TURBULENT SEA

Author: Christine Feehan ISBN: 9780515145069 8/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: JOVE

The star: Joley Drake was born with a legacy of unexpected magical gifts, but it was the gift of singing that made her an overnight sensation—a rock and roll goddess trapped by fame, fortune, and ambition. Heated by the flush of success, Joley could have any man she wanted. But there’s only man who can give her what she really needs. The bodyguard: Ilya Prakenskii, cool, inscrutable, dangerously sexy, and working in the shadow of his infamous reputation—that of a secret Russian hit man on the payroll of a notorious mobster. He’s the last man Joley should get close to, yet when her life is threatened on tour she has nowhere left to turn. But in the seductive safe keep of Ilya’s embrace, is Joley really as secure as she imagines?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Christine Feehan sets her paranormal romance, TURBULENT SEA (part six in the Drake Sisters series), on the road as Joley Drake, pop star and the sixth of seven magical sisters (who are born of a seventh daughter), tours the country giving concerts with her band. Their entourage includes a mentally ill fan who has just given birth to the sax player's baby and legally signed her over to him; a Russian mobster in love with one of the band members; a crew member who has been using the tour as cover to snatch up underage girls and sell them into sexual slavery; a crazy, sexually perverted evangelist who is using the tour to promote his cause out of one side of his mouth and exploit the young girls sexually that hang around the concerts out of the other side of his mouth; oh, and last but not least, the Russian mobster's bodyguard, Ilya, who has similar paranormal gifts as Joley.

Feehan outdoes herself in not only constructing a story that can stand alone, but also one that has continuity within the context of the series. While it makes more sense to read it in order with the rest, it is not absolutely necessary. Unlike the previous five novels, Feehan sets this story away from the Drake sisters' home in California and the other sisters are very much on the periphery. Here she builds a whole new world populated with Joley's second family—her musical family instead of her magical family. Each of the sisters has a magical gift and Joley's is combined with her singing talent. Her magic enhances her singing and her music is often the medium through which she performs magic. Ilya is the seventh son of a seventh son, so like Joley's sister Elle, he has strength in all of the magical gifts because he will pass them on to his own seven sons. Like all of the Drake sisters' suitors, Ilya is strong, and though he projects a vision of being a bad guy, it is only his cover story. Ilya magically marked Joley as his in one of the earliest stories and they have been communicating telepathically ever since. This telepathy as well as their ability to experience life (and sex) musically, makes for some very erotic word pictures during the passionate sections of the story (Yes! There are plenty of down and dirty love scenes!)

In addition to the paranormal aspects, Feehan builds a solid suspense plot as Ilya and his associates work to bring down human trafficking networks, as well as giving brilliant glimpses and insights into traveling with a band and dealing with paparazzi on a daily basis.

I recommend TURBULENT SEA to any reader who enjoys a wildly entertaining, hotly romantic, careening suspense story with an overlay of magic. It captured me from the first word and I only put it down when I could no longer hold my eyes open, then I picked it right back up and screamed through it. I might have to go back and read a few special parts again.

Susan Barton