Sea Witch

During a recent book buying binge, I picked up Sea Witch on a whim. After reading it, I'm glad I did. Sea Witch is the best Paranormal Romance I've read this year. Virginia Kantra has taken a paranormal element not often written about and brought it to life in this book.

Margred is a seven hundred year old selkie. After loosing her mate years ago she has lived alone in the ocean, the way that most all selkie's do. Her need for physical release (sex) brings her ashore to World's End, Maine where she spies a cop who she is drawn to. The cop, Caleb, is to Margred the perfect specimen of a man to use for a release.

Caleb is a veteran soldier, he's done years in Iraq where he was injured. Still haunted by dreams of war, he has come back to show more his home town of World's End to live a quiet life as the towns only law enforcement. On a routine patrol, Caleb comes across a very beautiful and alluring woman, Margred. She wants him to have sex with her and isn't shy about asking for it. Despite her beauty, Caleb is wary of her intentions. They end up leaving each other unfulfilled until the next night when they are drawn back together and act on their attraction.

After she gets her release, Margred leaves Caleb and goes back to the sea. Weeks pass and she's not able to forget her night with Caleb so she ventures back to World's End. Upon arriving she is attacked, her pelt is stolen from her and destroyed. Without their pelt, selkie's are unable to shift to their seal form, this Margred is trapped in human form.

Caleb was left with more questions than he had answers to when Margred deserted him on the beach after an explosive night together. He has written the interlude off as nothing more than a one night stand, but still holds out hope that the mysterious woman will show up again. The mystery woman is brought back into Caleb's life when he saves her from an unknown attacker. Caleb takes Margred in and works her case. While he tries to figure his way through a case with no leads, Margred is stuck in the small sea side town of World's End where she must learn how to live as a human.

They both struggle with the burgeoning feelings they have for each other. Margred because she's not familiar with the strange emotions she feels for Caleb, and Caleb because while he's falling for Margred, he's not completely sure of who she is. While Caleb and Margred are working through feelings there is an evil at play, bent on destroying the innocent, and sure to destroy them both if they don't get to it first.

I really, really enjoyed Sea Witch. Caleb was such a good guy. He was steady and loving, the perfect hero. He cared about his family, which was clearly shown in his interactions with his sister. He's had a lot of ups and downs in life. Being abandoned by his mother at a young age, having his father turn into a drunk, suffering an injury in Iraq that left him with a limp. I rooted for him from the start and just wanted him to have some happiness. Margred is great character as well. She's a free spirit used to living alone, called to the ocean and Caleb at the same time. She struggles with wanting to return to the sea and wanting to remain with Caleb. Both, very believable obstacles that she must face head on to find true happiness.

The world building is both simplistic and intricate. There are no big info dumps to commit to memory, or overcomplicated paranormal elements that leave the reader confused. The paranormal aspects flowed easily into the story. The secondary characters are also weaved in seamlessly. Caleb's sister Lucy, Regina, a single mother and restaurateur, and the towns people all held a place in the story while never becoming overwhelming. There was just enough info given on the characters of Lucy and Regina to pique interest and give the promise for a future story without over doing it.

For anyone looking for a good paranormal romance, I highly recommend Virginia Kantra's Sea Witch. show less

Something a little different for the paranormal romance scene. "Sea Witch" by Virginia Kantra serves up a helping of nasty demons and sexy selkies. This is book one of her new 'Children of the Sea' series and it was certainly worth the read.

He's a wounded hero (YAY!) returned from Iraq with a bum leg and PTSD. Now Caleb works as the police chief on the small, quiet island where he was raised. Life has a slower pace and he's recovering, getting stronger and better. Although there's not much night life (make that pretty much none), after his ordeal in Iraq and a bitter divorce, he's not quite ready to start looking for a woman anyway. Then one night a gorgeous, naked woman appears on the beach...and apparently she'd love to 'go a few show more rounds' with him. And Caleb? Well, suddenly he's feeling much better...until she disappears.

Margred is hundreds of years old and she's bored. She's drawn to Caleb's island and Caleb. Even after she gets what she wants from him and leaves, she can't forget him. When she returns to see Caleb, she is attacked and her sealskin is destroyed. Now she's a puny, weak human...with a demon on her tail.

I found "Sea Witch" interesting and pretty hot. The story kept me entertained and I'm headed to pick up the second book, "Sea Fever" now. The third, "Sea Lord" will be released in May 2009. show less

Red sky at night, sailor's delight...

