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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
This book starts in Sea Haven at the same time as the drake sisters. The story of Rikki was her problems and love of the sea as she is Autistic. Then Lev Prakenskii who is trying to remember who he is and why would someone want to kill them. How They meet and work out their problems together.
It took so much to get through the book. I liked the story, but it felt like work to read it.
challenging
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Water Bound
3 Stars
Note: This is a spin-off of the Drake series but can be read separately. Some characters make an appearance but are not central to the storyline.
Once you get past the idiotic premise of an autistic woman rescuing a complete strange and taking him home with her AFTER he tries to strangle her, the plot is actually quite engaging.
The intense chemistry between Lev and Rikki is what kept me turning the pages, although it would have been even better if the nature of their connection had been explained more.
Lev has a dangerous and compelling past but it is not utilized to its best effect. Rikki is a lovely heroine and the descriptions of her reactions to sensory stimuli are heart-wrenching yet endearing. Nevertheless, the origin of her affinity with water needs more explanation and development rather than merely being described over and over. In fact, the writing is the main problem with the book as it is repetative and redundant with too many unnecessary descriptions of the same thing.
It is also unfortunate that the arson plot fizzles as it has a lot of potential but lacks tension and suspense, and the explanation has no real foundation.
I have the next book in paperback so will probably continue with the series.
3 Stars
Note: This is a spin-off of the Drake series but can be read separately. Some characters make an appearance but are not central to the storyline.
Once you get past the idiotic premise of an autistic woman rescuing a complete strange and taking him home with her AFTER he tries to strangle her, the plot is actually quite engaging.
The intense chemistry between Lev and Rikki is what kept me turning the pages, although it would have been even better if the nature of their connection had been explained more.
Lev has a dangerous and compelling past but it is not utilized to its best effect. Rikki is a lovely heroine and the descriptions of her reactions to sensory stimuli are heart-wrenching yet endearing. Nevertheless, the origin of her affinity with water needs more explanation and development rather than merely being described over and over. In fact, the writing is the main problem with the book as it is repetative and redundant with too many unnecessary descriptions of the same thing.
It is also unfortunate that the arson plot fizzles as it has a lot of potential but lacks tension and suspense, and the explanation has no real foundation.
I have the next book in paperback so will probably continue with the series.
Mild Spoilers:
What I Loved: This book delivered with everything that I expected! Christine has a knack for writing about love between a man and woman (often how it is unexplainable) but also a love between families (born to or formed). This book is no exception! This book is not only the love story between Rikki and Lev but also the story of how she began to trust because of 5 other special women in her life. Her sisters, not by birth, but by heart!
What I Liked: I really liked how she wove in the past Sea Haven stories without making it about them. There is a point where you know later in the series, Lev is going to have to deal with something between him and Jackson (that is my mild spoiler) but I liked that she left that till later. I also love that Christine tend to write where the men need the women just as much(if not more) than the women need the men. I like how they just accept each other for who they are and work through it!
What I thought was So-So: Nothing
Why I gave it a 4: To be honest, I hovered between 4 and 5 while trying to decide. The only reason it ended up a 4 was because I felt it took a little to long in the middle to bring in the rest of the family. Other than that, it pretty much rocked!
Who I would recommend this too: I recommend this to PNR readers and even some romance readers. It is not about vampires, werewolves, ect but it is about "magic" for lack of a better term. Also, I have found that people either love Christine's writing or don't! This is a very typical (stellar) Christine Feehan book. I loved it but I love her writing so keep that in mind!
Received the book from: Bought on Amazon
Author's Website: http://www.christinefeehan.com/
What I Loved: This book delivered with everything that I expected! Christine has a knack for writing about love between a man and woman (often how it is unexplainable) but also a love between families (born to or formed). This book is no exception! This book is not only the love story between Rikki and Lev but also the story of how she began to trust because of 5 other special women in her life. Her sisters, not by birth, but by heart!
What I Liked: I really liked how she wove in the past Sea Haven stories without making it about them. There is a point where you know later in the series, Lev is going to have to deal with something between him and Jackson (that is my mild spoiler) but I liked that she left that till later. I also love that Christine tend to write where the men need the women just as much(if not more) than the women need the men. I like how they just accept each other for who they are and work through it!
What I thought was So-So: Nothing
Why I gave it a 4: To be honest, I hovered between 4 and 5 while trying to decide. The only reason it ended up a 4 was because I felt it took a little to long in the middle to bring in the rest of the family. Other than that, it pretty much rocked!
