The Selkie

Sea Fey #2

by Melanie Jackson

When her tears of solitude and loneliness complete an ancient ritual, Hexy Garrow, sequestered at a Scottish castle, soon discovers that she has unwittingly conjured up a legendary prince who has arisen from the waves of the ocean to claim her as his own. Original.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Mermaids, Fiction, Folklore

358 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2003

About the author

Melanie, an award-winning author of more than fifty novels, stories and poems lives with her writer husband in the California Gold Country with their cat (also a writer who has a page on myspace) and their dog (who is hoping to get a page on facebook as soon as she masters typing). Melanie likes gardening but hates the deer who also like her garden, and she volunteers at a local animal shelter.

Reviews

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

In many ways, “The Selkie” resembles most run-of-the-mill romance novels: poor writing, heavy foreshadowing, and predictable plot. But I tend to forgive these sins in a book that captures my imagination. “The Selkie” fails to do so for four reasons. First and foremost, sister is fcking a seal! In order to produce an image of a magical-man-seal good enough to convince the reader to suspend reality, the author ends up describing a totally physically unappealing hero (slicked back hair, small ears, weird eyes, total lack of body hair, etc.). Moreover, the hero and heroine have no connection beyond a magical physical attraction (i.e., no banter or other reason for me to believe they suit one another), and perhaps as a corollary of that fact, the plot is no fun for any character. I’m always game for a good meet-join-marry-pregnancy plot, but these two characters get so little joy from the process that I felt totally unattached to them. Finally, the author commits the cardinal sin of romance novels, creating a female protagonist who is no more than a pawn; she makes terrible decisions, constantly creating her own peril, either because she’s simply an idiot or is too weak to fight one bewitching force or another (e.g., a man's prejudices, her employer’s will, or a mystical creature’s enchantment). A listless heroine donking a sea animal? No thank you.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique enough to hold my attention. I like the fact that I haven't come across seal shifters in a book before. Love the Scottish setting!

[Willa · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was no romance here, it was magical, fated insta-love, she is the one who was foretold who can carry the selkie babies. Listless, clueless FMC, spends a lot of the book drugged by the MMC's magical selkie sweat. Like really. Could be considered dubcon. And then just very basic problems: typos, inconsistent use of phonetic spelling for the Scottish accents, extremely stilted prose, characters know information they have no reason to, inconvenient things just disappear from the plot, and there's a lot of dropped threads. Some stuff with faeries, the circus, the brother who knew she was a selkie incubator but didn't tell her? He died in WWI but also maybe it was the evil sorcerer? The sorcerer who was defeated in like two pages?

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is refreshing to read a romance that has writing of a college level vocabulary. The supernatural world of the selfie also appealed to me. Not the best romance I’ve read, but she kept me reading and anxious with tension.

[Sirenita · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!
Very good and intriguing selkie romance. The plot was a bit slow at times, but there is a lot of Scottish mythology including finmen, merrows, selkies, fae. Loved the ending!!

Full review at Sirenita’s Grotto! Check out my profile for more mermaid reviews/website

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars this book had a original premise but we just kind of disappointing.

[Erika Auler · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright.

[Nicola Schmidt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf

[Knight Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just couldn’t get into it. It felt too slow and often times I stayed away from finishing it.

[TINNGG · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was expecting a Selkie - it IS titled The Selkie after all - the time period was surprising. Set in the 1920s - a time period mostly neglected in Romancelandia - in a drafty old castle in Scotland, well, at least in part.

There is a bit of insta-lust but it's likely due to the compulsion spell. And...I can't help but wonder if the h's employer set her up. Let me explain.

Our h doesn't realize she's a speshul snowflake - a rare person who can fully mate with a Selkie. She also has no idea that her Irish roots stem from a line with Unseelie blood. I doubt her employer does either but...her employer I suspect does know the summoning spell, recognize the H's skin for what it is, and quickly realize that the h's allergies will cause her to unintentionally perform the spell.

