Return to Sea Haven in the first novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan’s Sisters of the Heart series, as a diver and the man she rescues are engulfed in a storm of dangerous desire.On the shores of Sea Haven, six women touched by great loss have come together in a sisterhood strengthened by the elements—a bond each will need as new love and danger enter their lives…The … and danger enter their lives…
The last thing Lev Prakenskii remembers is being lost in the swirling currents of the ocean. Just as quickly, he is saved—pulled ashore by a beautiful stranger. But Lev has no memory of who he was—or why he seems to possess the violent instincts of a trained killer. All he knows is that he fears for his life, and the life of his unexpected savior.
Rikki has always felt an affinity for the ocean and the relentless flow of the tides. Now, she can’t deny the seductive pull of the enigmatic man she rescued. But soon they will be bound by something even stronger: the tantalizing secrets that threaten to engulf them both in a whirlpool of dizzying passion and inescapable danger.
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I love everything Christine Feehan writes and this book is no exception. First let me start by saying that the heroine, Rikki is autistic. It was so nice to see a character with autism in a romance novel but not only that, she wasn’t some side character or a weakling. She was heroine and she was every bit hero worthy. Rikki goes to great lengths to prove her strength and smarts and won’t let anyone underestimate her and they shouldn’t. She’s an amazing leading lady and I fell in love with her from the first page. The paranormal stuff in this series harkens back to Feehan’s other series set in the same town of Sea Haven and it’s lovely little tie in. I also love that Feehan has no problem taking chances with paranormal that isn’t the basic vamprie-witch-werewolf triad we all know (and some of us still love). The characters gifts are refreshing and altogether believable. You’ll find yourself swooning as they psychically talk to each other, just try not to. This was a great read and now that I’ve found it I’m happily moving on to book 2 in this series.
I love her writing, I Love Her Style and she’s just fun!
I’m a die-hard fan of Christine Feehan’s Dark Series. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read all of her 28 books. I savor each one. The community she built totally captivates me.
I’ve read only one other of her books – it was a thriller and scared the beejeezes out of me! It is called Rocky Mountain Miracle.
I was given the chance to read this book as an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley. I’m so glad I did. I learned something, too. I now know my need to return to book one of the series and learn the story of each of the Drake sisters. They look like a marvelous, inspiring set of women. This world of terror is packed with action, danger, passion and humor, not necessarily in that order.
Feehan’s stories take me to worlds I’ve never experienced. In this particular book she reaches me through her knowledge of pedophiles and what trauma children go through who get caught in its web. It’s a situation very real in this world and therefore an important read, other than extremely entertaining.
The Drake sisters with their power controlling elements and others who use their paranormal abilities to save mankind, remind me of how much I loved Superman and Spiderman as a kid. And through it all, people are brought together, lives are slowly healed and women kick butt!
Evan Shackler-Gratsos is considered the number-one human trafficker. But a village does not one man make. There are many men who are part of this ring and those who use these children are no better. These women, who control the elements, are great role models and I love their spirit, family loyalty and their connection to eradicating just plain bad!
The story is very well-balanced emotionally. Full of dynamic emotions and sensual feelings. Loved it through and through.
If you are a Feehan fan or just starting out in this fantasy world of paranormal, you shouldn’t miss this read.
Awesome book and series great read could not put down.
This series is based in Sea Haven, and one of the heroine’s in this series is actually a cousin to the Drake Sisters.
Lev Prakenskii (Is a brother to Ilya, who’s book is “Turbulent Sea) was on the boat that Elle was held hostage on (her story was Hidden Currents) He tried to save her, tried to get her off the boat, he knew his boss was interested in Elle. He had to standby and watch her being abused, he couldn’t risk saving her and blowing his cover. He bitterly regretted not doing anything, but he knew they both would be killed. But she got away and he was pleased. He wasn’t pleased when his boss found Elle again and tried to take her back. Elle retaliated and now Lev finds himself being blown off the boat and into the sea. But he’s ok with that, he’s done his job, he doesn’t need to worry about anything anymore…..
Rikki loves the water, that is where she is at home. The sea grounds her, keeps her calm. And diving for sea urchins, gives her purpose, focus and an excuse to be out on the water.
Rikki lost her whole family due to a violent tragedy, back bad things always seem to happen around her, is she a jinx? Or is there something more sinister going on?
And when she comes across a man in the water, Rikki has to decide wether to rescue him or let the sea claim him…..
Rikki hates anything that disturbs her peace of mind or her routine. And Lev does that on all levels, after rescuing him, he becomes a firm fixture in her life, but there is his memory loss to worry about, and the fact that he feels dangerous to Rikki and her way of life.
And when her “sisters” meet him (they aren’t blood related, they met at a self help group for abused women) they don’t like him, but Rikki sees past the harsh exterior, and maybe, just maybe Rikki will keep him.
Lev (or Levi as the name he now goes under) is suffering from memory loss, but he knows how to handle a gun. And as his memory returns, he’s worried his old life will come back and harm the woman he’s falling in love with.
I loved this book, it handled Rikki’s issues with care and sensitivity. Being autistic and having a life, was written really carefully. We never forgot that Rikki was different, and to find a man that would treat her with respect and love was love to to read. So many heroines are either kick ass or helpless, Rikki was neither. She is strong, independent, but very rigid in her daily life.
So will Levi and Rikki have a life by the sea? Or will both their pasts come back and haunt them?
A great paranormal romance series
This was a great story,even read the next book
I love all her books. Carpathians, shifters all of them.
