Book Review: Water Bound by Christine Feehan
Water Bound (Sisters of the Heart #1) by Christine Feehan. © 2010 Berkley/Jove. ISBN 9780515148244. Mass Market Paperback. Paranormal Romance. 480 pages. $7.99 US. Source: Amazon Purchase.
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Synopsis: The last thing Lev Prakenskii remembered was being lost in the swirling currents of a freezing black eddy off the coastal town of Sea Haven. Just as quickly, just as miraculously, he was saved—pulled ashore by a beautiful stranger. But Lev has no memory of who he is—or why he seems to possess the violent instincts of a trained killer. All he knows is that he fears for his life, and for the life of his unexpected savior.
Her name is Rikki, a sea-urchin diver in Sea Haven. She has always felt an affinity for the ocean, and for the seductive pull of the tides. And now she feels drawn in the same way to the enigmatic man she rescued. But soon they will be bound by something even stronger, and their tantalizing secrets will engulf them both in a whirlpool of dizzying passion and inescapable danger.
Review: I had mixed feelings about reading this book. Some of my friends thought this book was horrid while others thought it was great. Let me say something though, Christine Feehan is a “love her or hate her” kind of author. Not everyone enjoys the way she writes, which tends to be extremely descriptive (who wants to read 30 pages of how a piece of property looks? The answer is only a devoted fan).
This book is a spin off from the Drake Sisters series but you don’t actually need to read that series to read this book—but it would be better since the hero appeared in the books there in a not so flattering light. The story itself is also very much like the Drake Sisters series. The heroine has a paranormal ability and the hero is a strong alpha male who wants to protect her.
Rikki is a special heroine, she is a high functioning autistic and Christine Feehan really did her research on on this; I have a cousin who is a high functioning autistic and he behaves a lot like her. She has her routine, and her rituals and she needs that kind of stability to really function. She also controls water.
Lev is a secret Russian operative, he is dangerous and has his own paranormal abilities. He is brother to Ilya from the Drake Sister series though the brothers (there are 7 of them) have been separated since they were children by the state.
There are four story lines in this book. The first has to do with Rikki who has fires everywhere she goes, and she is not sure if she is accidentally setting these fires, or if someone is trying to kill her. The second story is Lev’s, and the people after him, and the third story is the story of the women of Sea Haven that Rikki calls her sisters of the heart though this story is a very subtle one that will probably run through all the books in this series. The fourth, of course, is the love story between Lev and Rikki, it is wonderful, and the way he challenges Rikki to expand her boundaries and inserts himself into her rituals and routines is very sweet.
Contrary to most of Christine Feehan books, sex in this book did not happen very fast and only in the last 100 pages or so. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5 because of a few flaws that I found.
First of all, in the beginning of the book Lev is really violent towards Rikki and yet she takes him home anyway. I understand that he was not really in his right mind but still, that is dangerous. In the course of the story he is linked to the rape of Elle Drake, he didn’t help her when he could have so as not to blow his cover and yet that is not resolved in the story. I’m giving this one a pass because there are still at least 5 more books and this could be resolved in the other books.
All in all, if you are a Christine Feehan fan you will read this book and enjoy it very much.
