SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES.

SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES by MARYJANICE DAVIDSON.

Fredricka Bimm - Fred - is a mermaid. But she is not the stuff of legends. A marine biologist, she knows what's in the water so chooses not to expose herself to those toxins. She's allergic to shellfish. The creatures she can communicate with won't do her bidding. And 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 pollutants 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!

...... Outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: The unbelievable horror began when Fred walked in on her parents making love on the living room coffee table.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: ..... and staggered through a small school of angelfish and thrashed past a nurse shark and almost knocked a sea turtle sprawling and accidentally swam upside-down

for a few seconds until she got her bearings.

KEEP IT OR NOT?: Not, this will be going to the book exchange or a charity shop.

The first book in the 'Fred' series and what a great cover ...... if only the book had been as good.

Starting off well with a very funny episode involving Fred's naked 'parents', a coffee table and a pile of magazines, I thought this was going to be a very humorous read but, sadly, though not without its moments, it failed to live up to my expectations.

To be honest I don't think the author quite knew which genre she was aiming for and whereas this could have worked well it was 'neither nowt nor someit', merely a mishmash of ideas, none of which really worked.

Then there was the fact that most of the way through the book the author chose to portray Fred's best friend, Jonas, as a stereotypical gay guy (loves to shop and takes good care of his skin - as I said typical stereotyping of homosexual men) which, as we somewhat graphically discovered, was in fact far from the truth as Jonas is hetrosexual. Quite why she chose to do this puzzled me throughout and, though I hate to admit it, preoccupied me to the extent that it did detract from the story.

Still, it was the first book in a series and has scope to grow and, hopefully, improve - I just don't think I'll be dwelling any further though I never say never when it comes to books.

The 19th book read for the 100+ Reading Challenge and the 10th for the Loving The Reviews Reading Challenge.