Customer Reviews

Fish Out of Water (Fred the Mermaid, Book 3)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was excited to hear the MJD was ending a series. I was dismayed to find out it was my favorite, Fred the Mermaid. The Fred stories are filled with so much possibility. I could see them going on for quite some time yet before going fishy. It feels closer to time for Betsy the vampire queen (sorry Betz, I really do lurve you) to pack it in. As I grabbed this book off the shelf at the story, I flipped out that this is a Trilogy, as in just three. In all fairness, I am sure that this has been mentioned long before now, and I am just behind times. It was still a surprise to me.

In this 3rd (last..) intallment, Fred the grouchy mermaid, has chosen Arthur the sea prince to be her matey after Thomas, the biologist runs off with another Mermaid. Fred is buying a house, helping the Sea Folk come out to the public, and helping her best friend Jonas plan his wedding. When some sea folk go missing, and Fred's long-lost Sea Folk father shows back into her life with a splash, there is the perfect set up for some good times with Fred and her friends. The book has plenty of MJD's witty dialougue, and all our favorites from the trilogy make an appearance. Its still standard MJD fare here that the humorous situations make up most of the book and the actual 'mystery' is short and sweet. Sometimes that frustrates me, but here it really worked. If Fred must end, this was a good note to end it on. I give it a four star rating, because it was well done, fun, and I got the ending that I wanted from the beginning.

In this book, Fred has moved to Florida to be a liaison between the humans and the Undersea Folk now that they have revealed themselves to the world. Soon she is joined there by Jonas, Thomas, and her long-lost banished father. Prince Artur and others of the UF stop by regularly, particularly after Fred agrees to marry Artur and Artur learns from his father that hundreds of UF have dropped off his telepathic radar.

This is the last novel in the Fred the Mermaid series and I'm not particularly sad to see this one end. The characters never resonated with me. A grumpy mermaid is one thing, but Fred doesn't seem to have any charming or otherwise positive qualities to make me care for her. Of the remaining regular characters, only Jonas seemed to have enough personality to stay in my memory.

It never seemed as though MJD cared as much about these characters as she does those in the Betsy Taylor vampire series. By contrast, even peripheral characters in the "Undead" series were written as more than cariactures and all of the main characters have always been more complete and likeable than the main characters in the Fred series. For example, when I thought Betsy's best friend might die, I was upset and when a couple relatively minor characters died in the last "Undead" book, I was sad. I never felt that way about any of the characters in the Fred series. I didn't even feel strongly about which of the guys Fred decided to marry.

It was an OK book and an OK ending to the series, just not as good as the Undead books.

This book made me laugh. The main character is lacking in every social grace, but it is commical. There were some darker moments in this book, which I won't go into, but these moments did cause me to wonder about the way MJD is going with her writing. Those of you that have read the last book in the Betsy series saw her put a dark twist in that book. I hope she stays away from this in the future. The one thing that I have always loved about MJD, is her ability to make me laugh.
So all in all this was a good book.

I read the first two books ages ago, bought this one a few weeks ago but couldn't get myself interested in reading it. When I finally picked it up, I couldn't put it down. Not the best book I've ever read, but it was a great way to kill an afternoon. The story is fast moving and fun. I was unsettled with the end of the 2nd book, but was much happier at the end of this story. I would definitely recommend that you read the first 2 books before picking this one up. I really loved Fred. It isn't often that you get a heroine who is a total grouch and makes no apologies for it. It is a very refreshing change.

I was ready to write off the Fred the Mermaid series after the last book where she just sort of settled for one of her two beaus...even if she was settling for a prince. Love isn't about settling. So, I was happy to see that her life still wasn't clear cut in book three and that Thomas the marine biologist was still in the picture.

Since we last left Fred she's been on every major news show and cover of magazine in the country, maybe the world as the P.R. for the entire Undersea Folk race. The world is obsessed with mer-people. So she buys a house in Florida, attempts numerous times in vain to get Dr. Barb to accept her resignation from her old job and is making plans for the future, very grudgingly helping Jonas plan his wedding- when not only Dr. Thomas arrives on her new doorstep, but also her long lost mer-parent!

Now Fred discovers new truths about herself and her family and must make a final decision, no matter how painful it may be, about her future and the man she'll spend it with. With treachery, death, and finally a love scene for Fred, this was a good ending to the series, sending it off in style.

