Thursday, September 27, 2012

Book Review: The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle

The Lure of Shapinsay

Paperback
Author: Krista Holle
Paperback: 358 pages
Publisher: Sweet River Romance (June 6, 2012)
Amazon Link

Kindle
File Size: 466 KB
Print Length: 272 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Sweet River Romance; 1 edition (December 19, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link


Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Krista Holle. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

My thoughts:

The Lure of Shapinsay is my first selkie book. When I accepted the request to read and review this,  I thought the story is interesting but I honestly didn't know what selkies are. I was imagining they're like mermaids/mermen, you know those fish-like creatures. So this is actually a shocking read for me. Selkies are not fish-like creatures. Imagine, seal in water, human on land. Wait - did you know that seal and sea lion are two different sea creatures? They look the same to me so again, I didn't know they're different until I read this book! Back to the Scottish folklore, selkies wear their skin when in water but if they want to be human, they have to shed their skin. This is all new to me so I checked other reviews for this book, seems like the other reviewers also didn't have a clue about this folklore.  

Anyway, the book focuses on the forbidden romance of a selkie, Eamon and human girl Kait. The first pages were kind of a slow read. The strange dialogue did turn me off a little so I stopped reading but when I picked it up again, I didn't stop until I'm done reading it. Kait and Eamon (selkie) completely rocked my world! Oh I loved it and I'm adding this to my "all-time favorite" books. The different setting of the story is awesome! It's easy to love the main characters and even the secondary characters, Blair, Kait's twin brother and the old Tipper, the female selkie. I love the writing style, the book is told in alternating pov's of Eamon and Kait. I know I said some alternating pov's can hurt the story but this time, it flows just right. Knowing what they both feel is like connecting to them.   

This is highly recommended for people who are looking for something fresh to read. It's an interesting myth and I thank the author, Krista Holle, for introducing selkies to me. 

About the book:

Ever since Kait Swanney could remember, the old crones of the village have been warning her to stay away from the selkies. They claim that like sirens of old, the seal men creep from the inky waters, shed their skins, and entice women to their deaths beneath the North Sea. But avoiding an encounter becomes impossible when Kait is spotted at the water’s edge, moments after the murder of a half-selkie infant. 

Unexpectedly, Kait is awoken by a beautiful, selkie man seeking revenge. After she declares her innocence, the intruder darts into the night, but not before inadvertently bewitching her with an overpowering lure. 

Kait obsesses over a reunion deep beneath the bay and risks her own life to be reunited with her selkie. But when she lands the dangerous lover, the chaos that follows leaves Kait little time to wonder—is it love setting her on fire or has she simply been lured?


About the author:

Krista has been writing since she was nine-years-old when she scribbled out her first adolescent work entitled Merish, the completely illogical but heartfelt story of a girl who was part mermaid, part fish. As a young mother, Krista added to her repertoire some middle grade readers and picture books she’s wary of mentioning. In 2004, Krista began an intensive four year period working part-time as a critical care nurse while homeschooling her four children. During this hectic time, courses of writing were taught and learned, and rules of syntax were scolded to memory. Ironically this period of study equipped Krista with the tools she needed to enter the next phase of her writing experience. Now equipped with the mysteries of the comma, Krista was ready to tackle a much bigger project—a full-fledged novel. After the kids were enrolled in public school in 2009, it occurred to Krista that there is an insatiable audience of women and girls who want to read books filled with stories about true love, not just vampires. Convinced that there was an unfulfilled audience waiting for what she love to write—romance, she sat down in the family’s dungeon, a.k.a. the basement, and began to furiously type. In no time, her first novel was drying on crisp white paper. Krista currently resides in Midlothian, Virginia with her husband, four daughters, and an eccentric cat with a weird attachment to the family’s socks. She continues to write obsessively every chance she can get.

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