Sea Witch (Children of the Sea, #1)
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Sea Witch (Children of the Sea #1)

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3.7 of 5 stars 3.70  ·  rating details  ·  567 ratings  ·  74 reviews
First in the new The Children of the Sea series from the USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR.

Margred is a Selkie - a legendary being of the sea, able to shapeshift into seductive human form. And she has found a human she desires...

Burned out from the big city, Caleb Hunter becomes police chief on the peaceful Maine island of World's End. Then he meets a wo...more
Mass Market Paperback, 273 pages
Published July 1st 2008 by Berkley Sensation
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Julie (jjmachshev)
Something a little different for the paranormal romance scene. "Sea Witch" by Virginia Kantra serves up a helping of nasty demons and sexy selkies. This is book one of her new 'Children of the Sea' series and it was certainly worth the read.

He's a wounded hero (YAY!) returned from Iraq with a bum leg and PTSD. Now Caleb works as the police chief on the small, quiet island where he was raised. Life has a slower pace and he's recovering, getting stronger and better. Alth...more
Terry
Terry rated it 5 of 5 stars
Sea Witch by Virginia Kantra is absolutely delicious. A magical mystical romance with a paranormal element that I haven't read before. Caught in the novel's web from page one I just could not put this book down. Oh my, oh my so yummy!

Margred is breathtakingly beautiful with long dark hair, ivory skin and large brown bottomless eyes that drink in every little thing. She is a selkie! Human on land, seal by sea. Mortal on land, Immortal by sea. A creature of the earth with water as her ...more
Laura
Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book, but I kept getting irritated with Maggie for not telling Cal what she really was. After he saved her from the demon and her pelt had been burned, she lived with him for weeks before telling. That is the only reason for 4 stars instead of 5. I love the idea of this series, I love the characters who were introduced, and I think the demons (children of fire) will be back in the next few books.
Quick summary:
Caleb is an Iraqi war vet who came home to a small island in N...more
Adrienne
this was a nice::enjoyable::read:: i liked it enough that i shall read the rest of the series::
caleb is war vet (iraq)::is phsyically scarred has PTSD and has issues from his childhood::actually if he asked me for a date i wouldn't turn him down he's a nice kind guy who just wants/needs to be made whole again ::margred is a selkie::and has come from the sea for a specific purpose::but something is out to get her....::the story is one of finding trust/love and understanding::calebs past i...more
Wan ~DragonsWan~
This is a solid 4 stars for me. I really like it and think it’s a good start for a promising series. Don’t know why but I can’t help myself compare this book to the Goddess of the Sea by P.C. Cast. I definitely like this one much better.

This is a quick read for me. Though, I didn’t really like the opening of the book but the book was interesting enough to keep me reading (particularly 1st chapter - the “horny” selkie part was almost a turn off). But I do like Maggie character. Her h...more
Sara
Plot: 5 Stars
I absolutely love stories that include lesser known paranormal creatures, especially when they're the main creature and not overshadowed by vampires and/or werewolves. The selkies in this novel were very interesting, especially their hierarchy. My favorite part of the novel was how there were different paranormal creatures to represent the elements. The selkies represented water, while the demons represented fire.

Pace: 4.5 Stars
This novel was a breeze. I fin...more
Jill
Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars
I believe this is supposed to be in the paranormal/fantasy romance section only it felt more like a fantasy story. It had a great story but the romance almost seemed like an after thought to the Maggie (the selkie) as they don't think or react like a normal human. I do think Kantra portrayed this aspect of the Selkie well.

We also discover a dynamic to the Selkie (water elemental) and other elementals (demons are fire, we don't know what air and earth are yet). Kantra is very poetic w...more
Moss
Seal woman Magred rises out of the ocean looking for nookie. Local sherrif with a limp obliges (hah! No, really). A man, a woman, it is destiny. Also, a demon and a Creator...did I say she was a seal? I have this ambivalent feeling towards seals. It all comes from having to go out on a tourist boat to try and see a whale this one time and it was such a goddamned TRAP, there were no whales in June and so we had this pity swim with seals...seals. You know they're like dogs with flippers?
...more
Rhianna
When Margred, a lust-driven Selkie, seeks a human's touch upon land, the last thing she anticipates is becoming trapped in her human form. Caleb Hunter is a man with a past and then some. A veteran of the war in Iraq he has returned to Maine injured both physically and emotionally. Returning to his childhood home on the Maine island of World's End life is simpler, quieter. Until Magred shows up and seduces him with her exotic beauty and mysterious manner. She promises to return to him knowing fu...more
Vanessa theJeepDiva
3 1/2 Stars