When I read the foreword by Mary Janice Davidson saying that this third installment would end the series about Fred the Mermaid, I was really upset. I've come to love Fred, along with her plethora of quirky friends and relatives. But at the same time, I figured this would be a really great read because I would never expect Ms. Davidson to end anything with something less than a bang. Unfortunately, that didn't really turn out to be the case with this novel.

There were not nearly the number of "laugh out loud" moments for me with this story as there are with a typical Davidson read. And there were many aspects of Fred's story as a whole that I felt were rushed for unknown reasons.

It is my hope that the publishing company will read some of these reviews and, in turn, encourage Ms. Davidson to change her mind about continuing this series. I feel like there's so much more that could come out of these stories, despite the fact that so much was packaged with a neat little bow in Fish out of Water.

For now, I'll stick to enjoying the Vampire Queen series. But, I sincerely hope that Fred the Mermaid's tale (pun sort of intended) does not stop at a trilogy.

The story was great, the character was great, even the premise was acceptable... but I didn't like the ending. That's not a reason not to read this book and I highly recommend it -- it's a great escape from vampire and werewolf plots for one and a very easy read. However I do think I liked book 1 and 2 better than the last one... I just felt rushed for a closure through the story and like the ending just sorta... happened.

I have mixed feelings on this series. I really like the premise, the concept is clever, and the basic storyline is entertaining. I definitely would rather have seen this series continue longer than the Betsy series, as that one is done. But there are definitely flaws.

While I like MJD, I love her sense of humor and I think she is a good storyteller, she is not a very good writer - and there is sometimes a large distinction between the two. I mostly get the sense that she is just "phoning it in" and trying to fill up pages. All of her books are very short, printed double-spaced with large font, as though the publishers are trying to make the books appear to be longer than they are because they have to meet requirements for numbers of pages. They aren't fooling anyone. I think MJD has even written in her acknowledgments comments about having a hard time meeting her deadlines - and I think it is evident in the finished product. If she spent a little more time polishing the writing and giving us a little more of a plot and less patched together scenes, her books would be so much more enjoyable because the characterization and humor is there.

Another criticism I have is that the Fred the Mermaid series is written in a supposed third person point of view, but reads more like first person, complete with thoughts and feelings. She should have stuck to first person for this series. It very much has the feel of a book written in first person that someone went back and changed a few pronouns to make it read as third person after it was already written. It is so noticeable that the "she" when Fred is mentioned jumps off the page because it feels so much like it is Fred's point of view that that the third person perspective seems forced. I don't know why she chose third person for this series, unless it was to have more of those patched in scenes written from another POV like Jonas's, or if it is because the Betsy series is written in first person and she was trying to make a distinction. First person and third person are two different types of writing - they aren't always interchangeable. Speaking of things interchangeable, the characters are pretty much an echo of the Betsy series, as someone else mentioned. The main character in each series is very similar including personality and sense of humor, manner of speech, etc. Jonas is essentially a blend of Jessica and Mark, etc.

On a positive note, the books are funny and if you have a sarcastic sense of humor you will find them entertaining. This is extremely light reading (more so than even the average Romance novel) and can be read in one sitting, or in small chunks of time. The type of book you can put down and come back to a week later - or more - and have no trouble picking up where you left off. For light and fluffy paranormal romance, this is worth reading.

Mary Janice Davidson has lost her spunk and edge. All the fred series is, is just The Undead series minus the vampires and plus the mermaids. She cant do anything any different. I am a loyal reader but after reading the last Betsy book and this last book I really feel like MJD is not putting her heart into these books. Although she is a number one best seller I really think it is because of her fan base and not because of talent. She cusses like a sailor in the books just to fill plot and every heroine in her stories are the same. I mean really....These are the character comparisons: Fred is obviously Betsy, Jonas is Jessica, Artur is sinclair, even the moms compare in how the are so understanding about EVERYTHING.
Dont buy this book unless you've washed all your silverware twice, vacuumed under your bed, and flipped your mattress...otherwise it is a waste of time.

Fish Out of Water was the first book of the series that I've read. The concept is cute, and the cover of the book captivated me. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough romance and too much cursing.