Welcome to today's stop in the Call of the Sea Blog Tour. I'm excited to share with you my review for Rebecca Hart's debut release due out June 21st AND a character interview with the smokin' hot Daniel O'Rourke!
From Goodreads:
Elysandra Winters has always yearned for a life of adventure on the rolling seas and is willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream. When her Privateer father continually refuses to allow his only daughter to sail, Ellie defies him, disguises herself as a boy, and goes in search of a captain who will give her a chance to prove her worth.
Thanks to the cursed selkie blood coursing through his veins, Daniel O'Rourke needs the sea to survive. After giving up on his humanity and spending three years in seal form, he decides to give his human side another chance. Daniel goes in search of a job and a sense of normalcy, earning himself a position aboard Captain Winter’s ship, The Siren's Call. However, his new captain’s first assignment has nothing at all to do with sailing, and everything to do with his headstrong young daughter.
Years later, when the leader of a band of bloodthirsty pirates murders Captain Winters, Daniel and Elysandra’s lives come crashing back together with the force of a hurricane. Both experts in deception, they must find a way to trust each other if they are to have any hope of hunting down the captain’s killer.
What a pleasure to read this without a week or so between chapters! Yes, I was blessed to be an early beta reader. I saw CotS in the rough. Not that it was really rough to begin with - unpolished if you will. ;)
Yummies: I thought I was caught up in the story before! The simplicity of Ms. Hart's writing makes for a super rich but easy read. No paragraph upon paragraph of exposition. Pure writing at its best - character, tension, & action. So, so good.
And what characters they are! Ellie is a short-tempered, stubborn young woman intent upon sailing the ocean.
Daniel (my Danny Boy) is a selkie and has loved Ellie since first seeing her as a young girl.
Both are so real - so flawed - so human-like that I felt their emotions, highs & lows.
This debut novel is one of those that you dread noticing the remaining pages ebb away. You CAN NOT put it down, yet the desire to do so and make it last longer is almost too much to bear.
Yuckies: There aren't any. Period.
Recommend: Abso-freakin'-lutely. Even if pirates, intrigue, and the high seas aren't your thing, you'll fall in love with this story - its characters kick @$$.
Speaking of which ...
I decided to sneak into the time machine hidden by the government here in an underground bunker in NH's boondocks. I needed to meet Danny Boy. I threw a letter through first telling them who I was, what I wanted, and where to meet me then stepped through ….
Electricity shot through my body. Every nerve tingling, I opened my eyes. I stood on a windswept bluff, a secluded cove with racing white crests below me. Sand trickled around my flip flops. The scent of the sea and salt filled my nose.
A scuffle sounded on the path behind me and I spun.
Danny. Oh boy, oh boy.
Chestnut locks glinting in the setting sun topped an angular face. He brushed a fringe from his eyes, muscled arm straining against a linen shirt.
Can we say butterflies? I hadn’t been that tongue-tied since high school.
He strode toward me, firm lips curling into a warm smile. Chocolate eyes twinkled beneath an arched brow. “Mrs. Rochenski?”
“T-Terri. Please.” I extended my hand.
Oh, the warmth of his work-worn palm. Delish tingles crept up my arm. It was easy to see why Ellie couldn’t resist him.
“Daniel.” His gaze took in my jean capris and tank top. He didn’t flinch, but he wouldn’t. Ellie always dressed in breeches.
“I … uh … don’t have a lot of time. Mind if we sit by this scarred tree?” I asked.
Daniel gestured for me to lead the way.
I sat cross-legged in the sand and pulled a small notepad and pencil from my back pocket as he lounged on the ground beside me.
Trying not to stare, I cleared my throat. “So. Danny Boy.” My face flamed at the slip. “Um … may I call you that?”
“As long as you don’t call me Skipper, we’re good.” He winked.
Lord have mercy. I relaxed my grip on the pencil before it snapped. “Would you mind telling us a little about yourself?”
“I’ve never been one to talk about myself, but I grew up in Youghal, Ireland until my father kicked me out when my mother passed away. He and I never really got on well, and when Ma passed, well, things went from tense to impossible. Of course, if he hadn’t been the man he was, I’d never have left home, worked for Captain Winters, or met Ellie. She can be rather frustrating, but I can’t imagine my life without her.”
Lucky girl. “Your mother passed a very unique gene to you.”
He nodded.
“What exactly is a selkie?”
“That’s a good question. Basically, a selkie is a shapeshifter with a seal form and a human one. Selkies, however, don’t have full control over when they change their form. Each year, I have to take seal form at leas,t one complete lunar cycle per year or risk illness and in the case of my beautiful selkie mother, death.”
I scribbled his words onto paper as the sounds of the surf swept up the cliff on a brisk wind. I pushed back a strand of whipping hair. “So in those lunar cycles, ever run across a mermaid who made you forget about Ellie—even just briefly?”
“How could anyone forget about Ellie? I’ve never known anyone more sure of who she is or what she wants. I find that distractingly sexy, don’t you?”
I wanted to say, “I think you’re sexy” but I didn’t think Ellie would appreciate it much. I decided to ignore his question. “Are human girls really worth it?”
“So far I have no complaints.” A chuckle rumbled in his broad chest. “Of course, I’ve not been married long… Can I get back to you on that one?”
“Ah, marriage—the perfect institute to thoroughly get to know someone. It may not have been long since your marriage, but you’ve known Ellie since she was a child. Can you offer some advice on dealing with a hot tempered woman?”
“I was kind of hoping you might give me some.” Laughter barked past his grin. “I’ve always been a rather calm personality. It takes a lot for me to lose my temper, so that helps. Patience, too. That’s a big one.” He shrugged sculpted shoulders. “I’m still learning.”
Drool stormed my mouth. If only he lived in the 21st century and wasn’t a selkie …. “If you could be completely human, would you give up the selkie part of your life?”
“If you’d asked me that before I’d met Ellie, I’d have said yes in a flash. Then, all I wanted was to fit in, to belong. But now, having a child on the way and a woman who accepts and loves me for who I truly am… who would trade that away? No, I’m happy with who I am,” tan hands lifted to make air quotes, "‘selkie curse’ and all.”
A smile lifted my lips. “Why that’s one of the sweetest—”
My eyes clenched shut as electric shock waves once more lit my body like a torch. I swallowed back nausea and lifted tingling lids. Florescent lights threw the bunker in shadows. An alarm shrieked in my ears.
Check out my Debut Novel Blog Hop HERE for a chance to win an eBook copy of Call of the Sea! Contest open until June 13th.
Swing over HERE for Rebecca's blog tour list. Lots of great prizes!!
Rebecca Hart is a single parent, full time IT geek, and reformed gaming addict living in Upstate NY. When not at the office with her nose buried in a laptop trying to fix it, she can be found at home with her nose buried in a laptop, writing instead. Her debut novel, a Paranormal Romance titled CALL OF THE SEA, will be published by Inkspell Publishing with a release date of June 21, 2012, giving Rebecca one more reason to look forward to summer. Rebecca’s short stories have been featured in anthologies published by Pill Hill Press, Wicked East Press and DFE Quarterly (erotica). She enjoys hearing and interacting with her readers.
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