THE SELKIE BRIDE

Author: Melanie Jackson ISBN: 9780505528346 2/2010 PARANORMAL/HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER
Time Period: 1923

INTO THE GLOAMING Recently widowed, Megan Culbin was glad to escape her abusive marriage and start over in an inherited cottage in a quaint Scottish village. Yet, all here was not as it seemed. Legend had it Findloss was cursed. And the coastal town, once home to witches and sea monsters, would soon see a creature far deadlier. But out of the sea and mist came an ally, a protector. The strange, distant and dangerous Lachlan was as powerful as he was handsome, and his thirst for vengeance could no more be denied than his passion for Megan. Together with an inherited (and possibly ghostly) cat, Megan and her Selkie warrior would destroy their merciless foe, uncover an ancient Scots magic…and solve the mystery of a stolen heart.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Melanie Jackson sets her historic paranormal romance THE SELKIE BRIDE in a small village on the coast of Scotland in the 1920s, where a young widow from the United States, Megan Culbin, has inherited a cottage from her late husband’s uncle. She’s charmed by the lack of progress and the slower pace, but the village is filled with mysteries, superstitions, and strange happenings. On a dark and stormy night, a handsome man named Lachlan turns up at her door. She’s a relative stranger to the village, and he’s discovered that someone has summoned an evil wizard known as a Finman and he suspects it might have been her. She’s drawn to his cause, and though she’s skeptical, she takes each queer happening as it comes and partners with him in rooting out evil. When they find a hidey hole in her kitchen floor containing a crystal box with the Finman’s heart inside, they fear for the entire village. Even in the face of all this adventure, Megan is drawn to Lachlan in a way she’s never desired any man. Will they save the village, but lose each other?

Jackson truly has a gift for telling tales of paranormal intrigue! Megan is such a strong character that she has lived through her abusive relationship, an ocean crossing, and moved to a village that just a few decades earlier was buried beneath tons of sand. And still she accepts her fate and makes the best of it. It helps that she is so enamored of Lachlan. He is a tower of strength, and as Megan pores over the few books left to her in the cottage, realizes that he is a Selkie, a creature of the sea who can shift shape to be on land. She and Lachlan are drawn to each other, despite less than stellar relationships in the past, and they can only hope that once they vanquish their foes there will still be a way for them to be together. There are so many twists and turns that the action just doesn’t stop. The other character that I truly fell in love with is a cat named Arthur. Megan found him in the cottage when she moved in and adopted him. She later finds that he’s more than what he seems.

The only thing that was off putting about this story is the original set up that indicates Jackson has received a pile of documents from a deceased distant aunt in Scotland that just surfaced in her aunt’s solicitor’s office. This is followed up with a disclaimer at the end of the story that says that this truly is fiction and that Jackson does not indeed have an aunt who went to Scotland and ran off with a Selkie. It’s obvious that it’s fiction, so why bother with this charade?

THE SELKIE BRIDE is a charming romance, a rollicking paranormal whodunit, and a glimpse into Scottish village life just after World War I. I couldn’t put it down because I was so engrossed in the characters and the adventure, and I can’t wait for another by Melanie Jackson.

Susan Barton