Review: Tidal Wave by Vivian Arend

Slippery when wet…
From her first kiss to her first sight of dolphins dancing on the waves, Alexia Colten has always held a special place in her heart for Jaffrey’s Cove. Now that she’s back to help her grandmother settle into a home, she discovers this place has lost none of its remembered magic. In fact, it seems more magical than before—and more erotic.
After she’s gifted with a beautiful, dolphin-etched medallion, she finds herself surrounded by the golden boys of summers past. Her body is filled with longings she can’t explain and dreams of blue lights that turn into lovers.

Joshua Marley and his cousin Anthony are merfolk, a people capable of living beneath the waves as either dolphin or human. Alexia holds the medallion that marks her as the next in line to lead their people—if she can prove she can transform. Working in tandem, they’re sure they can arouse her passion and protect her from those who would use her simply to gain power.

But their strength alone may not be enough to help her face the challenge of her new position…

Warning: This title contains a conniving granny, naked men in the surf and shifters who take fun in the water to new depths. Snorkels not required.

Title: Tidal Wave
Author: Vivian Arend
Series:Forces of Nature, book 1
Genre: Erotic Romance, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Year of release: 2009, July 21
Format: eBook – pdf, 95 pages
Source: Won this book in a contest organized by the author
First line: “Gram, where do you keep the rice?” Alexia rummaged through another cupboard in frustration. “Gram?”
Memorable Scenes:
– The flashback scene to when Alexia first meets Joshua > so sweet and endearing

Alexia Colten is a city girl but she has always been drawn to the sea and dolphins. It turns out this is not without reason. She is the Keeper, holder of the medallion and the heart of the merfolk and the next matriarch and leader of the merfolk pod in Jaffrey Cove. Alexia has a sense of humor and a sense of justice. There’s also a simmering sensuality and a backbone beneath the shy, reserved veneer. I liked how strong and decisive she was. Though not a fan of flashbacks, I thoroughly enjoyed Alexia’s little trip down memory lane in the beginning of the book. It was nicely set up and was a very functional flashback that helped provide a clear back-story for her, a background for the romance and really worked for the world building.

Joshua Marley is an artist and the youngest of the many Marley brothers and cousins. As the youngest and the artistic one he’s always felt out of the loop. This doesn’t improve when he breaks a few merfolk traditions by first touching (kissing) Ally without permission when they were youths and then again by making sure the other unattached merfolk men don’t feel and hear her summoning when she dons the medallion and “activates” the magic of it to summon all the unmated male dolphin shifters…Joshua is impulsive and sometimes leaps before he thinks but in his impulsive ways he was also endearing. He’s selfless yet ready to take what he thinks belongs to him and he can be pretty stubborn.

The third in this ménage is Anthony. He’s Joshua’s closest friend and a high school teacher. Anthony is always the peacemaker ready to step in when things threaten to get out of hand. He is calming, caring and gentle and I really liked him. I found it remarkable how first Joshua was the lead male in the threesome and then almost unnoticed, Anthony took over that role in the course of the story. I liked that because Anthony did seem the more mature and controlled of the two. I wasn’t quite taken with Joshua in the beginning as his impulsiveness made him come across a bit immature and acting up like a stubborn youth.

Though I really loved the story, I did find the pace to be a bit slow and I missed the trademark humor I’ve grown to adore in Vivian Arend’s books. Later, when I had finished the book and was commenting about this on Twitter she told me that this was the first or second book she’d ever written so I’ll just assume she hadn’t found that witty, fun voice yet that I do enjoy in her later books. This being said, she absolutely delivered with the world building and hot ménage. And I loved that Alexia questioned the sexual urges that were suddenly coming over her and that she didn’t mindlessly accept it.

With TIDAL WAVE Vivian Arend introduced me to a new-to-me kind of shifters: dolphins. And, contrary to the selkies (seals) I once read a story about, this type of shifters did work for me. TIDAL WAVE is a wonderful story with some intricate world building combined with hot erotic scenes, well-drawn characters that intrigued to no end and even a little action in the plot. So if you’re looking for a quick, satisfying paranormal read that for once isn’t about witches, vampires or werewolves, TIDAL WAVE is a great pick for your next read.