From Publishers Weekly
At the start of newcomer Brallier's gentle paranormal romance, Cecilia "Cecil" Hargrave learns that a distant relation, "Aunt Allegra" (in fact her late mother's younger cousin), has bequeathed her a business and a house. Cecil abandons her empty life in Manhattan for Seal Island, Maine, an isolated community rich with intertwining lives and mystical legends of "selkies" who move between seal and human form. While settling in, she discovers that Allegra has been murdered amid mysterious financial dealings. She must also contend with island curiosity and the lure of three very different men: the affable editor of the local paper, a mysterious lobsterman and an odd neighbor whose animal magnetism sweeps her away. Full of expressions like "glory of glories" and "heaven forfend" and oblivious to e-mail, computers and cell phones, Cecil rings false as a contemporary 28-year-old. Instead, she - and the novel - echo the mode of Mary Stewart, whom the narrative mentions fondly. Still, the book's slightly old-fashioned take on love exudes a leisurely and timeless charm.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
A delicious gothic feel permeates this debut paranormal romance set on a Maine island. The loss of both her job and her Manhattan apartment forces Cecilia to visit the home and business that she inherited from Allegra, a cousin she barely knew. A large bloodstain on the floor mars the cozy seaside cottage, but Cecilia admires Allegra's excellent taste in furnishings, clothes, and jewelry. Not only are their tastes similar but Cecilia bears a striking resemblance to the murdered Allegra. She also likes the people she meets on Seal Island, including lobsterman Tom. She befriends a seal that Allegra had raised from a pup and begins an affair with her strange neighbor, Ronan, a young man with a bizarre sexual magnetism. The selkie lore (a seal who sheds his skin to live as a human) is enticing, and Brallier's book-loving heroine is appealing, although all the major surprises are telegraphed so far in advance one wonders why Cecilia is so clueless. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Cecil Hargrave lives in a cramped apartment in New York City, hates her job, and has no close friends. She yearns for something more, but what?
When Cecil inherits a beachfront house and a thriving business on picturesque Seal Island in Maine, she jumps at the opportunity to kickstart her life, despite her reservations about moving to New England. But even if stereotypes hold true and New Englanders are standoffish, she'll have a new career and a gorgeous home.
Much to her delight and surprise, Cecil settles rapidly into small-town life. She makes real friends, plays with the seals who live on the beach outside her house, and meets two very different men.
Tom, a darkly sexy novelist, has returned to his hometown to write. He and Cecil hit it off almost immediately, and their chemistry is explosive -- but Cecil can't seem to stay away from the handsome drifter, Ronan, despite his secretive ways. It's like she's under a spell...
When Cecil inherits a beachfront house and a thriving business on picturesque Seal Island in Maine, she jumps at the opportunity to kickstart her life, despite her reservations about moving to New England. But even if stereotypes hold true and New Englanders are standoffish, she'll have a new career and a gorgeous home.
Much to her delight and surprise, Cecil settles rapidly into small-town life. She makes real friends, plays with the seals who live on the beach outside her house, and meets two very different men.
Tom, a darkly sexy novelist, has returned to his hometown to write. He and Cecil hit it off almost immediately, and their chemistry is explosive -- but Cecil can't seem to stay away from the handsome drifter, Ronan, despite his secretive ways. It's like she's under a spell...
About the Author
Kate Brallier is a fiction editor in New York City. She has spent most of her life summering on a Maine island which bears suspicious resemblance to her fictional creation. Seal Island is her first novel.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
His eyes fixed on mine and for a moment I had the sense that we were the only people in the world.
"The seal people," he said. "My family is said to have the blood of the seals in our veins. The selkies are a race of seals who can become human at will. Those who are kind to them while they are in their seal form get nothing but rewards, while those who are cruel to them meet their eternal vengeance."
He smiled slightly. "Occasionally, when a lonely fisherman is kind to the seals, a beautiful selkie woman will come from the sea to be his bride, forsaking her seal skin for that of a human. And the selkie blood is mingled with the human, in their children. But it is hard to keep a seal from the water forever, and selkie brides eventually long to return to their first and only home. But they cannot change back into their native form without their sealskins. Many stories tell of the fisherman unwise enough to destroy the skin so his bride can no longer return to the sea. When she dies of grief and yearning for her true home, her family comes from the sea for revenge."
"Revenge?" I demanded, as caught up now in the story as anyone. He did have a natural storyteller's gift, the cadence of his language low and even.
"The fisherman dies. A life for a life, you see. And if there are children, the selkies take those too and return them to the sea. And maybe those half-seal children can reach into the depths of their seal blood and somehow transform to join their mother's family, or maybe they cannot and simply drown. But no one knows for certain, for they never return."
"The seal people," he said. "My family is said to have the blood of the seals in our veins. The selkies are a race of seals who can become human at will. Those who are kind to them while they are in their seal form get nothing but rewards, while those who are cruel to them meet their eternal vengeance."
He smiled slightly. "Occasionally, when a lonely fisherman is kind to the seals, a beautiful selkie woman will come from the sea to be his bride, forsaking her seal skin for that of a human. And the selkie blood is mingled with the human, in their children. But it is hard to keep a seal from the water forever, and selkie brides eventually long to return to their first and only home. But they cannot change back into their native form without their sealskins. Many stories tell of the fisherman unwise enough to destroy the skin so his bride can no longer return to the sea. When she dies of grief and yearning for her true home, her family comes from the sea for revenge."
"Revenge?" I demanded, as caught up now in the story as anyone. He did have a natural storyteller's gift, the cadence of his language low and even.
"The fisherman dies. A life for a life, you see. And if there are children, the selkies take those too and return them to the sea. And maybe those half-seal children can reach into the depths of their seal blood and somehow transform to join their mother's family, or maybe they cannot and simply drown. But no one knows for certain, for they never return."
