Catch of a Lifetime [Mass Market Paperback]

Judi Fennell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fennell's got detailed worldbuilding, creative secondary characters and an impressive use of mythology in this great read. (Whitney Kate Sullivan The Romantic Times 20100122)

Judi Fennell has extraordinary imagination and has certainly used it in creating this exciting and colorful story. (Kay Quintin Fresh Fiction 20100122)

Well worth diving into (The Long and Short Reviews 20100128)

Filled with wonderment and adventure. (Anna Lemkau Anna's Book Blog 20100129)

In so many ways, this book was a fun read. I just wish I had been able to read this while sunning at the shore! (Julie Peterson Booking Mama 20100201)

With all the vampire and shapeshifter books that are out now... it was nice to read something a little different. (Randi Noonan Randi Romance Reader 20100201)

You better pick up a copy of Catch of a Lifetime before it swims off the bookshelves! (Cheryl Koch Cheryl's Book Nook 20100202)

A page turner that's hooked us right from page one. (Lynda K. Scott Star-Crossed Romance 20100202)

Filled with Ms. Fennell's trademark of animated, human speaking characters, and a sweet love story, Catch of a Lifetime is a fantastic addition to the series (Wendy Hines Wendy's Minding Spot 20100203)

Judi is a master of romance and fantasy. (Bridget Hopper Readaholic 20100203)

A cute read... will have you reeled in from the beginning. (Farrah Kennedy The Book Faery 20100203)

Catch of a Lifetime is a FUN book full of hilarious scenes and antidotes. (Katrina Hall Bloody Bad Books 20100204)

I really enjoyed the conclusion to this fabulous mermaid series. (Tammie Night Owl Romance 20100208)

Another very creative and fun filled romp through the underwater fantasy world of the Mer people mixing with us humans. (Darlene Smoliak Peeking Between the Pages 20100210)

witty writing that keeps you entertained, and the perfect romance writing to keep the water boiling! (Amy Jacobs My Overstuffed Bookshelf )

You need the cooling effect of the ocean after this kind of loving! (Robyn Roberts Once Upon a Romance )

About the Author

Judi Fennell is an award-winning author. Her romance novels have been finalists in Gather.com's First Chapters and First Chapters Romance contests, as well as the third American Title contest. She spends family vacations at the Jersey Shore, the setting for some of her paranormal romance series. She lives in suburban Philadelphia, PA.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; 1 edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402224281
• ISBN-13: 978-1402224287
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,065,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to "get outside!" instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did--right into Dad's hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she's more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she's still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends' books.

A three-time finalist in online contests, Judi has enjoyed the reader feedback she's received and would love to hear what you think about her Mer and Genie series. Check out her website (www.JudiFennell.com) for excerpts, reviews, contests and pictures from reader and writer conferences, as well as the chance to "dive in" to her stories.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fun but Kindle edition is very hard to read, January 19, 2011

By 

Smokey "Smokey" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catch of a Lifetime (Kindle Edition)

This light romance is the third in a series of books about the Mer folk and Humans by Judi Fennell. In this book a mermaid who wants to save the world has a forbidden affair with a Human. It is probably a lot of fun to read. Unless you are reading it in the Kindle version plagued with formatting problems.

This Kindle version (downloaded Jan 2011) is very hard to read because of several formatting errors. The most frequent error is splitting words into pieces with a space where no space should be. Reading text with these extra spaces is a visual version of listening to a someone with a heavy stutter read 300 or so pages to you. You get the story in the end but both reading speed and word comprehension are serious impediments. For example you get "miss spelled" when the sense of the sentence and story calls for "misspelled." In the Kindle version you can expect extra spaces in words at least once per 50 words. That is a whole lot of nonsense to stagger through. Er, non sense as Sourcebooks would probably e-print it.

Other formatting problems include paragraphs of centered lines, extra paragraph breaks that sometimes split sentences down to one word per line, and variations on paragraph spacing that leave either zero or way too many gaps between paragraphs. On the bright side for the editors there are very few typos and other errors. But, given the headache problems caused by poor formatting, I advise against getting the Kindle version of this book at any price.

I am wondering who at Sourcebooks was responsible for creating the Kindle-formatted version of the book. I bought this Kindle book because I enjoyed a printed version of Ms. Fennell's book "I Dream of Genies." Based on that print experience I expected, and eventually got, a light-hearted escapist romance story. However the printed text that interested me in this author's work did not have all the formatting errors that show up in the Kindle version. What a disservice was done to Ms. Fennell's work by producing such a sloppy Kindle version. If you want this story to work for you do buy or borrow a print version instead of an e-version. Or wait for the publisher to say that they have fixed problems with converting text to e-text and have issued a corrected version of the book.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun to meet the Mers again, May 27, 2010

By 

S. Deeth "Sheila Deeth" (OR, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catch of a Lifetime (Mass Market Paperback)

Reading the back cover of this book is a bit like revisiting a favorite friend. At last, it's Angel's turn - the Mer (not mermaid) sister who's always been so intrigued by humans in Judi Fennell's previous books.

When Logan Hardington finds the beautiful Angel (now with legs rather than fins) hiding on his boat it certainly seems like the Catch of a Lifetime. The fact that she's naked (she is a Mer after all) and his six-year-old son is standing on the pier is a bit of a problem, but Logan just loans her his shirt - what an honorable man.

Angel's struggles to understand human society, despite all her studies, provide for fascinating and amusing mistakes as Logan takes her shopping for clothes. And author Judi Fennell, knows just how to write those mistakes into delightful dialog, keeping the reader smiling and eager for more. Meanwhile, of course, Logan makes his own mistakes, and the path of true love never runs smooth, especially not when the sharks lying in wait are real ones with real fins and evil intent.

The novel includes all Judi Fennell's trademark creatures and puns, plus a delightful young child in Logan's son, and some fascinating questions about the willingness of children to believe, and adults to disbelieve their ears and eyes. Greek mythology is neatly woven in, providing intriguing reasons to ponder free will, care for the planet, and the way large changes start with tiny steps. Catch of a Lifetime is a fun and worthy follow-up to In Over Her Head and Wild Blue Under and a very enjoyable romance.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific urban-oceanic romantic fantasy, January 28, 2010

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catch of a Lifetime (Mass Market Paperback)

Mermaid Angel Tritone wants to be an advisor to her brother Rod the High Councilman on the Mer Council. However, he rejects her dreams of joining the ruling Council as he insists her safety is paramount. Upset, she goes on a swim by herself to get her thoughts straight.

Breaking the truce between their species Hammerhead Harry the nasty shark attacks her, but Angel escapes by climbing onto Logan Hardington's fishing boat. She claims to be a "maritime biology" student, but the single father is flummoxed by her arrival as the beautiful young lady is stark naked. He agrees to employ her as a babysitter since his son Michael likes her and he would do anything to make his child feel wanted by him as he only recently learned of his existence. Michael vows to keep Angel's secret that she is a mermaid from even his dad yet also believes she is the mermaid he wished for his birthday. As they fall in love in between arguments with his offspring matchmaking them, the duo rescues Michael from horrible Harry, but also must battle an evil sea monster with oceanic-forming world domination plans.

The third Tritone sibling Mer urban-oceanic romantic fantasy (see Wild Blue Under and In Over Her Head) is a terrific tale of the tail as the female sister takes the lead with her mission to save the world. The story line is fast-paced from the onset and never slows down for even ebb tide; as the unity of a father, a son and a mermaid who helps being the two males together while saving the earth makes for a fun Catch of a Lifetime.

Harriet Klausner.