Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Book Review #4: Swimming Without A Net by MaryJanice Davidson


It's not normal for a mermaid to hate being out in open water, but Fred never claimed to be normal. To visit the undersea realm of Artur, the High Prince, and the rest of the royal merfamily, she has to fin it to the Cayman Islands. Luckily, hunky marine biologist Thomas is along for the swim - in his custom-made underwater RV. He'll be able to explore where no "outlander" has gone before and give Fred a place to escape to when the Undersea Folk start getting on her nerves.
But as Fred tries to fit in with her own kind, she finds herself hooked on both Artur and Thomas, and caught between two factions of merfolk: those happy with swimming under the radar - and those who want to bring their existence to the surface...
The cover of this book caught my eye from its place on the shelf, and after weeks of contemplating, I decided to pick it up and read it. I'd heard of the first book in the Fred the Mermaid Trilogy, Sleeping With The Fishes, but I had never gotten around to reading it. I probably won't read it, even though this book was...well, tolerable.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 seashells. Here's why. Okay, if this book hadn't been about a mermaid, I don't think I would have ever picked it up. It was okay, but it could have been waaay better. The novel was 304 pages, and most of that was made up because of the large font size, with few lines on each page, and almost twent-five pages of quotes, acknowlegments, title pages, and author notes. Basically, Swimming Without a Net is all fluff, no story. With only a few good descriptions of the mermaids, barely any action, and Fred's usual grumpiness running abundantly throughout, this book has its random charming moments, several attempts at humor, and one very brief sex scene.
My advice: read at your own risk. I only read it because it was about a mermaid.

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