If you, like me, grew up watching Aquaman cartoons, In Over Her Head might be the perfect book for you. Fennell drops us into an undersea world with Mers, ancient gods, talking fish, and sea monsters. Oh, and Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle.

Erica Peck finds herself between a rock and a wet place when her former fiancé, Joey, forces her to dive for missing diamonds by gunpoint. Erica has been afraid of the ocean ever since “the Incident,” but of course, getting shot at ramps up her anxiety levels even more. When Erica is injured, Reel, the second born son of underwater royalty, rescues her – by turning her into a Mer like him. Like all royal second sons, Reel isn’t immortal, and as if that weren’t enough, he has legs – something that makes him stick out like a sore fin among the Mers.

Reel broke the rules when he turned Erica. Before you know it, Erica and Reel must face the Oceanic Council – not to mention Reel’s father, Fisher. Reel makes a deal with the Council to save Erica. In return, Erica must follow him on a dangerous mission into the Bermuda Triangle to find some diamonds and face certain death. And even worse, lots of talking fish.

If you’re expecting a deep – uhm, I mean serious – paranormal with a tormented selkie, look elsewhere. This is the sort of story where an underwater king calls his sons Rod and Reel. But it’s fun, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. How could it, when the hero and heroine have lengthy conversations with fish? Sure, it does get a little too cute sometimes. For example, Reel thinks of Erica’s breasts as “shell-fillers” because the Mer females wear shells over their breasts. Also, while the dialogue is a lot of fun, my logical side kept asking how all these undersea denizens knew so much modern slang when the last human they had lengthy contact with was Jacques Cousteau. For example, at one point, Reed says, “Here’s lookin’ at us, kid.” And I asked myself how they were able to watch Casablanca under the sea. Then I decided to accept it because the dialogue was more fun if I didn’t ask too many questions. Next thing you know, I might ask how fish can talk, and what fun would that be?

This is a fish out of water story. Erica has avoided the water for most of her life, and now, she’s able to breath water and forced to live among Mers, talking fish, and other creatures. Still, while her fears have always made it easy for her brothers to tease her, she does what she can to face them. When faced with a new life under the sea, she copes as well as possible, despite confronting things that make her want to hide in a shell. She’s stronger than the people who should be closest to her realize. Like Erica, Reel has inner strengths his own father doesn’t recognize. Because he’s the “spare,” and because he is an outcast (with legs), Reel has become the rebellious sort. However, he is more responsible than everyone around him, including his father, realizes, and capable of so much more.

One of the author blurbs on this book says, “Waves of sensuality and ripples of emotion.” Don’t let that keep you from reading it. This is a sexy book with lots of growing tension between Erica and Reel, but it’s not a book with a lot of sex in it. When Erica first comes across Reel under the ocean, he’s naked, and she can’t help notice. Boy does she notice. They’re drawn to each other from the start, but the consummation takes a long time. At times, I got impatient with Erica for putting it off.

Fennell has created an undersea world that’s a lot of fun, as long as you don’t take it too seriously. Yet even amidst the back-talking fish and officious flounder, In Over Her Head still manages to trickle in messages about our relationship with the ocean – and with those closest to us. So it’s more Aquaman than “the Savage Sub-mariner,” perhaps with a little bit of Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo thrown in.