Reviewed by Carissa

 

TITLE:  Love Rising

 

SERIES:  An Isla Sagrario Story

 

AUTHOR:  Piper Vaughn

 

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

 

LENGTH:  42 pages

 

BLURB:  

 

In the 1700s on the island of Sagrario, men who love other men find safe haven. For Francis Holland, an escaped indentured servant, Sagrario offers nothing but loneliness. His life begins to change when he finds Wick, a merman, washed ashore.

 

When Wick awakens under Francis’s care, Francis returns him to the sea at his request. Soon after, they begin to meet in secret, and gradually, Francis blossoms under this new companionship. However, a merman is a difficult creature to entrust one’s heart to. With one trapped on land and the other at sea, the differences in their species threaten to keep them apart forever. It may not be long before Wick is gone, taking Francis’s reason to smile with him.

 

REVIEW:  

 

After escaping from a life of indenturement and cruelty, Francis Holland has finally found a home amongst the odd assortment of men and women of Sagrario.  There on the island he is free from his tyrannical master, free from a life spent in pain, and free to openly show his desire for a male lover.  Except, even when he is free to do so, there really is no one to offer that love.  Sure, there are midnight trysts, men he can touch for a fleeting moment before they tire of him and go seek another–but there is no one who wishes to stay.  He is finally free to take everything he has ever wanted, but there is no one there to take him back.  Then one day, while clearing out debris from the beach he stumbles on something he never expected to find.  A man, who is not fully a man, but who is more beautiful than anything he has ever seen.  And someone he would risk everything for.

 

Mermaids are not usually my thing.  I think it has to do with the fact that every time I read a story with them in it I get the overwhelming urge to breakout out into songs from The Little Mermaid.  A crowded Light Rail train is not exactly the place I would choose to divulge my quite abysmal singing voice.  And there is something rather don’t-make-eye-contact crazy about a 27 year old women clutching her kindle and mouthing the words to a “Part of Your World”.  Not that I would do that.  Nope…

 

However, I caught one of the author’s interviews, or promotions or something–I can’t quite remember–for this book and I thought I would give it a try.  And I have to say I really liked what this short story did.  It set up an island that was pretty cool, and a man who was rather lonely, and then threw in some pretty hot mermaid/human sexy times…and gave us a story that was very entertaining and left me really wanting to hear more about this island and these people.

 

Wick, the merman, was a great character.  I loved how he didn’t automatically know how to communicate, and it was nice that we got to see them trying to figure out how to speak to each other when words just were not cutting it.  This handicap made the story feel real–for all that it had a merman in it–and I liked that it made it tenser because we never knew what Wick was thinking, or what he was wanting.

 

And the chemistry between them was hot.  I beginning to think I’ve been missing out on something because between this story and Stealing the Wind (by Shira Anthony) I have come to the conclusion that mermaid sex is steaming-hot sex.  Don’t know how I missed this memo, but it something I am going to rectify very soon.  And if Ms. Vaughn is willing to give us more merman to lust over, I think I could be a very happy girl indeed.

 

I really liked this story, and kind of wish it was longer because I was enjoying it so much.  It told a great story and left me both satisfied and eager to sample more.

 

RATING:  

 

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press Amazon Are