Saving the Selkie’s Heart by Ella Rose is the second book in The Selkie Seas series. The events of this installment occur a few weeks after the events in book one, Stealing the Selkie’s Heart. Book one gave me my first taste of the author’s work, which left me wanting more of the world she created. So I immediately jumped at the chance to read book two and it delivered all I expected and more.
Title: Saving the Selkie's Heart
A selkie warrior, a newly transfigured selkie princess...what happens to love when loyalties clash? Ceannas, a selkie warrior, must protect his clan during the Migration, a rite of passage that occurs every 50 years. When he discovers a runaway selkie, the daughter of his Prince, he must figure out a way to divide his duties, especially when keeping her alive demands all his attention. Lyall wants desperately to find out where she belongs. When the opportunity comes to visit the Great Elder and save her father’s damaged sealskin, she sneaks away to join the clan in their migration. The only problem? Being born a human, she hasn’t the first clue how to survive on her own as a selkie! The last thing Ceannas needs is babysitting duties, and Lyall only has eyes on her mission. But as Ceannas teaches Lyall how to exist in her new element, the attraction growing between them grows stronger. Can their love withstand their honor-bound duties? And what will it cost each of them to do so? Saving the Selkie’s Heart is a sexy guardian/ward paranormal romance and the second book in The Selkie Seas series by Ella Rose. Get lost in love today! I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.
Author(s): Ella Rose
Series: The Selkie Seas #2
Also in this series: Stealing the Selkie's Heart
Published by Lightning Platypus Press on January 10, 2023
Pages: 263
Source: Author
Format: eBook
Purchase: Amazon|B&N
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Series Rating:
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At the end of Stealing the Selkie’s Heart, Lyall discovered that her parents, whom she believed were human, were actually selkies. Selkies are seal shifters, but they can only shift when they put on their seal skins. Now, at the age of twenty -two, she would inherit her seal skin, enabling her embrace her heritage. However, her first attempt at shifting met with failure, leading her to believe herself unworthy of her family’s legacy. Then she learns that her father, a revered leader of the selkies, had contracted a fatal illness. Shifting into his selkie form would save him. Unfortunately, his skin was damaged several years ago by a vengeful siren.
Lyall joins the upcoming migration to visit the Great Elder, whom she believes possesses the power to repair her father’s seal skin. However, having recently discovered her selkie abilities, she needed help to survive the rigors of the migration. Because of his position as a top ranking Anchor, Ceannas would be the best person to assist her.
The engaging characters combined with a compelling storyline made Saving the Selkie’s Heart an entertaining read. Lyall’s decision to join the migration took guts in light of her lack of experience as a selkie. She took the journey to help her father, and in the process, she found love. She also discovered abilities which would make her revered among her people.
Ceannas was first introduced in Stealing the Selkie’s Heart. He struck me as aloof and disinterested in finding a mate. Besides, his position as Anchor prevented him from choosing a mate. Saving the Selkie’s Heart showed him in a different light. He’s playful in nature, at least when in the presence of Lyall. The more time he spent in her company, the more he wanted to be with her. The story also revealed his reasons for his dedication to his role as Anchor. His abusive past played a significant role, and it made me ecstatic to see him stand up to his abuser.
Ceannas and Lyall’s journey was fun, flirtatious, and sexy. However, it was not without its challenges, which came in the form of betrayals, deceit and jealousy. Their romance warmed the heart and will move one to root for their happily ever after. I loved how it all worked out for them to be together without Ceannas having to give his post an Anchor.
Now, while I enjoyed how the events unfolded, getting Lyall’s parents’ reactions to her relationship with Ceannas as well as her newly discovered abilities would have made a great conclusion to the story.
Other than my disappointment with not getting the reaction of Lyall’s parents to the new development… Saving the Selkie’s Heart was an absolutely enjoyable read! My favorite part of the story were the characters. They were fun, hilarious, and authentic.
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EXCERPT
They trudged up the stairs, Ceannas leading the way down the small hallway to the door to their room. He opened it with a flourish and gestured for Lyall to step inside. She glared at him as she passed, and he grinned. It was too easy to get under her skin.
But she stopped just inside the threshold, and he bumped into her. “What’s the problem, princess?” he snapped.
She turned and gestured to the room. “There’s only one bed.” She stood with her arms wrapped around her body, as if she might break into tiny pieces if she didn’t hold herself together. She was shaking.
“Lay down.”
Her look was apoplectic. “I will do no such thing!” she hissed. He thought he detected a thread of fear in her voice. He looked more closely at her, noting the shaking shoulders and the panicked look she cast between him and the bed.
