Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: A Naiad’s Heart
SERIES: A Naiad Romance
AUTHOR: Gigi Rivers
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 191 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2022
BLURB:
An eager human virgin. An experienced naiad with no desire to settle.
An mm fantasy romance.
Gabriel lives a quiet existence as a seaweed farmer in a small seaside village. But his life is turned upside down when a naiad rescues him from drowning during a storm. Now Gabriel returns to his simple life in his village, but he is obsessed with the naiad, whose wild green hair; toned, naked body; and regal features consume his every fantasy. Gabriel must see the naiad again.
The naiad, Alke, is an adventurer with no desire to settle. He is happy to swim wherever the tide takes him and have sex with whomever he meets. Then a human turns up searching for him. A virgin who stares at him with complete adoration and desire in his pretty hazel eyes. Who is Alke to resist?
It starts out as sex. It’s meant to be temporary. Just some fun. But as they get to know each other, feelings grow. Can Alke admit that he wants more? And is Gabriel willing to wait for Alke to figure it out?
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A NAIAD’S HEART is the second novel of the A NAIAD ROMANCE series. Each book contains a HEA with no cliffhangers and can be read as a stand alone.
Content notes: sexual content, swearing, and captivity and abuse of nymphs.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the second book in this series. As such it does contain some spoilers for the first book. It’s not necessary to have read the first book before this one, but it does set up the family dynamic for the human characters.
Gabriel is OK with his life as a seaweed farmer. He has his brother and his parents and a new niece. His oldest brother has left the village and has gone to live with his naiad lover on Naiad Island. He does visit, but it’s a bit awkward. Then there is a storm when he’s out alone with his employer’s boat. He’s thrown overboard, but a pod of naiad’s save him. He’s grateful, but more than that, he’s now obsessed with the exceptionally gorgeous naiad male who saved him. So he hatches a scheme to get away from the village for a bit to look for this naiad and he can also try to reconnect with his older brother Tam as well.
When he sells all the dried seaweed he has quickly, he makes his way to the island. There he does see the naiad – who apparently does not recognize him. He’s shy about approaching the naiad but he does find his brother and Shai, the naiad that he lives with. He joins them for dinner and finds out that the name of he naiad who saved him is Alke. He’s sad to be told that the naiad pod had left that day. But it turns out Alke stayed behind to figure out what his next adventure will be.
Alke and his twin have been with the same pod for some time. But Alke has been an adventurer. He has spent a lot of time with pirates and he desires to follow in the footsteps of the great Cyrene – an adventuring river naiad who goes where the wind and the waves and the water flowed. He’s been feeling a bit stale and wants to try something new. Then a human starts following him and he wants to know why 🙂 Turns out Gabriel wants to thank him for saving his life. But he also wants a bit more 😉 Gabriel has been fantasizing about Alke for months and now he has the opportunity to do something about it! And Alke seems on board as well. He’s happy to educate the virginal Gabriel in the ways of physical intimacy. Gabriel has no basis for comparison, but everything he does with Alke is fantastic and he just wants more. But he does have to return home 🙁
Alke agrees to go with him and they enjoy having time together in the evening. Gabriel plans lots of things for them to do together – besides the sex. But they’ve both been clear that this is just for fun. Alke swears he’s not made for love and forever and commitment. But of course Gabriel has caught a lot of feels. Alke knows something is different but he can’t figure out why he feels like this. He never has before.
When push comes to shove with Gabriel’s family, well things don’t go the way either of them want them to go. Gabriel can’t tell Alke he’s in love with him – after al they agreed this was not a permanent thing. But Alke is not happy that things may be ending. Thankfully their are friends who help him see the light as it were 😉
Well this was a lovely and sweet followup to the first book. You don’t need to have read it to enjoy this one, but I recommend it as it sets the world up and bit and gives more context to Gabriel and Tam’s family dynamic. It was good to see Tam and Shai again and see them happy – although Tam still has some things to confront. I loved how Alke slowly came to the realization that his assumptions about love and forever were not necessarily right. His friend the pirate was a delightful character. All of the side characters in this one added to the texture of the story and the world. The change in attitudes once certainly characters give the naiads a chance was refreshing. It’s hard to hate an actual person rather than an pre-conceived notion about one aspect of that person 😀 Delightfully subtle reckoning with prejudice. I can’t wait to see who get a book next. Maybe the Pirate captain? We’ll have to see. Lovely world and stories. Recommended for fantasy lovers especially.
RATING: 
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