Author: Nara Malone
Title: Make Me Wet
Genre: Paranormal Erotic Romance
Seven tears cast upon the water summon the selkie, summon seal across the ocean, summon man from beast—liquid keys to break the curse. Freed one night every seven years, Ronin is doomed to repeat that cycle into eternity. Unless he can find a woman powerful enough to resist a selkie’s irresistible pheromones and sex magick.
Maille believes she lost reality between Maine and New Mexico
It’s going to be a long, hot, wet night. Caught between sex magick and a sexy selkie, disaster is inevitable for Maille. To break the enchantment she has to rely on the oldest magick of all—the power of love-drenched hearts.
Copyright © NARA MALONE, 2013
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.
A piercing cry rose above the thunder of surf. Human? A seal could sound so
human it was hard to tell the difference. Whichever, Maille recognized it as a wail of
mortal distress. She couldn’t say how she understood that, no more than she could say
how she wound up on the beach. One fact she was certain of—she couldn’t ignore it.
Without thought for consequences she plunged into the surf, diving under swells,
power-stroking through roiling water.
Once past the breakers Maille paused, treading water as she turned in circles,
searching in the inky swells for the curve of a human head. Impossible with the waves
breaking moonlight into sequined facets and the rise and fall of swells tall as houses.
She’d never find him. She needed him to cry out once more.
“Come on. Give me a hint.”
An irregular shape, not seal-like or wavelike, caught her attention. As she paddled
closer, she made out a man waving, heard his hoarse cry before his head disappeared
below a wave. He resurfaced choking.
She dove under the water, swimming straight for where she’d seen him last. She
resurfaced as he went under again, but she was close enough now to reach his long
hair, swirling like dark kelp in the water. She grabbed a handful.
It was surprisingly easy to pull him along, as if he had managed to overcome his
instinctive terror and submit to her rescue. He might not have been so submissive had
he realized, as she did now, that they weren’t making progress.
Riptide. Crap.
Maille fought down a sudden kick of panic in her chest, struggling to swim parallel
to the shore, caught by swells that tossed them dangerously close to jagged rocks. She
had to concentrate her energy on swimming north until they were beyond the rip where
she was free to swim shoreward.
When her feet finally found ground, a wave slammed her, flinging them both onto
the sand. Depositing them in a tangle of limbs. Maille on top.
A small wave washed over them, and the sensation was that of a liquid blanket
settling around her shoulders and then melting away. Panting, draped over his body,
Maille was too spent to lift her head from a pillow of seaweed.
Another wave swept up, warm liquid fingers caressing her thighs.
She needed to move him higher up the beach, away from the rising tide, see to his
needs. With a groan she pushed up to hands and knees, still straddling his body.
Damn! She’d hauled in one hell of a wet dream. Jet-black hair fanned out on the
sand. His body lean, long and lusciously muscled. She started to lick her lips, caught
herself, and forced her tongue back in her mouth. She was supposed to be saving his
life, not jumping his bones.
Something was wrong. That realization drowned attraction in a wave of adrenaline.
His chest didn’t seem to be moving. Her breath caught and her heartbeat kicked up
to double time. Maille thought there’d been a slight rise and fall of his chest beneath her
breasts when they’d first washed ashore. His lips looked blue. But when she put her ear
to his chest, the beat of his heart was strong and quick.
She scraped her mind for facts.
Fact—a heart could beat for several minutes after breathing stopped.
Would his lips still be blue?
Fact—in the moonlight everything looked blue.
Fact—his eyelids were at half-mast, and there was a barely perceptible gleam
aimed at her. He probably didn’t need to be resuscitated.
Fact—she could discover the state of his respiration in other ways than this slow
descent of her head and the pressing of lips to his. He tasted like sin and secrets.
His lips were warm and firm under hers, and they parted in a humid mingling of
breath. Goddess, he smelled wonderful. She inhaled the scent of male and mystery
laced with magick. Worries over what was real, what wasn’t, where she was, trickled
away like so many grains of sand.
Fact…
Fuck a bunch of facts.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.
A piercing cry rose above the thunder of surf. Human? A seal could sound so
human it was hard to tell the difference. Whichever, Maille recognized it as a wail of
mortal distress. She couldn’t say how she understood that, no more than she could say
how she wound up on the beach. One fact she was certain of—she couldn’t ignore it.
Without thought for consequences she plunged into the surf, diving under swells,
power-stroking through roiling water.