Ceannas rolled his eyes. “You’re barely standing as it is. Lay down before you fall down.”
She glared at him for several long seconds, then glanced at the bed. He saw her face change seconds before her legs gave way. As she collapsed, he stepped forward, halting her fall so that she didn’t hit the floor. He lifted her up, one arm around her ribs, sliding her other arm over his shoulders so he could help her ease herself down on the bed.
She groaned as she sprawled out, her feet hanging off the edge of the bed. With her arms spread out to either side, she took up the entire sleeping space. Ceannas sighed. This was going to be a long night indeed.
He knelt at the foot of the bed and eased the shoes off her feet, wincing as he saw the broken blisters along the backs of her heels. Why hadn’t she said anything about the pain? he wondered, then glared up at her. Of course Lord Prion’s daughter wouldn’t have said anything.
Though, he had to admit, he admired her tenacity. Few newly changed selkies would have managed a swim like hers and still had the reserves to make the trek through the city to find shelter. That she had remained standing at all was a testament to her iron willpower. It was a trait he respected.
She whimpered as his strong hands massaged the tender sole of one foot. Her toes curled as his thumbs rubbed gentle circles along her arch, then slid upward to flex each toe and stretch it away from her heel. While his thumbs rubbed along the bottom of her foot, his fingers wrapped around to rub small circles along the bony top of her foot. He slid a finger gently between her toes, spreading them slightly, and she groaned in pleasure.
“Why are you doing that?” she asked, her voice muffled against the bedspread.
“Because I know what it feels like after your first change. Your entire body was one huge muscle in the water, and now it’s not. You have to take care of yourself the first few times you change until your body gets accustomed to it.”
Her answer was a deep groan as he switched his attentions to the other foot.
His hands worked their way up her legs, gently rotating and stretching the small muscles of her ankles, then massaging her calves, one-by-one. But when his hands slid up the backs of her knees to her hamstrings, where he knew she’d be tightest, she pulled her legs up to her stomach and raised up to look at him over her hip.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a sleepy voice. He knew she’d been dozing under his ministrations and he’d let her, keeping quiet and monitoring the change in her breathing that told him she had started to drift off.
“Helping,” he murmured.
He concentrated on the feel of her muscles. As he spread more of the mixture down one side of her ribs, he watched her back muscles flex in response. The sight of them caught his attention, and he paid closer attention to the movement of her body as he rubbed small circles into her skin.
His thumb found a knot along her shoulder blade, and he pressed more firmly into her skin. She moaned into the bed sheet, in pain and pleasure both, and he found his stomach tightening at the sound.
Stop that! he told himself. She’s Lord Prion’s daughter, not some female that caught your eye! That should have made all the difference, should have dashed his arousal like a splash of cold water.
Yet he found his tongue slipping along his lower lip as he rubbed more circles over the strong bone of her shoulder blade. She moaned again, and it was like she had a direct line to his more intimate areas the way they jerked in response.
He found himself timing his breaths with hers, inhaling as she did and exhaling on her small whimpers of pleasure. His hands worked harder and deeper into her muscles, enjoying the noises he could elicit from her.
Her skin was as soft as he’d suspected. As he savored each movement of her body underneath him, he felt the muscles in his own arms warm with the exercise of massaging her aching muscles. Losing himself to the sensations, he closed his eyes and imagined his hands moving lower on her body, pictured her flipping over and exposing herself fully to him to rub and caress and touch as he pleased. In his mind, she wore a smile and nothing else.
It was a delicious thought.
***
I hope you enjoyed this tantalizing scene between Lyall and Ceannas. And spoiler alert: it gets steamier from there! You can read more about their adventures (both in the bed and out of it) in Saving the Selkie’s Heart, Book 2 in the Selkie Seas series by Ella Rose.
Best,
Ella Rose
© Ella Rose
Giveaway Saving the Selkie’s Heart by Ella Rose
This giveaway is for 2 print or ebook copies. Print is open to Canada and the U.S. only and ebook is open worldwide. This giveaway ends on March 18 midnight, pacific time. Entries accepted via Rafflecopter only.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
I am so glad you enjoyed ‘Saving the Selkie’s Heart’!
Nice to hear book 2 was everything you wanted and more!
I haven’t read a good selkie romance in a long while and this one really seems to have some emotional heart in it. I’ll have to look up the series. Great review, Nadene!
Wonderful review, Nadene. I like the combination of historical and paranormal.
I love these kinds of stories Nadene and after reading your review I’ll be looking into the series Thank You
Now that sounds like my type of story. I haven’t read many Selkie stories but I like the sound of this one.