In 1872, a swoony nature boy falls for a winsome water girl–who just happens to have a dolphin’s tail. Though they long to be together, they are separated by their deeply different circumstances and mobility issues. Then the winsome water girl comes up with a particularly gruesome solution to their problem, and for a while they are happy. But nothing’s ever easy when love’s involved and the former mermaid realizes that to live in the naturalist’s world, she must make the greatest sacrifice of all (and no, it’s not the loss of her tail). Flash forward 140 years. Seventeen year old Hester, professional Pilgrim impersonator and all around history geek, meets a gorgeous sad man named Ezra on the beach. She is immediately drawn to him, despite the fact that she has sworn off love forever. Because in Hester’s family, the mothers always die after the birth of their first daughter. Hester is determined that fate won’t be hers, so she avoids all relationships that may lead to romance. But this man is different, and Hester can’t deny the way he makes her feel. She is even able to ignore the fact that he lives in a cave, his old fashioned clothes never change and he can’t seem to leave the beach. Who or what is Ezra? Why does Hester feel like she has known him forever? And how is their instant bond related to the swoony nature boy and winsome water girl of long ago? Once Hester has all the pieces to this historical puzzle, she just might be able to solve the deadly mystery of the dying mothers.
I have to say that I normally bypass anything that smacks of cross species/supernatural kissing. With a few exceptions, I have mostly had it up to here with paranormal romance. But this book not only rocked my little reading boat, it blew me out of the genre water and any other ocean related expression you can think of. By linking together mythology, history and genealogy in a thoroughly entertaining (and wee bit gory) way and inventively reinterpreting The Little Mermaid (this ain’t no redheaded Disney movie, y’all) for a new generation, Elizabeth Fama has successfully escaped the curse of the tired old “girl/boy-falls-for-vampire/werewolf/fallen angel/zombie” formula.
Sounds like an awesome read! I recently read another book that you guys might like as well. It’s called Cameo by Tanille. If you wanna check out the book here’s a link: http://cameonia.blogspot.com