The Captain's Mermaid

This is a well-written, lovely, languid tale that will leave you with a happy satisfied feeling once you've reached the final page. However, if you like fast-pacing, and lots of sexual tension you might not like it as much as I did. (This is in no way a quibble, merely an alert.) Lavinia Stewart is orphaned at an early age, and when her caretaker uncle suddenly dies, she's sent from Jamaica to England to live with an older brother. He'd really rather not be bothered with her, or his own two motherless children, much preferring the lifestyle of a randy bachelor. Fortunately, he doesn't often come to the estate where Lavinia and the children live. He also doesn't pay much attention to the costs of maintaining said estate. At twenty-six, Lavinia has given up thoughts of marriage, while fighting off the friends of her brother. When Captain Chartwell of the Royal Navy moves into the adjoining estate, his young charge immediately forms a bond with Lavinia's nephew, resulting in additional tumult. Two young boys are much more of a handful than just one! The captain runs his home like his ship, discipline and all-at least on the outside. Over a period of weeks, the two loners-Lavinia and the Captain-become ever more drawn to each other. It's almost as though a hedgehog was being courted by a porcupine-very tentative, very cautious, and also amusing and endearing. The Captain's background (somewhat touched on in the author's `His Last Lover') leaves him entirely unprepared for finding love, much less recognizing it when he does find it. The author has done her research very well; the shipboard scenes are very real. There will be more books in this non-series series, and I'm quite sure we'll meet up with the Captain and his mermaid again. Not to mention his brother and sister. I'm looking forward to them.

Lavinia Stewart's life is not an easy one. Raised in Jamaica by a kindly uncle, she's now home in England (upon her uncle's death), forced to live with her feckless and rakish brother, raising his two motherless children, and trying to run a ramshackle house with very little money. Fortunately for Lavinia, hers is a loving and pragmatic disposition, and instead of bemoaning her lot, has thrown herself into raising her nephew and niece to the best of her abilities. That is until she meets her new neighbour, Captain William Braedon Chartwell, a brusque and autocratic gentleman, who raises her hackles even as he makes her pulses race. Soon she and the captain are trading barbs and child-rearing advice (the captain has a ward about the same age as her nephew). And then Lavinia's horrid brother returns with plans of his own for her. Rescue comes is the unexpected shape of the autocratic Captain Chartwell, who offers her his hand in marriage but not his heart. Should Lavinia accept the captain's offer, or should she carry on to stand on her own two feet? And what of her inexplicable feelings for him... The latest installment in a series of Regency-era romance novels that focuses on the aristocratic Braedon family, "The Captain's Mermaid" made for compelling reading mainly because of the book's heroine, Lavinia Stewart. Capable, intelligent and possessing a very loving heart, Lavinia completely aroused my sympathy and empathy, so that, even though I was in two minds about the hero of the piece (the bitter and angry Captain William Braedon Chartwell), the fact that she wanted a happily ever-after ending with the twit, made me root for her to obtain her heart's desire. After all no one else was going to turn up. And even though the captain exasperated me no end, all in all he wasn't too awful. Just a little demented when it came to his estranged siblings (did he somehow expect for his siblings to possess the gift of telepathy, so that they would have known of his existence in spite of everything? And did he never wonder about what their lives must have been like, growing up with the cold and autocratic father who rejected him?) It was not easy to warm up to the captain: he spends about half the book lusting after Lavinia and arguing with her about everything under the sun; and when he does realise that his attraction to her might actually be something warmer, more wholesome and more long-lasting than lust, a conflict is introduced that makes him act in a very cruel and mean spirited way. So that the urge to brain the man and to wish ardently that Lavinia would just pack her bags, take the children and go, began to grow in me. Fortunately, a couple of pages later, the captain does come to his senses, and behaves appropriately to his loving wife (though I would have preferred a lot more groveling on his part). On the whole though, this was a very well written book. Mary Blayney did a superb job of presenting the difficulties of Lavinia's situation, and of

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I was impressed. The strength of the book was in the way the author developed believable characters that you care about and showed how the hero and heroine grew to love each other. The secondary characters were appealing, especially the children. There wasn't any dancing at Almack's, highwaymen, or other traditional regency plot devices. There was a little bit of villainy in the past and in the present, but the plot didn't revolve about this issue. The main characters, Lavinia and William, were honorable and interesting people who struggled to deal with the problems of everyday living, and with emotional intimacy. William is a naval officer and he is a "loner." Lavinia is a free--spirit who grew up in Jamaica, and longs for independence but has a life that is ruled by her brother and his wild, reckless lifestyle. They seem like an unlikely couple, with each afraid to commit to the other, but find that rather than giving up their freedom in the "bonds" of matrimony, they find freedom in having the love and friendship that marriage brings to them. This is a book that entices you to keep reading because you want to get to the "happily ever after" and you want to see the emotional issues resolve. Since it isn't so much driven by the plot as it is the exploration of the characters and their emotions, some readers might find it a bit "slow" for their tastes, if they prefer a lot of action and adventure in a romance. It is mildly sensual but the sex scenes are very discreet, so someone looking for more "heat" might be disappointed. Things are left to the readers' imagination, as is usual in the more traditional regency romances. This book made my "keeper" shelf, since it is one that I would re-read in the future. I would definitely consider reading more from this author.