Who I would recommend this too: I recommend this to PNR readers and even some romance readers. It is not about vampires, werewolves, ect but it is about "magic" for lack of a better term. Also, I have found that people either love Christine's writing or don't! This is a very typical (stellar) Christine Feehan book. I loved it but I love her writing so keep that in mind!
Received the book from: Bought on Amazon
Author's Website: http://www.christinefeehan.com/
3.25 Stars
—Rikki: I was pleasantly surprised by how not-cringey the autistic representation was. I also feel like autistic women are pretty underrepresented in general, so that was cool to see. I appreciated her routines, her snappishness, her obsession with peanut butter, and how she slowly allows Lev into her life. Also, her water powers were awesome. 8/10.
—Lev: An amnesia spy man who, thankfully, does not have too much alpha hole behavior. He’s also got trauma, empath skills, and is gone for the heroine pretty quickly, but I wasn’t very attached to him. 5/10
—Smut: Eh? I found the language here to be a bit distant and flowery. I don’t care for phrases like “her feminine channel,” so…3/10
—Plot: When the plot actually happened, I liked it. Feehan writes some fun, propulsive action scenes. But these two spend so much time just hanging out at Rikki’s house just thinking about each other that I get bored a lot. I wish the pacing was tighter. 5/10
—Side Characters: I’m intrigued what the other sisters of the heart have going on with them, so I’d call it a success. Blythe and Judith specifically intrigue me. 7/10.
—Audiobook narrator Angela Brazil was solid.
—Overall, If you like slower paced paranormal romance that’s mid to low heat, this might t be up your alley. I’m intrigued my this series and want to see where it goes.
—Rikki: I was pleasantly surprised by how not-cringey the autistic representation was. I also feel like autistic women are pretty underrepresented in general, so that was cool to see. I appreciated her routines, her snappishness, her obsession with peanut butter, and how she slowly allows Lev into her life. Also, her water powers were awesome. 8/10.
—Lev: An amnesia spy man who, thankfully, does not have too much alpha hole behavior. He’s also got trauma, empath skills, and is gone for the heroine pretty quickly, but I wasn’t very attached to him. 5/10
—Smut: Eh? I found the language here to be a bit distant and flowery. I don’t care for phrases like “her feminine channel,” so…3/10
—Plot: When the plot actually happened, I liked it. Feehan writes some fun, propulsive action scenes. But these two spend so much time just hanging out at Rikki’s house just thinking about each other that I get bored a lot. I wish the pacing was tighter. 5/10
—Side Characters: I’m intrigued what the other sisters of the heart have going on with them, so I’d call it a success. Blythe and Judith specifically intrigue me. 7/10.
—Audiobook narrator Angela Brazil was solid.
—Overall, If you like slower paced paranormal romance that’s mid to low heat, this might t be up your alley. I’m intrigued my this series and want to see where it goes.
slow-paced
This book started out interesting but quickly became dragged out and repetitive. Having an autistic fmc was refreshing at first until other characters started discussing her as if she were a child. Im autistic and found this book incredibly infuriating, it was almost a DNF.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Rikki Sitmore is an autistic sea-urchin diver who lives on a farm in Sea Haven with her surrogate sisters who saved her from herself years ago. One day whilst she's harvesting the spiny creatures off of a shelf along the San Andreas Fault, a massive wave comes out nowhere and throws Rikki off of her boat. Midway through her battle back to the surface, she encounters a man being battered against the underwater rocks along the shelf wall. In a split-second decision, Rikki saves the man from falling further into the fault line, risking her own life in the process. Rikki is a believer in the old laws, especially that of the sea. If you take it from the sea, it's yours. and Lev Parenskii is hers, come hell, fire, or damnation.
Lev is a foreign secret agent, taken from his family as a child and trained to be the dark hand of his government. While on assignment, Lev ends up underwater in the Pacific Ocean with no rescue in sight. Just as he resigns himself to a watery death, he's rescued by a woman who takes him home to recuperate. He quickly falls in love with this autistic woman with an affinity for water, but he knows that finding their Happily Ever After is going to be a bit harder than a dime-store romance novel.
Rikki has a rash of fire and death in her past and things have to work for her or she shuts down and Lev has his entire existence in the way, having to remember who he is and then making sure he remains dead to his country. Separate, the two have special abilities, and together, the pair can work wonders but are their unique gifts enough to survive everything the fates have thrown at them?
I have started and restarted writing this review dozens of time in its lifetime. I want to gush and be emotional. And I want to be distanced from it all, all professional-like. I've struggled to find a happy medium to do this review because I want y'all to see how amazing this book is. And I can't. I am emotionally vested in this book and I am definitely not a literary professional as of yet. So here it is.