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
Published July 1st 2008 by Berkley
ISBN13: 9780425221990
Series: Children of the Sea #1
3 ½ Stars, 3 Flames

Margred is a selkie. She has left the sea to find an eagerly willing and fulfilling sexual partner. The only thing she is seeking as she walks Worlds End beach on a late May night is orgasm. What she finds is a handsome cop out on patrol who would rather get to know her and have more than a quick relea...more
Heather
Margred is a selkie, human and mortal on land, seal and immortal at sea. She gets stranded on land when she is attacked and her sealskin burned. Caleb is a divorced Iraq war veteran with a bum leg. He's taken the job of police chief at his childhood home of World's End. When he meets Margred he'd like nothing better to settle down and live a quiet normal life. Margred longs to return to the sea and disappear, yet something about Caleb calls to her. When she learns that there is a demon after her...more
Sarah Stumpf
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Moviemavengal
Simply excellent. How can you beat this opening line: "If she didn't have sex with something soon, she would burst out of her skin."

Margred is a selkie, and I love how she is very much "other" and does not think as a human does. It's a wonderful turnaround that the hero is the human, and the heroine the paranormal. And what a hero. Caleb is a wounded vet, the local chief of police, and he does everything he can to protect Margred. He doesn't believe for quite ...more
ErinReadsTooMuch
I really enjoyed this book. It is the first of a series, and the main character is a Silkie. She comes to shore to mate, and ends up feeling much more for the human she mates with than she has ever felt before. She ends up returning to the town to see him again, despite warnings of danger from her fellow Silkies. In being there, she stumbles upon a Fire Demon who is praying on her kind to blame on the humans in hopes it will finally make the Children of the Sea (who have been neutral since t...more
Sophie Renwick
I loved the premise of this series, and the world building. It was really well done and so smoothly written. I also liked that it was a small island community and that the people we meet in Sea Witch will have a place in the next two books. For me, however, Caleb was a bit too beta for my taste, and Margred, the heroine wasn't my cuppa. I had a hard time relating to her and too many times I felt she was selfish and it turned me off, despite the fact the author set up her personality well and tie...more
Kerry Allen
I was surprised to find myself enjoying a book in which the heroine was obsessed with sex from the very first line. Maggie's so straightforward about what she wants and needs, it's almost alien. Caleb's pure human male (Yes, thank you, I would love to have sex, but let me wine and dine you so neither of us thinks I'm a total dirtbag later). At no point was sex an "issue," which somehow cleared the deck to make room for some really sweet relationship development and a personal, immediat...more
Anita
Anita rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Mermaid fans
I don't know why this book didn't appeal to me, but I set it down after 45 pages and just didn't want to pick it up again. Something about the writing style didn't work for me - it wasn't bad writing, it just didn't grab me and hold my attention. I got a bleak vibe from the beginning of the book - that really bad things have happened and would happen again. I guess it was a bit too dark for me to work as a romance. (paranormal romance, by the way, about selkies) But I only read the first 45 page...more
Donna
Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just finished the first book of Virgina Kantra's Dare Island series and loved it. I admit I'm not as familiar with selkie's as I am with other shapeshifters and vampires (and doesn't that sentence make me sound solidly sane) but I liked the fact that as a selkie, Margred had no familiarity with human emotions or needs. It made her "differentness" more real to me. I enjoyed her journey toward learning Caleb's world.

Without any spoilers I loved the twist of acquaintanc...more
 Lady Jayne *~*The Beach Bandida*~*
Lady Jayne *~*The Beach Bandida*~* rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Lady Jayne *~*The Beach Bandida*~* by: new_user
3.5 Stars

The first line of this book was: "IF SHE DIDN'T HAVE SEX WITH SOMETHING SOON, she would burst out of her skin." Well, this certainly made for a saucy start! LOL

I’ll keep this short. This was a fast read. I liked it, but can't say that I loved it, hence, the 3.5 Stars. Thanks for the reco, though, NU!

Margred is a selkie, a child of the sea. Her mate had died long ago. One day, in frisky frustration, she goes to land in search of sex. She com...more
Catherine
*2.5 Stars*

I found this book pretty frustrating. The world idea was interesting, and I wanted to like it just for that--I mean, come on, selkies!--but I found the world building thin and the romance even thinner.

