SEA FEVER

Author: Virginia Kantra ISBN: 9780425222973 8/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION

A Desire for Life... Regina Barone knows something is missing from her life. She spends her days working in her mother's restaurant on the Maine island of World's End and her nights caring for her young son. When the island's only eligible bachelor marries another woman, Regina realizes that the love she yearns for isn't going to appear by magic. Or is it? A Denial of Blood... Dylan Hunter has returned to World's End for his brother's weedding, but he is troubled by his human ties. Years ago, he chose his life as a selkie—an immortal being of the sea—over the fragile and treacherous emotions of humanity. The same emotions that destroyed his family, and that will strike at his very heart... A Danger to Both... Neither Regina nor Dylan can control their attraction to each other—or foresee its disastrous consequences. But their destiny has been foretold, and their fate will be decided in the stormy tides of water and fire, where only love can save them—and the world...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Virginia Kantra sets her paranormal romance, SEA FEVER (Book Two in The Children of the Sea), on one of Maine's islands where lonely, single-mom, café cook Regina is seduced by the groom's brother Dylan (a Selkie by the way) at her friend Caleb's wedding. Selkies (human on land and seal in the water) have a strong urge to mate and Dylan is no exception. Unfortunately, there's a legend that a female selkie from Dylan's mother's line will change the balance in power between the Children of the Sea, the Land and the Fire, and the demons from the latter group will do anything to kill Regina's unborn child.

Kantra weaves another tale of interspecies love with a deft hand. Selkie/human pregnancies result in either a selkie or human child, but this is not determined until the child hits puberty. When Dylan changed at thirteen, his mother went with him to live with the Mer people, abandoning her human husband and her other two human children. Although he's watched his family from afar, he's felt no more for them than any other human (or so he says), and until he impregnates Regina, he's never had to be responsible for his sexual encounters.

When the Prince of the Sea requests Dylan go find out why the demons are amassing power on the island, he reluctantly agrees, only because it is his duty. He feels both love and humans are beneath him, but now that his unborn child is at risk, will he adapt? Amazingly, after an encounter with a demon, and being rescued by Dylan in his human/seal/human form, Regina is ready to believe almost whatever Dylan tells her about demons and prophecies. Is the island really so short of human males that she'll make do with the Chicken (to say he loves her) of the Sea? Can they live together in either of their worlds?

The plot is easy to follow, with the surprises of who will pop up as a demon host next keeping all on their toes. The characters develop at an even pace, and even Regina's nagging mother starts to lighten up a little.

I recommend SEA FEVER to readers who enjoy forays into the paranormal with plenty of human oriented romance. I'm looking forward to reading the conclusion to the series, and wonder if Caleb and Dylan's sister Lucy will either fall for or become a selkie herself.

Susan Barton