Once past the breakers Maille paused, treading water as she turned in circles,
searching in the inky swells for the curve of a human head. Impossible with the waves
breaking moonlight into sequined facets and the rise and fall of swells tall as houses.
She’d never find him. She needed him to cry out once more.
“Come on. Give me a hint.”
An irregular shape, not seal-like or wavelike, caught her attention. As she paddled
closer, she made out a man waving, heard his hoarse cry before his head disappeared
below a wave. He resurfaced choking.
She dove under the water, swimming straight for where she’d seen him last. She
resurfaced as he went under again, but she was close enough now to reach his long
hair, swirling like dark kelp in the water. She grabbed a handful.
It was surprisingly easy to pull him along, as if he had managed to overcome his
instinctive terror and submit to her rescue. He might not have been so submissive had
he realized, as she did now, that they weren’t making progress.
Riptide. Crap.
Maille fought down a sudden kick of panic in her chest, struggling to swim parallel
to the shore, caught by swells that tossed them dangerously close to jagged rocks. She
had to concentrate her energy on swimming north until they were beyond the rip where
she was free to swim shoreward.
When her feet finally found ground, a wave slammed her, flinging them both onto
the sand. Depositing them in a tangle of limbs. Maille on top.
A small wave washed over them, and the sensation was that of a liquid blanket
settling around her shoulders and then melting away. Panting, draped over his body,
Maille was too spent to lift her head from a pillow of seaweed.
Another wave swept up, warm liquid fingers caressing her thighs.
She needed to move him higher up the beach, away from the rising tide, see to his
needs. With a groan she pushed up to hands and knees, still straddling his body.
Damn! She’d hauled in one hell of a wet dream. Jet-black hair fanned out on the
sand. His body lean, long and lusciously muscled. She started to lick her lips, caught
herself, and forced her tongue back in her mouth. She was supposed to be saving his
life, not jumping his bones.
Something was wrong. That realization drowned attraction in a wave of adrenaline.
His chest didn’t seem to be moving. Her breath caught and her heartbeat kicked up
to double time. Maille thought there’d been a slight rise and fall of his chest beneath her
breasts when they’d first washed ashore. His lips looked blue. But when she put her ear
to his chest, the beat of his heart was strong and quick.
She scraped her mind for facts.
Fact—a heart could beat for several minutes after breathing stopped.
Would his lips still be blue?
Fact—in the moonlight everything looked blue.
Fact—his eyelids were at half-mast, and there was a barely perceptible gleam
aimed at her. He probably didn’t need to be resuscitated.
Fact—she could discover the state of his respiration in other ways than this slow
descent of her head and the pressing of lips to his. He tasted like sin and secrets.
His lips were warm and firm under hers, and they parted in a humid mingling of
breath. Goddess, he smelled wonderful. She inhaled the scent of male and mystery
laced with magick. Worries over what was real, what wasn’t, where she was, trickled
away like so many grains of sand.
Fact…
Fuck a bunch of facts.
I LOVED it!
While this is a shifter-romance, it is about a "breed" of shifter I had never even heard of before; the selkie. That, in and of itself, made me eager to read through this book (I finished it on one sitting!) I thoroughly enjoyed learning about not only the selkie and the lore surrounding it, but the way Nara gave me a glimpse of a special type of magick as well.
Mallie was so fun to read! She had a feeling that something else existed in the universe, something that science could not explain, and yet, like so many of us, she tried to ignore what she FELT was real because it didn't jive with what SHOULD be real. And it didn't help that the man she found on the beach was someone who shouldn't exist, according to science!
Nara did an amazing job of making me FEEL the struggle the characters were going through, both Mallie and her quest for normalcy via facts, and Ronin with his internal conflict of doing what was right for HIM vs. what was best for another.
Above everything else, the story was SO well-written, not only technically, but Nara kept dangling juuuuuust enough mystery and promise to solve said mystery that kept me eagerly turning the pages. I would read ANY book written by Nara Malone!
***I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
Whether it's a shifter romance exploring the primal power of the wild feminine, or BDSM romance where love digs into a character's shadows, Nara believes romance should open the door and push lovers into a new dimension: sexually, emotionally, and sometimes physically.
You can learn more about Nara
You can learn more about Nara
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ReplyDeleteNice cover! :)
ReplyDeletev_theberge@hotmail.com
Nice review
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
I think I am going to love it too.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thanks so much for the review!
ReplyDeletevitajex(at)aol(dot)com)
Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and hosting. Thank you too for the comments. Your time and efforts are appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThe cover and the excerpt are fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing!
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