Sleeping with the Fishes – MaryJanice Davidson
Hachette Livre Piatkus, 2007
272 pages
RRP: AU$17.95
ISBN: 978-074-993801-7

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

After reading quite a few of Davidson’s Undead series, I’m quite a fan of her style of paranormal romance. Instead of vampires, Sleeping with the Fishes is about a mermaid – a geeky marine biologist mermaid who is out to fight those who are polluting the local harbour. Of course, because this is paranormal romance, there’s the love interest. Two of them! Frederika, our heroine, needs to choose between a mermaid-obsessed co-worker or Artur, apparently the High Prince of the Seas. What a choice!

The novel is written in third-person point of view, presumably in an attempt to differentiate between Fred’s voice and that of Beth from her Undead series. This works most of the time, but there’s still places where one ditzy not-quite-human protagonist reads very much like another. However, if you’re a fan of Davidson’s work, you’ll like this one just as much.

It’s nice to read some chick-lit fluff that does have a tiny bit more depth to it than shoes and fashion. Sleeping with the Fishes explores some of the outcomes of dumping waste into waterways, but in a light and easy-to-digest way of course.

Sleeping with the Fishes isn’t a difficult read. It’s perfect for an intermission between more brain-engaging reading, beach reading or for travelling. It would appeal to lovers of paranormal romance and would serve as a neat introduction to the genre.