SUMMER STORM by Molly Church

Publisher: Torquere Press

Date published: 03/27/13

ISBN: NA

MM, Paranormal

E-book

Reviewed by Helen

Weblink: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=96&products_id=3849

Obtained via publisher

 

Cathal lives on a beach in Ireland. One day in the middle of a storm he’s walking along the beach and finds an injured selkie. Their romance grows over summer but danger follows the handsome selkie.

This story is told only from Cathal’s point of view, which means we really don’t understand much about the selkie, leaving the reader floundering a bit about the romance. For example, if I hadn’t read the blurb I wouldn’t have known more than a few days had passed from start to finish of the story. This is a very short story, so obviously it’s not possible for a great deal of detail to be included, but there is almost no sex and no clear guidance about the developing romance. Just hints.

Also, the author’s style is for long sentences joined together by semi colons, an old-fashioned style not much seen these days in short digital books. Ms. Church also tends to avoid contractions, making the story even more olde-worlde, too, yet it is clearly contemporary-set, not fantasy.

The basic premise is an interesting one, and a couple of the facets of the selkies have a great deal of potential for many future stories, but next time I’d like to see something from both POVs, a lot more character development, and more detail about the actual romance even if the sex is more implied than explicit. 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.