Sea Lord by Virginia Kantra

Conn Ap Llyr is a the lord of the Selkies, the Children of the Sea, and rules over a land located somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, called Sanctuary. However, all is not well in Conn'a kingdom, as the Selkies have had war declared on them by the demons, or the Children of Fire, who are also at war with humans, and the children of the air.

Conn is a deeply sensual man who has denied that sensuality to rule his people. But as the Demons of fire have gained in power and magic, his own people have declined, not only in power and magic, but numbers. Confined to one island in the middle of the ocean, his people are losing the fight, and soon their island home will be at risk.

But there is hope for the Children and their King, and that is a prophecy which tells of the daughter of the Sea Witch Atargatis, who will reverse the balance of Power among the Children of Fire and the Children of the Sea. Atargatis fell in love with a mortal, and because she was so in love with the sea, she lived by it all her life. To save his people. Conn goes in search of her daughter hoping her magic can reinvigorate that of his people.

Lucy Hunter is a schoolteacher for the small Maine Island of World's End. She suffers from a curious condition that causes her to be weak and dizzy if she goes too far from the Ocean. But she has made a good life for herself in World's End and is happy with her life there... at least, that's what she tells herself. When Conn shows up, she dislikes him immediately- he's arrogant and pushes all the wrong buttons in her. But his arrival also destroys all hope of her living a normal life- and she's the last one to know about herself.

For her brother Dylan, now married, is a Selkie who who married a human women, and her family kept the secret of her parentage from her. Lucy knows something is being kept from her, and it hurts her sorely. And since the Hunters are a very close-knit family, that hurts even more. Lucy believes she is completely human, and is ignorant of the fact that she has magic. Since she despises Conn, she is very resistant to the idea that she is anything but human and completely without magic or powers of any kind.

For Conn, kidnapping her is the only option, and taking her to Sanctuary. But doing so might lose him any respect Lucy might feel for him. Can he get her to see the power she holds and use it on the side of her Sellkie parentage, or has he made such a mistake in kidnapping her that she will never forgive him. Conn must learn the old "You can lead a horse to water..." adage, while Lucy, who years to feel needed, must step beyond what she has thought about heself for her entire life to grasp the magic that is hers to wield, and the man she is coming to love. But can they save the Children of the Sea before the Children of Fire destroy Sanctuary and the Selkie race?

This was only an okay read for me. I haven't read the first two books in the series, and even after reading this book, I don't know what I care to. I never felt a sense of real connection to the characters, or cared much about what happened to them. The only thing that made me feel sad was when Lucy was kept from learning about her Selkie parentage by her other siblings earlier in the book.

While I may not have Selkie parentage, I know what it's like to know other people are keeping secrets from you and to be the last to know- and it sucks. Big time. But that wasn't entirely enough for me to be able to sympathize with Lucy, or with Conn, who acted like a stuck-up dick a lot of the time. Many was the time I wished Lucy would haul off and slap the bejeezus out of him- because he deserved it. And then she'd act all whiny and pissy, and I'd want to throw the book at a wall. And Lucy's family barely seems to care that she's gone, until they show up at Sanctuary, all annoyed, to find her. Way to go, family!

This was not a successful book for me, and I wont be recommending it to others. The style was easy to read, but the characters seriously kept pissing me off- even the human ones, and the ones from the previous books. I may read future books by Virginia Kantra, but this series was just not my cup of tea. When I stop reading so I can start folding the wash, and actually look forward to folding the wash- I know I am not liking a book. Even though this book is short, it took me almost 2 whole days to get through. Avoid this one.