Series: The Guardians Trilogy, Book 2
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N
To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces…
Mermaid Annika is from the sea, and it is there she must return after her quest to find the stars. New to this world, her purity and beauty are nothing less than breathtaking, along with her graceful athleticism, as her five new friends discovered when they retrieved the fire star.
Now, through space and time, traveler Sawyer King has brought the guardians to the island of Capri, where the water star is hidden. And as he watches Annika in her element, he finds himself drawn to her joyful spirit. But Sawyer knows that if he allows her into his heart, no compass could ever guide him back to solid ground…
And in the darkness, their enemy broods. She lost one star to the guardians, but there is still time for blood to be spilled—the mermaid’s in the water and the traveler’s on the land. For she has forged a dangerous new weapon. Something deadly and unpredictable. Something human.
The search for the water star is on in Bay of Sighs. Now that all their gifts are out in the open, Sawyer, Annika, Sasha, Bran, Riley, and Doyle will have to hone their talents and teamwork if they hope to take down an evil goddess who won’t underestimate them a second time.
As our protagonists are hunting for the water star, it’s only fit that the heroine of the story is from the sea herself. And Annika is one delightfully unique heroine. She’s a mermaid who only has three turns of the moon to walk on land and help retrieve all three stars before she must return to the sea. But it isn’t her supernatural status that makes her stand out. Rather it’s the absolute joy that simply radiates from her and how open and giving of heart she is. The world we take for granted is a wonder to her, and even with all that she and her newfound friends go through, nothing can dull the shine of her. She’s not a heroine I can relate to because there is an otherworldly aspect to her perpetually sunny nature. Annika isn’t childlike, but there is an innocence to her that makes others want to shelter her. However, this is a fight where Annika can’t be sheltered, and she does stand up for those she loves. She also isn’t afraid to go for the man she loves. Sawyer is a traveler through space and time, and it was marvelous watching him fall for Annika. Sawyer is a genuinely good man, and though he’s attracted to Annika, he worries he’ll take advantage of her and thus tries to keep her at a distance. He can’t hold out against her for long, and their slide into love is, quite simply, sweet. That being said, there’s a spark, an energy usually present in Nora Roberts’s love stories that was missing between Annika and Sawyer, and perhaps that stems from the fact that Annika is so otherworldly.
Sawyer and Annika charmed me, but as with the first Guardians book, Stars of Fortune, one of my favorite things was watching our six main characters interact with one another. The bonds between these six new friends are every bit as important as the romantic relationships and offer a lot of entertainment. So while Bay of Sighs is definitely a bridge book, where more time is put into setting the stage than seeing results, I still didn’t want to put the book down. And though I won’t spoil what happens, I will say that the action sequences that do appear in the book are exciting.
Bay of Sighs is a comforting read. Like Annika, much of the story is sunny and optimistic, so it’s impossible not to be charmed. So even though it’s not my favorite Nora Roberts book, I still finished Bay of Sighs a satisfied reader. What’s more, the book left me incredibly eager to read the final Guardians tale. Riley and Doyle have been the most interesting, dynamic characters in the trilogy (at least to me), and I can’t wait to see them fall in love in Island of Glass!
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the Penguin First to Read program in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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