Davidson, and you either like it or you don't. She has a very distinct voice that carries through regardless of the series (though her romantica does have a definitely different tone), and her heroines tend to have similar wisecracking voices.

In Sleeping with the Fishes, Fred is half-mermaid, and her life has just become way too exciting. It starts with her walking in on her parents having sex, which, even for a grown-up, is just too icky to contemplate. Then in short order, a mer-prince arrives and announces she's his queen; she gets a new mermaid-Barbie-clone intern; the fish at the aquarium where she works are on a hunger strike, demanding she play the Pet Shop Boys for them; a hunky new marine biologist arrives and actually sees that her hair is green, not the blue most people see... oh, and someone's dumping waste in the harbor.

It's a fun, fast read, full of humor and one-liners.... if I Love Lucy had fins, this would be the novel version. I'm looking forward to seeing these characters again. ( )