This entire series is amazing!!!
I loved this book and everyone in the series they are wonderful.
Anything by MS Feehan makes a wonderful read.
Love, love, love Christine Feehan. This book is part of an amazing series. Trust me, you will want them all!
This is a book that I have enjoyed for some time. I love this whole series. It is extremely reread able.
Couldn’t put down! Made me want to read the rest of the series!
This one just catches you and sweeps you away, it’s the 1st in this series and I loved all of them..
Rikki Sitmore is an autistic sea-urchin diver who lives on a farm in Sea Haven with her surrogate sisters who saved her from herself years ago. One day whilst she’s harvesting the spiny creatures off of a shelf along the San Andreas Fault, a massive wave comes out nowhere and throws Rikki off of her boat. Midway through her battle back to the surface, she encounters a man being battered against the underwater rocks along the shelf wall. In a split-second decision, Rikki saves the man from falling further into the fault line, risking her own life in the process. Rikki is a believer in the old laws, especially that of the sea. If you take it from the sea, it’s yours. and Lev Parenskii is hers, come hell, fire, or damnation.
Lev is a foreign secret agent, taken from his family as a child and trained to be the dark hand of his government. While on assignment, Lev ends up underwater in the Pacific Ocean with no rescue in sight. Just as he resigns himself to a watery death, he’s rescued by a woman who takes him home to recuperate. He quickly falls in love with this autistic woman with an affinity for water, but he knows that finding their Happily Ever After is going to be a bit harder than a dime-store romance novel.
Rikki has a rash of fire and death in her past and things have to work for her or she shuts down and Lev has his entire existence in the way, having to remember who he is and then making sure he remains dead to his country. Separate, the two have special abilities, and together, the pair can work wonders but are their unique gifts enough to survive everything the fates have thrown at them?
I have started and restarted writing this review dozens of time in its lifetime. I want to gush and be emotional. And I want to be distanced from it all, all professional-like. I’ve struggled to find a happy medium to do this review because I want y’all to see how amazing this book is. And I can’t. I am emotionally vested in this book and I am definitely not a literary professional as of yet. So here it is.
Water Bound hit the quadfecta for me. I found the book because it was written by Christine Feehan, a favourite author. I took it off the shelf for the title. I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis teased me. Author, Title, Cover, Synopsis. I immediately bought the book and I began reading it as soon as I got home and safely ensconced myself in my closet (I like reading in closets). And then, dearest readers, I read the book.
Water Bound shoved its way to the tippy top of my favourite books list with the first chapter. Why? Because for the first time ever, I had a book whose heroine I could relate to. An autistic woman with tragedy in her past that thought herself a monstrous freak. I cried reading Water Bound that night and I’m not a crying person. Not only was Rikki an autistic woman, but she was intelligent, not centring herself around math and science (which I strongly avoid), and she was mistreated by ‘the system’ for being different. Because Christine Feehan normalised autism by having an autistic heroine, I stopped hating being different and began to love myself, autism and all. I even started dating, which I’d sworn never to do because, ew, commitment and close personal contact with a person bother me.
Christine Feehan’s descriptions were exceptional, as always. I was enchanted with the vivid description of the underwater seascape that Rikki was so in love with. I was repeatedly reminded of the times when I was younger that I would climb out of my bedroom window at night to sit on the roof and just enjoy every raindrop that fell on my skin, something I haven’t done in over a decade.
I know this isn’t a new(ish) book or a yet-to-be-released book, but I’ve seen some disparaging reviews on Goodreads and Amazon that griped about Christine focusing on Rikki’s autistic qualities and her fascination with water and I felt the need to switch my review schedule about so that I could dedicate today’s review to this book that me feel a little bit more normal than I usually do. Writing from a point of view that isn’t neurotypical is hard – even for someone who is neurodiverse, trust me, I’ve tried. And the fact that Christine not only attempted to write from Rikki’s POV and give her a HEA, but succeeded in describing that special place we all disappear to during our ‘moments out of time’ and the frustrations of not being able to do ‘normal’ things like grocery shopping or hugging your family, it matters to me and any other reader on the spectrum. She constantly brings up Rikki’s ‘weird traits and obsessions’ because that’s a thing with us. We obsess and ‘space out’ and we stim and fidget. Many of us don’t do actual eye contact and some of us develop fake-out methods such as sunglasses or staring at a person’s nose. We have sensory issues and we have to have things just so or our entire worlds go off-kilter. For someone who isn’t an Own Voices writer (that I know of), she manages far better than certain popular TV shows to showcase autistic characters with a realness few authors achieve when writing characters with disabilities.
I give Water Bound a whole 5 stars because it is well-written and the research she put into the storyline shows from the succulent plants outside of Rikki’s home to her accurate portrayal of an autistic woman to the diving scenes that are fully developed without glossing over the ‘technical’ side of diving.
Oh, and I actually own three copies of this book. One is so tattered that its cover is duck taped to the binding which is also duck taped, I bought that one fresh off the shelf the first month it was available in my go-to chain bookstore in Georgia. Then I finally had the money last month to buy a replacement copy as a Christmas gift to myself and I bought the kindle edition this month, so that I can read that instead of accidentally damaging my brand-new copy that I cuddle with when I’m having an ‘autistic moment’. It’s calming and that’s all that matters. Buy a copy, rent a copy, audio, print or eformat. Whichever. Just read this book.
One of those authors you hate to put down. And the books rnd to fast
It is about time someone showed that people with autism as smart, capable and loveable in a great story. I loved the story’s and the characters.