Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Surrendered to the Sea
AUTHOR: Dessa Lux
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 186 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2017
BLURB:
When an omega werewolf cast himself into the sea, he never expected someone would be there to catch him…
Omega Devon Griffith feels like his life is already over; he’s failed out of school and it’s just a matter of time before his parents arrange a loveless mating for the good of the pack. He wants someone to love him for himself, but it seems like he’s missed his chance. When he gives in to a dark impulse and slips into the sea, he thinks that one moment of surrender will be the end…
Sea god Lir has spent years living only in the present, forgetting his own troubled past and never worrying about the future. Then his father issues an ultimatum: Lir needs to prove he can care for someone else, or he’ll be banished from the sea forever. Lir doesn’t even know where to start, until a werewolf falls into his sea and nearly drowns. This is Lir’s chance to show he can be responsible for a mortal. He may not know anything about werewolves, but how hard can it be?
When Devon’s heat arrives, Lir quickly discovers that caring for him takes more than just food, water, and shelter… and Devon finally feels like he has a future worth looking forward to. Alone together on Lir’s enchanted island with a baby on the way, their love quickly blooms. But Devon can’t quite forget his life on land, no matter how hard Lir tries to keep him happy in their hideaway. Can Lir and Devon’s love survive beyond their magical island, or will too much reality break the sea’s spell?
REVIEW:
The lyrical tone of this story was evident from the very first paragraph. The writing was somehow emotive, maybe even a bit flowery, but perfectly suited to a fantasy type tale.
Devon suffers from severe depression. The author did a great job of showing us that through Devon’s thoughts and actions. He talks of the numb haze he exists in, definitely not happy and in some ways not even sad – just a whole lot of nothing. There was also his inability to muster up enough enthusiasm to even move from where he was sitting. Honestly, this might be one of the most perfect depictions of depression I’ve ever read. He’s tired of having to make any effort when he gets no pleasure from anything, so he makes a rash decision to slip off the boat’s deck, and offer himself to the sea. Little does he realize, the sea is alive. And the sea accepts the gift of his life.
Lir is a sea god who has no interest in the world. He exists in his own portion of the sea, bordered by his sea god brothers, but even they hold little interest for him. His father has had enough, and gives Lir one year to show that he can actually care for someone; otherwise he will lose his sea, and be banished to land. Devon offering himself to the sea, in effect, to Lir, gives Lir the opportunity he needs to prove to his father that he can keep a land-dweller alive and well.
I loved Lir and his clueless ways. The way he adopted Devon like some kind of rescue animal and made him a pampered pet, well it could have easily been creepy and weird, but the author made it work. Instead of off putting, I found it sweet, and actually a bit humorous, as Lir worked hard to figure out how best to look after his new Devon. I even had a good laugh as oblivious Lir resorted to Google, but no matter what he searched for he kept discovering “pictures of mating”.
While the characters and their interactions were enjoyable, what sold this story to me was the thought that the author put into the world she created. We didn’t really hear about shifters in regards to humans – do they know about shifters? Do they coexist happily? That wasn’t necessary to this story, so the author didn’t bother elaborating on that. What she did was give a lot of detail, thankfully spread out throughout the story, about how the world of sea gods and werewolves work. I loved the idea that instead of big brothers and little brothers, Lir had his north brothers and south brothers, with his father as the Great North. I appreciated the fact that Lir, as a sea god, actually spent time in the sea, and as he introduced Devon to his world, we got to discover it too. But I think that my favourite aspect of the book was the island home that Lir created for Devon. It was novel to read about a god who couldn’t just zap an island into being, he had to build it and help it to grow.
This is the first book that I’ve read by this author, but I’m impressed with what I found. With any luck she plans to develop this book into a series, hopefully helping more of the sea god brothers find someone to love.
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