One of my largest problems with this book was the hero, Caleb. He played the role usually reserved for super irritating females that are sweeter than pie and perfect. He was the quintessential martyr throughout the book. He never got truly angry with the heroine...more
Sarah Horton
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Sherri *SheLuvs2Read*
First book in the Sea series.

I really loved the character of Caleb Hunter. Burned out veteran of the big city streets and disabled war Veteran. He's human and has desires that he thinks he will never find in his hometown on a coastal Maine island. But he's also a fighter. He's mentally tough and even though somewhat limited physically, he doesn't let that stop him.

I had a harder time warming up to Margred (or Maggie as Caleb called her), and I'm still not sure I did...more
Casee
Casee rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: read-2010
I really have enjoyed Virginia Kantra’s romantic suspense books so I wasn’t thrilled when this series first came out. I was so un-thrilled, in fact, that I didn’t read this book until two years after I got it.

Margred/Maggie threw me off at first. As a selkie, she doesn’t have human thoughts, human feelings, etc. The only human urge she has is of the sexual variety. So she was a very “go get ‘em” type of girl/seal. She first meets Caleb when she comes to land to find someone to bleep....more
Ladiibbug
Ladiibbug rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Paranormal Romance Fans
#1 Children of the Sea paranormal romance series

Lovely! Beautiful and descriptive writing ... Ms. Kantra made me feel the ocean mist, hear the ocean waves roaring or quietly rolling up the sand, and taste the salt in the air.

Set on the Maine coast, a location I always enjoy, the author captures "Maine speak" -- non-locals are "people from Away", and other such charming quirks of language.

The world and story are enchanting and deeply satisf...more
Bitten_by_Books
Bitten_by_Books rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: kate
I have to confess right here and right now that I have a penchant for selkies. Since I read my first story about the sea people, I’ve longed to meet one. There, now you know one of Kate’s deep dark secrets...

For the entire review please go to the Best Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Review site on the web, Bitten By Books for the review of Sea Witch in it's entirety. You won't be sorry.
Christy
Christy rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: owned
Virgina Kantra’s paranormal romance Sea Witch was unlike many novels I’ve read before, yet the familiar romantic suspense plot kept me hooked from the beginning. She’s got this beautifully descriptive voice, which helps when you’re in unfamiliar territory reading about ancient mythological creatures of the sea!

She meticulously creates a mythology that is easily enchanting, and the eroticism is marked by the sound of waves… a tactic that effectively gives readers the sense that the he...more
Gina
I really liked the unique plot of this book. I've never read romance novel about mermaids--except the little mermaid, i guess--until this one. I enjoyed that small town feel of the book. While the heroine could get annoying at times, it wasn't so much to turn me off from the book. The hero was sweet and amazing.
My favoriote part about this was the progression of the characters. They developed nicely in a logical and understanding way. It was really nice to see that happen.
Teri
Children of the Sea is an exciting series based on the Scottish legend of the Selkies. Margred is the main character and while she has lost her past mate she hungers for sex and swims to the mainland to find a target. What she finds herself is landlocked by a demon who has stolen her pelt, and a police officer who has stolen her heart.

A dangerous tale of love and deceit mixed with a heroine of her own whim and urges left from her past and brought to a dangerous new future.
Maja
I've read a lot of paranormal romance book but never before have I encountered something as original as Virginia Kantra's Children o the Sea. And I really enjoy finding something original. But though the setting was unique the plot wasn't. It was quite easy to predict that that can ruin any original idea. But still the plot was okay, just your ordinary demon murder, who is he? So, a good book where I'd like to read the next.
Gail
Gail rated it 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book a whole lot. I've always liked Virginia Kantra--even though I've been too wimpy to read her single-title romantic suspense. I Have them, just haven't had the nerve to read them, because I'm afraid they'll be too scary for me. Demons? Vampires? Not a problem, but serial killers or fanatical cultists--they scare me too much to read about them... Anyway.
Kantra--love her books. This one is fabulous. Heroine is a selkie. Hero is a police chief of a Maine island. He stumbles ac...more
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Sea Witch (Children of the Sea, #1)
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Sea Witch (Children of the Sea Series #1)

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New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra credits her love for strong heroes and courageous heroines to a childhood spent devouring fairy tales.

A eight-time Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist, Virginia is the winner of numerous writing awards, including two National Readers' Choice Awards. After writing her popular "MacNeill Brothers" and "Trouble in...more
More about Virginia Kantra...
Sea Fever (Children of the Sea, #2) Sea Lord (Children of the Sea, #3) Immortal Sea (Children of the Sea, #4) Forgotten Sea (Children of the Sea, #5) Close Up

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