Water Bound hit the quadfecta for me. I found the book because it was written by Christine Feehan, a favourite author. I took it off the shelf for the title. I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis teased me. Author, Title, Cover, Synopsis. I immediately bought the book and I began reading it as soon as I got home and safely ensconced myself in my closet (I like reading in closets). And then, dearest readers, I read the book.
Water Bound shoved its way to the tippy top of my favourite books list with the first chapter. Why? Because for the first time ever, I had a book whose heroine I could relate to. An autistic woman with tragedy in her past that thought herself a monstrous freak. I cried reading Water Bound that night and I'm not a crying person. Not only was Rikki an autistic woman, but she was intelligent, not centring herself around math and science (which I strongly avoid), and she was mistreated by 'the system' for being different. Because Christine Feehan normalised autism by having an autistic heroine, I stopped hating being different and began to love myself, autism and all. I even started dating, which I’d sworn never to do because, ew, commitment and close personal contact with a person bother me.
Christine Feehan’s descriptions were exceptional, as always. I was enchanted with the vivid description of the underwater seascape that Rikki was so in love with. I was repeatedly reminded of the times when I was younger that I would climb out of my bedroom window at night to sit on the roof and just enjoy every raindrop that fell on my skin, something I haven’t done in over a decade.
I know this isn’t a new(ish) book or a yet-to-be-released book, but I’ve seen some disparaging reviews on onilne that griped about Christine focusing on Rikki’s autistic qualities and her fascination with water and I felt the need to switch my review schedule about so that I could dedicate today’s review to this book that me feel a little bit more normal than I usually do. Writing from a point of view that isn’t neurotypical is hard – even for someone who is neurodiverse, trust me, I’ve tried. And the fact that Christine not only attempted to write from Rikki’s POV and give her a HEA, but succeeded in describing that special place we all disappear to during our ‘moments out of time’ and the frustrations of not being able to do ‘normal’ things like grocery shopping or hugging your family, it matters to me and any other reader on the spectrum. She constantly brings up Rikki’s ‘weird traits and obsessions’ because that’s a thing with us. We obsess and ‘space out’ and we stim and fidget. Many of us don’t do actual eye contact and some of us develop fake-out methods such as sunglasses or staring at a person’s nose. We have sensory issues and we have to have things just so or our entire worlds go off-kilter. For someone who isn’t an Own Voices writer (that I know of), she manages far better than certain popular TV shows to showcase autistic characters with a realness few authors achieve when writing characters with disabilities.
I give Water Bound a whole 5 stars because it is well-written and the research she put into the storyline shows from the succulent plants outside of Rikki’s home to her accurate portrayal of an autistic woman to the diving scenes that are fully developed without glossing over the 'technical' side of diving.
Oh, and I actually own three copies of this book. One is so tattered that its cover is duck taped to the binding which is also duck taped, I bought that one fresh off the shelf the first month it was available in my go-to chain bookstore in Georgia. Then I finally had the money last month to buy a replacement copy as a Christmas gift to myself and I bought the kindle edition this month, so that I can read that instead of accidentally damaging my brand-new copy that I cuddle with when I'm having an 'autistic moment'. It's calming and that's all that matters. Buy a copy, rent a copy, audio, print or eformat. Whichever. Just read this book.
Lev is a foreign secret agent, taken from his family as a child and trained to be the dark hand of his government. While on assignment, Lev ends up underwater in the Pacific Ocean with no rescue in sight. Just as he resigns himself to a watery death, he's rescued by a woman who takes him home to recuperate. He quickly falls in love with this autistic woman with an affinity for water, but he knows that finding their Happily Ever After is going to be a bit harder than a dime-store romance novel.
Rikki has a rash of fire and death in her past and things have to work for her or she shuts down and Lev has his entire existence in the way, having to remember who he is and then making sure he remains dead to his country. Separate, the two have special abilities, and together, the pair can work wonders but are their unique gifts enough to survive everything the fates have thrown at them?
I have started and restarted writing this review dozens of time in its lifetime. I want to gush and be emotional. And I want to be distanced from it all, all professional-like. I've struggled to find a happy medium to do this review because I want y'all to see how amazing this book is. And I can't. I am emotionally vested in this book and I am definitely not a literary professional as of yet. So here it is.
Water Bound hit the quadfecta for me. I found the book because it was written by Christine Feehan, a favourite author. I took it off the shelf for the title. I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis teased me. Author, Title, Cover, Synopsis. I immediately bought the book and I began reading it as soon as I got home and safely ensconced myself in my closet (I like reading in closets). And then, dearest readers, I read the book.
