 | Title: Oceanborne
 Sexual Content: Several sex scenes. Sexual assault. References to rape. Rating:
Okay – A few good points, but with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
Katherine Irons returns to a realm of elemental power, ambition, desire, and tenderness in Oceanborne...
An Irresistible Tide
Elena Carter has loved the sea all her life. As an underwater archaeologist, she works with it every day, cajoling it into giving up the treasures and mysteries of its past. But when she pulls a handsome stranger from the water in the midst of a storm, she realizes there is much she still has to learn. Taking shelter from the tempest, they experience sensual awakenings, pleasures different from any they have felt before. But the stranger, her intoxicating Prince Orion, disappears, leaving nothing but an ancient artifact.
Reluctantly returning to her landbound life, Elena finds more pieces to a puzzle that baffles her even as it hints at greater discoveries yet to be made. She longs to feel Orion’s arms around her just one more time, and to ask him about the secrets hidden in the deep, secrets inextricably bound up with Orion and their unquenchable passion. But who—or what—is he? And once she has known the touch of the sea, can Elena return to the world she left behind?
Review
OCEANBORNE, the second book in Katherine Irons paranormal romance series, Seaborne, unites three of my absolute favorite things: Atlantis, archaeology, and mermaids. Unfortunately, it doesn’t unite them very well.
My experience reading OCEANBORNE went something like this: “Ooh…a new mermaid paranormal romance. Sweet, the protagonist is an archaeologist! And it involves Atlantis!!” I snatched the book up, thrilled to have so many things I love all in one book before I even started reading. By the end of the first chapter, my enthusiasm had dimmed a little just based on the author’s tendency to overwrite and the use of some fairly annoying Atlantean slang. Then the archaeologist was introduced and I lost still more excitement. Elena was not a strong heroine, but then again, Orion wasn’t a strong hero, so at least they fit in that sense.
Elana is in her mid thirties, feeling pressure from her loser boyfriend to get married and pop out a few kids. She’s not ready, but is fine with dating this guy even though he’s a pushy jerk. She meets Orion and instant lust is shared by all. Orion, is arrogant and quite proud of his sexual prowess (which we are reminded of constantly), but being with humans is a huge taboo for Atlanteans, so he fights his inexplicable attraction to her. Sort of. What he does is work her up into a supernatural sexual frenzy when she tries to run away from him and pretty much does everything except have actual intercourse with her so that he won’t have to feel guilty, then he wipes her mind and dumps her at a dock. Super classy, right? Once was bad enough, but since Orion has all the self control of an eight year old, he sexes her up again and then rewipes her mind.
During all this, there are a couple other plotlines going on involving several various attempts to undermine and overthrow Poseidon's reign, and another about Elana’s boyfriend trying to find her and make her marry him. Neither one is particularly intriguing, but they did help distract from the increasingly large plot holes involving time travel, little girls with inexplicable magical powers, Fairies, and missing people who turn out not to be missing.
Overall, despite several exciting concepts, OCEANBORNE suffers from overwriting, lapses into silliness, numerous plot holes, and unnecessary characters. If you want to read a paranormal romance about Atlantis, I’d suggest picking up Alyssa Day’s Warriors of Poseidon series and throwing OCEANBORNE overboard.
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