The Hunted

Seal-kin Dylan Meredith liked his islander lifestyle, but keeps hearing a siren's call somewhere to the west. He knows not all of his kind meets their life mate as his mom for instance had several mates, but the call just never ceased. No one in generations had traveled far to the west, but Dylan decides to follow his gut and heart. A nasty storm washes an unconscious naked Dylan onto a Nantucket beach near the home of photographer Beth Havelock, who makes most of her money by photo restoration. When the human and the shapeshifter meet, each is stunned by the attraction. He realizes why her restless call brought him here as she has some of his breed's DNA. However, they must flee when hunters are aware of him and want his skin that enables a human to alter their appearance. The Hunted is an enjoyable oceanic romantic fantasy starring two likable lead characters on the lam from some nasty sorts. The story line is fast-paced especially once Dylan leaves his haven home for his destiny. Although the premise is not new (for instance, see Melanie Jackson's Selkie sea saga), the audience will enjoy Anna Leonard's take on shapeshifting Selkie. Harriet Klausner

The lure of his nameless faceless mate pulls at Dylan from across the sea, but when he impulsively leaves his kin he never stops to think that he may have to do more than just find her but may have to woo her too. Beth Havelock has been restless needing an indefinable something and the appearance of a handsome naked half-drowned stranger on the beach of her hometown has kicked the need up to a fever pitch. Even though she's been drawn to seek the man out as he takes up residence in her town, when she's encounters him she flees and hides. Knowing that he's pretty my blown it in his first encounters with Beth, Dylan sets about a campaign to get her to come to him and in a small town Beth can not help but hear how Dylan is trying to learn everything about her. And when Beth can no longer stand hearing her friends sing Dylan's praises, she set out to confront him and ends up instead fleeing at his side when hunters, who know what Dylan truly is, come for him. Leonard does a couple things really well in the story. From a romance stand point, the intensity of the initial mate recognition starts out the attraction between Beth and Dylan on a high level, but I loved that the pull of the mating instinct doesn't easily win Dylan his mate (and his simplicity in thinking that it will is more charming than arrogant). By making Dylan really work to win Beth, Leonard allows the tension between the pair to build to an even higher level and it makes Beth's final surrender to her instincts so much more satisfying. I also really liked the way that Leonard uses the selkie genetic memory to provide background details of the 'seal-kin' in general and of Beth's family in specific. I loved Dylan, he's not the typical alpha shapeshifter, he is sexy while being occasionally vulnerable and naive, but he manages to become 'more' than his nature because of his love for Beth. I also really liked Beth once she gets done hiding from the enormous life shift she senses comes with Dylan's appearance in her world. I thought that is great that Beth's reaction to the Dylan's 'memory' of hunts past is to fight back instead of taking the selkies' more passive approach. Though I do think that had the story ended differently - the hunters would certainly have been back as they weren't really dealt with in a permanent way - hmm, maybe this is left open for a selkie sequel. Because of all of this and more, The Hunted is probably my favorite Nocturne in a long time and one of the best selkie romances in quite awhile too. It is also the best of Leonard's Nocturne romances - I hope she writes more like this one. Anna Leonard is urban fantasy author Laura Anne Gilman (The Retrievers series) in her romance author persona.