Water Bound shoved its way to the tippy top of my favourite books list with the first chapter. Why? Because for the first time ever, I had a book whose heroine I could relate to. An autistic woman with tragedy in her past that thought herself a monstrous freak. I cried reading Water Bound that night and I'm not a crying person. Not only was Rikki an autistic woman, but she was intelligent, not centring herself around math and science (which I strongly avoid), and she was mistreated by 'the system' for being different. Because Christine Feehan normalised autism by having an autistic heroine, I stopped hating being different and began to love myself, autism and all. I even started dating, which I’d sworn never to do because, ew, commitment and close personal contact with a person bother me.
Christine Feehan’s descriptions were exceptional, as always. I was enchanted with the vivid description of the underwater seascape that Rikki was so in love with. I was repeatedly reminded of the times when I was younger that I would climb out of my bedroom window at night to sit on the roof and just enjoy every raindrop that fell on my skin, something I haven’t done in over a decade.
I know this isn’t a new(ish) book or a yet-to-be-released book, but I’ve seen some disparaging reviews on onilne that griped about Christine focusing on Rikki’s autistic qualities and her fascination with water and I felt the need to switch my review schedule about so that I could dedicate today’s review to this book that me feel a little bit more normal than I usually do. Writing from a point of view that isn’t neurotypical is hard – even for someone who is neurodiverse, trust me, I’ve tried. And the fact that Christine not only attempted to write from Rikki’s POV and give her a HEA, but succeeded in describing that special place we all disappear to during our ‘moments out of time’ and the frustrations of not being able to do ‘normal’ things like grocery shopping or hugging your family, it matters to me and any other reader on the spectrum. She constantly brings up Rikki’s ‘weird traits and obsessions’ because that’s a thing with us. We obsess and ‘space out’ and we stim and fidget. Many of us don’t do actual eye contact and some of us develop fake-out methods such as sunglasses or staring at a person’s nose. We have sensory issues and we have to have things just so or our entire worlds go off-kilter. For someone who isn’t an Own Voices writer (that I know of), she manages far better than certain popular TV shows to showcase autistic characters with a realness few authors achieve when writing characters with disabilities.
I give Water Bound a whole 5 stars because it is well-written and the research she put into the storyline shows from the succulent plants outside of Rikki’s home to her accurate portrayal of an autistic woman to the diving scenes that are fully developed without glossing over the 'technical' side of diving.
Oh, and I actually own three copies of this book. One is so tattered that its cover is duck taped to the binding which is also duck taped, I bought that one fresh off the shelf the first month it was available in my go-to chain bookstore in Georgia. Then I finally had the money last month to buy a replacement copy as a Christmas gift to myself and I bought the kindle edition this month, so that I can read that instead of accidentally damaging my brand-new copy that I cuddle with when I'm having an 'autistic moment'. It's calming and that's all that matters. Buy a copy, rent a copy, audio, print or eformat. Whichever. Just read this book.
The first of what is no doubt to be a fantastic series. Feehan always manages to create amazing stories and weave that story together with fantastic characters that make the story that much better. I've always loved her stories and how she can create such intersting plot lines that follow her intriguing characters that always have a little something speical about them that make them different from her other characters.
Rikki and Lev are no different. With their differences there is a story in itself as their relationship grows. With Lev's past, lose of memory and Rikki's tramatic past and her need for order due to her condition. It's these aspects of the characters that make the story they carry interesting and you wanting to read to both get to know them more individulally and as a couple and to know how their story plays out.
And as always Feehan creates a plot line that matches perfectly with these characters and keeps you intrigued throughout the entire novel, wanting to know what will happen next.
I also enjoy it that once loved characters have returned including the Drake sisters and their husbands, especially Jonas. Even better is the introduction of new characters of Rikki's sisters of the heart such as Lexi, Blythe, Lissi and others. I will be anxiously awaiting their stories.
Rikki and Lev are no different. With their differences there is a story in itself as their relationship grows. With Lev's past, lose of memory and Rikki's tramatic past and her need for order due to her condition. It's these aspects of the characters that make the story they carry interesting and you wanting to read to both get to know them more individulally and as a couple and to know how their story plays out.
And as always Feehan creates a plot line that matches perfectly with these characters and keeps you intrigued throughout the entire novel, wanting to know what will happen next.
I also enjoy it that once loved characters have returned including the Drake sisters and their husbands, especially Jonas. Even better is the introduction of new characters of Rikki's sisters of the heart such as Lexi, Blythe, Lissi and others. I will be anxiously awaiting their stories.