When Margred, a lust-driven Selkie, seeks a human's touch upon land, the last thing she anticipates is becoming trapped in her human form. Caleb Hunter is a man with a past and then some. A veteran of the war in Iraq he has returned to Maine injured both physically and emotionally. Returning to his childhood home on the Maine island of World's End life is simpler, quieter. Until Magred shows up and seduces him with her exotic beauty and mysterious manner. She promises to return to him knowing full well she will not for she is Selkie and that is not their way. When she does return, strangely drawn back to Caleb, tragedy strikes and she must lie to Caleb in order to protect him.

When another Selkie show more turns up dead the plot thickens and Magred can't keep her secrets any longer. There's a demon loose in World's End and he's trying to make war between the elements of land and sea, earth and water. Trapped on land Magred must do whatever is within her power to stop the demon before he does anymore damage or kills the man she has just realized she loves. But when all is said and done can she ever return to the sea?

I'm normally a vampires and shapeshifters kind of gal, but over the summer I had a real desire to find a good mermaid or other water creature series. Thanks to some nice gals around Amazon.com's paranormal romance forum I decided I wanted to give Kantra's Children of the Sea a try. Caleb was a great hero, I thought he was a little stereotypical at first but he really grew on me. His desire for a simple, happy life were believable, not cheesy. Magred was a tougher sell. I struggled to like her and found her sudden realization of love a bit forced. I think her Selkie personality would have made a great character in a non-romance story.

Kantra did a great job of setting up a simple mythos for the series and brought in the hero for her second book and the heroine for her third seamlessly. I loved the isolated Maine setting but really hope to see more of the Selkie's world later in the series. The love scenes between Caleb and Magred were tasteful and not overly graphic, leaving something to the imagination which is what I prefer most of the time. The overall plot of Sea Witch ended a little too easily in my opinion but left no annoying cliff-hangers either. All in all I think this is the start of a very promising and very original series. show less

I like paranormal romance stories, and I love mermaids, so I was more than happy to get my hands on the first book of this series.

I was disappointed, however, since so much of what was going on was simply the relationship between the two main characters and the sex they may or may not be having. There wasn't that much interesting about either of them, and I would have loved more details about Margred's background, or even a little more chemistry between she and Caleb before they hooked up and decided that they were made for each other almost immediately. The romantic tension about whether or not they were able to have sex, or where either was at any given time in relation to the other, just didn't do it for me.

I did like the plot about show more Margred's world, and I loved how it tied into the history of the town and the families there, but I wish there had been a little more of it. I was also a little disappointed by the ending, since I thought we'd get thrown a curveball after things went so smoothly relationship-wise.

It was okay, just not really my thing. show less

This is the story of a lonely Selkie Margred, who comes out of the sea long enough to get sex from a human male. I was a little unclear on whether human men were just better at this, or why the selkie women wouldn't just have sex with the selkie men. But anyways, Margred picks Caleb, the sheriff in the small town of World's End and a recent vet of the war in Iraq. Caleb is immediately thinking Margred the woman of his dreams, he wants more than a fling...and Margred is immediately ready to jump back in the water. She leaves him, and he is upset. But then she is attacked later on the beach. Caleb decides its up to him to care for her and keep her safe from the 'man' on the beach who attacked her. Magred is much more upset by the fact show more that this "man" is actually a demon who dumped her pelt into the fire. Her pelt is her seal skin which allows her to go below the sea, back to her seltie home. When another seltie shows up dead, the book takes on a new direction and Caleb and Margred vow to find the killer. And Magred, may realize she has more feelings for Caleb than she thought possible. This was a well written romance novel with a ton of original ideas. My problem with this story is that I thought there was too much sex for my liking. I had a hard time deciding if they were falling in love or if it was just the rush of all that sex. There is a fine line sometimes, to be sure. Besides being beautiful and needing his help, I couldnt' really see much that stood out in Margred's personality to draw Caleb's interest. The mystery was good and the ending came too soon. There were some elements left in the story where I can see the series going in the future. This was an entertaining story, good but not great. If you are as much a romance lover as a paranormal lover than this is the book for you. show less

I read the opening pages of this boook at the back of Shifter and couldn't wait to read it. But while the open pages are excellent, the rest of the book didn't quite ignite for me. I guess I never really got Margred. She never came alive for me, so while I liked Caleb a lot, and the sexual tension was hot, the romance didn't quite work. However this is the start of a series and I'm willing to give it time and will definitely read the next one.

This book opens with Margred ravinous for sex (and that was actually never quite explained, why she was so hungry for it) and coming ashore to seduce a man, any man, to get her needs met. But the man she meets is Caleb, recovering Iraq war vet, and Maine cop on this isolated Island. Adventures ensue.

Amazon received