So she goes out at the request of her employer (she's a companion - combination lady's maid and confident) to find her employer's fur coat left on a rock supposedly. She's got hay fever bad, though in this case it's more apt to call it yew fever. She sits on a rock, feels a bit sorry for herself, her nose runs, she sneezes, her eyes water, etc. Then she finds the "coat" and takes it back to the castle. Her employer packs it and takes it on a trip. H shows up at the rock, looking for his fur, and discovers the spell. He goes hunting and ah... Let the games begin.

There's a bad guy naturally, who must be vanquished. The bad guy has managed to get inside the h's head so she's compelled to take some awful chances. It gets the bad guy killed and she also finds what happened to her brother but...

It's an interesting read, somewhat convoluted, but interesting.

[Paranormal Romance · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a odd one and at the end, I'm not sure I was so much of a fan of the overall book as
a confused one.

The heroine is Hexy, and she is a companion to a rich/spoiled but yet kind young lady who
quickly leaves the story and Hexy is left alone in a Scottish Castle while it is being rebuilt.
She is prone to allergies and often her eyes run with tears, never would she have imagined that
those tears would inadvertently summon a Selkie.

Our hero is Rory (who shares the same name as Hexy's brother), and his kind have a tradition of being summoned by a weeping women whom they will sleep with and produce a child with before returning to the sea. But that was not the case for Hexy - she accidentally mistook his pelt for her employers fur coat and he sticks around until he can get it back.

Surprise, Hexy and Rory sleep together and produce a child only to have Rory return to his world
to deal with Selkie politics, leaving Hexy to think he was kidnapped by a finman. So she heads out to save him.

There were aspects about this book that was a bit disturbing. Like the fact that Rory basically
drugs Hexy with the salt his body produces - he does this intentionally and most time against her
will. Or that fact that this was an weird world of Selkie and Druids and yet Hexy openly didn't
question any of it or the fact that Rory seemingly impregnated her while she was drugged and not
in her right mind.

Overall, this book left a sour taste in my mouth.

[Estarianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful surprise! The cover on this led me to expect the usual overwrought, purple prose romance. Instead it is an elegantly written, well researched romantic fantasy written in an old fashioned style.

People who are fans of mass produced romance might not like it. It is a different style- more Bujold than Moning. The leading man is not a bohunk, the leading woman is not a vampire slayer. But I loved it- very fairy tale and lovely.

I think it would get better reviews if it was published as a fantasy instead of a romance, honestly, and had a more descriptive cover. I recommend it for romantic fantasy fans. It is not explicit enough or fast paced enough to appeal to PNR fans.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I gave this book an average rating, it ended up being a pivotal book for me. I probably picked it up because it had the folklore element of selkies, and I've enjoyed fantasy and revisionist lit for a very long time. This book became my introduction to what would come to be known as paranormal romance.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Melanie Jackson has a lovely way with prose, The Selkie storyline was very two dimensional. Throughout the book, I felt that it was an imaginative story trapped in a shallow romance novel. I kept hoping that it would somehow rise above it, but sadly, it never did.

[Kristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was way too slow moving for me. 5 chapters in and not nothing was going on, so I gave up.

[penelopewanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do enjoy stories about selkies... this one is set in the 1920's in Scotland, although that doesn't make so much of an impact. Fun, quick read.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yea, I get that it's a romance, but this was way too cheesy for me. Wasn't convinced of their "love" at all.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll have to write more later.

Elegantly written, wonderful visuals, excellent storytelling, overall a beautifully told sweet romance. i loved it!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it and I do believe she us going to be a fav author.

[Mariah · Rating 1 out of 5]

for some reason I just didn't like this story, it had a good base, it just didn't click.

[Jessica Smith]

Need some brain trash.

[Priscilla Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read different and enjoyed it.

I found my self being pulled more into the plot and my imagination taking over . I really enjoyed this book .

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feel good fantasy

This was a feel good fantasy. Even when the language was difficult to comprehend at times, I figured out the meaning and was a nice read.

[Ann Breeden]

it was interesting