Water Bound (A Sea Haven Novel) by Christine Feehan Paperback: 480 pages Publisher: Jove Available: July 27, 2010 Genre: Paranormal Romance Book received from: Penguin

Off the shores of Sea Haven, a beautiful diver rescues a man from drowning, a man with no memory of who he is-or why he seems to possess the violent instincts of a trained killer. But soon, he and his savior will be engulfed in a storm of dizzying passion and inescapable danger…

Reviewed by: Amy 

When you mention the name of paranormal romance writer Christine Feehan, most anyone that enjoys reading romance has picked up at least one of her books out of the many series she has written.  I started with the Carpathians in the Dark series several years back.  I think I made it to the eighth or ninth book and then became burnt out on the repetitive, one dimensional, alpha men reciting the famous "you are my lifemate” speech.  So when Water Bound, the first release of the Sisters of the Heart series, came across for review, I jumped to see if Ms. Feehan had evolved into a fresher, more modern style of writing.  While I liked the character development and enjoyed the story more than the latter Carpathian books, I’m still not completely sold on the series.

Rikki is a high functioning autistic with sensory dysfunction. She leads an extremely tight, organized, lifestyle with an obsessive compulsive approach to her home and her work. A sea urchin diver by trade, Rikki has a deep connection with the water and is even able to command water at will.  While out on a routine dive, Rikki finds and rescues Lev from almost drowning.  Upon their first meeting, Rikki and Lev both feel an instant  connection to each other. Lev does not remember the specifics of who he is but does know that he is dangerous and a former killer.  What Lev immediately feels toward Rikki is a fierce desire to protect her and know her. Rikki is drawn to Lev like the water. It is unforced and although Rikki knows Lev is dangerous, she does not fear him. She only fears her ability to cope with his intrusion on her life.  As both Rikki and Lev adjust to his recovering in her home, he begins to see Rikki as a person, how she functions, her lifestyle and longs for a sense of permanency with her.  While Rikki conforms to her abruptly disorganized home with Lev now living in it, he in turn brings a sense of grounding to her emotions and gives her even more inner strength to cope with day to day changes.  Both Lev and Rikki have a dark part of their past that comes back to haunt them and both vow to win the battle in order to have the freedom to love and live in peace with each other.

I have to say that this book was much slower paced than what I remember of past Feehan novels. It drug, a lot. The story it’s self was slightly boring and I wondered if I would make it through the entire lengthy book.  Also, Water Bound picks up immediately from her prior series, the Drake Sisters, which partially explains why I was confused in some parts of the book and had a few questions that had me baffled.  What was really surprising was that there was no sex until 280 pages in!  This is a major switch from her sexcapades in the Dark Series. In fairness, however,  because of Rikki’s autism, there had to be a great amount of trust building to establish an intimacy level that could progress to sex. But 280 pages?  I was shocked!  And in reading the sex scenes I felt like I was in an 80′s time warp which was reminiscent of how I felt when reading her previous novels.  Now, what has improved, in my opinion, is character development.  Ms. Feehan conveyed great detail into the sensory mindset of a functioning autistic person. You felt the frustration, the obsession, and the compulsion that Rikki fought within herself and you cheered when she was able to form coping strategies in her daily activities.  However, Rikki was never a character you felt sorry for. She was a strong, independent survivor and had a fierceness that jumped from the pages.  And with Lev, while he had some alpha moments, it did not dominate his overall character and you saw more of his patience, nurturing and loving nature that he showed toward Rikki.  Both characters drew and gave strength from and to each other which is consistent with Feehan’s style. My greatest praise to the author is her overall growth and transformation she brings to her characters in order to find and accept love and it was evident to me more in Water Bound than in any of her previous books that I have read. Even though the first book didn’t convert me to the series, avid readers of Ms. Feehan’s work should dive into Water Bound for a good read.

 

Favorite Quote:

"The trust in her eyes, the need and passion, aroused him as nothing else could.  There was possession in her touch for the first time. A claiming of her own."

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Book Depository 

Other reviews on GoodReads

Christine Feehan’s  Website

There are some fabulous book releases coming and Tuesday can’t get here quick enough for me!  Here are just a few I’m looking forward to:

 

City of Ghosts (Downside Ghosts, Book 3)

By Stacia Kane 

Review coming soon on FVBR

IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.

Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime boss—and Chess’s drug dealer—gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magic—all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.

 

As Lie the Dead (Dreg City, Book 2)

by Kelly Meding

Review coming soon on FVBR

Evangeline Stone, a rogue bounty hunter, never asked for a world divided between darkness and light . . .

. . . or the power to die and live again in someone else’s borrowed body. After a murder plot meant to take her out leaves an entire race of shapeshifters nearly extinct, Evy is gnawed by guilt. So when one of the few survivors of the slaughter enlists her aid, she feels duty-bound to help—even though protecting a frail, pregnant shifter is the last thing Evy needs, especially with the world going to hell around her.

Amid weres, Halfies, gremlins, vamps—and increasingly outgunned humans—a war for supremacy is brewing. With shifters demanding justice, her superiors desperate to control her, and an assassin on her trail, Evy discovers a horrifying conspiracy. And she may be the only person in the world who can stop it—unless, of course, her own side gets her first.

 

 

Shadow Fall 

By Erin Kellison 

Review coming soon on FVBR

Sacrifice

Custo Santovari accepted pain, blood, even death, to save his best friend. But a man with all his sins just isn’t cut out to be an angel.

Mystery

One moment he’s fleeing Heaven; the next, he’s waking up stark naked in Manhattan. In the middle of a war. Called there by a woman who’s desperately afraid of the dark.

Shadow

It gathers around Annabella as she performs, filled with fantastic images of another world, bringing both a golden hero and a nightmare lover.

Wolf

He pursues her relentlessly, twisting her desires even as she gives herself to the man she loves. Because each of us has a wild side, and Annabella is about to unleash the beast.

 

 

A Wild Light (Hunter Kiss, Book 3)

by Marjorie M. Liu

Review coming soon on FVBR

For too long Maxine Kiss has felt an inexplicable darkness inside her-a force she channels into hunting the demons bent on destroying the human race. But when she finds herself covered in blood and crouched beside her grandfather’s dead body with no memory of what happened, Maxine begins to fear that the darkness has finally consumed her.

 

 

 

Water Bound (A Sea Haven Novel)

by Christine Feehan

Review coming soon on FVBR

Off the shores of Sea Haven, a beautiful diver rescues a man from drowning, a man with no memory of who he is-or why he seems to possess the violent instincts of a trained killer. But soon, he and his savior will be engulfed in a storm of dizzying passion and inescapable danger…

 

 

 

 

Eternal Kiss of Darkness (Night Huntress World, Book 2)

by Jeaniene Frost

Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking. But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn. Suddenly she finds herself in a world she’s only imagined in her worst nightmares.

At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master vampire who thought he’d seen it all. Then Kira appears – this fearless, beautiful….human who braved death to rescue him. Though her burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life. Yet sending her away is unthinkable.

But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose either the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.

 

There are so many more great books to look forward to, these are just a few I’m excited about.  What’s on your Tuesday wishlist?