Seal Island [NOOK Book]

Overview


Cecil Hargrave lives in a cramped apartment in New York City, hates her job, and has no close friends. She yearns for something more, but what?

When Cecil inherits a beachfront house and a thriving business on picturesque Seal Island in Maine, she jumps at the opportunity to kickstart her life, despite her reservations about moving to New England. But even if stereotypes ...
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Seal Island

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Overview


Cecil Hargrave lives in a cramped apartment in New York City, hates her job, and has no close friends. She yearns for something more, but what?

When Cecil inherits a beachfront house and a thriving business on picturesque Seal Island in Maine, she jumps at the opportunity to kickstart her life, despite her reservations about moving to New England. But even if stereotypes hold true and New Englanders are standoffish, she'll have a new career and a gorgeous home.

Much to her delight and surprise, Cecil settles rapidly into small-town life. She makes real friends, plays with the seals who live on the beach outside her house, and meets two very different men.

Tom, a darkly sexy novelist, has returned to his hometown to write. He and Cecil hit it off almost immediately, and their chemistry is explosive -- but Cecil can't seem to stay away from the handsome drifter, Ronan, despite his secretive ways. It's like she's under a spell...

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
At the start of newcomer Brallier's gentle paranormal romance, Cecilia "Cecil" Hargrave learns that a distant relation, "Aunt Allegra" (in fact her late mother's younger cousin), has bequeathed her a business and a house. Cecil abandons her empty life in Manhattan for Seal Island, Maine, an isolated community rich with intertwining lives and mystical legends of "selkies" who move between seal and human form. While settling in, she discovers that Allegra has been murdered amid mysterious financial dealings. She must also contend with island curiosity and the lure of three very different men: the affable editor of the local paper, a mysterious lobsterman and an odd neighbor whose animal magnetism sweeps her away. Full of expressions like "glory of glories" and "heaven forfend" and oblivious to e-mail, computers and cell phones, Cecil rings false as a contemporary 28-year-old. Instead, she-and the novel-echo the mode of Mary Stewart, whom the narrative mentions fondly. Still, the book's slightly old-fashioned take on love exudes a leisurely and timeless charm. Agent, Kay McCauley. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781429910705
  • Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
  • Publication date: 4/1/2007
  • Sold by: Macmillan
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 480
  • Sales rank: 751,804
  • File size: 2 MB

Meet the Author


Kate Brallier is a fiction editor in New York City. She has spent most of her life summering on a Maine island which bears suspicious resemblance to her fictional creation. Seal Island is her first novel.
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Read an Excerpt


His eyes fixed on mine and for a moment I had the sense that we were the only people in the world.

"The seal people," he said. "My family is said to have the blood of the seals in our veins. The selkies are a race of seals who can become human at will. Those who are kind to them while they are in their seal form get nothing but rewards, while those who are cruel to them meet their eternal vengeance."

He smiled slightly. "Occasionally, when a lonely fisherman is kind to the seals, a beautiful selkie woman will come from the sea to be his bride, forsaking her seal skin for that of a human. And the selkie blood is mingled with the human, in their children. But it is hard to keep a seal from the water forever, and selkie brides eventually long to return to their first and only home. But they cannot change back into their native form without their sealskins. Many stories tell of the fisherman unwise enough to destroy the skin so his bride can no longer return to the sea. When she dies of grief and yearning for her true home, her family comes from the sea for revenge."

"Revenge?" I demanded, as caught up now in the story as anyone. He did have a natural storyteller's gift, the cadence of his language low and even.

"The fisherman dies. A life for a life, you see. And if there are children, the selkies take those too and return them to the sea. And maybe those half-seal children can reach into the depths of their seal blood and somehow transform to join their mother's family, or maybe they cannot and simply drown. But no one knows for certain, for they never return."
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 7 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(1)

4 Star

(4)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews
  • Posted October 23, 2011

    Not what expected

    This was a really good book. Couldn't put it down.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted June 16, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Very entertaining.

    This book, while being extremely far-fetched, was a great read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 10, 2006

    A pleasant change

    I first received this book not knowing what to expect. The cover led me to believe it was a cheesy romance novel, yet the back of the cover enticed me. From the moment I dipped into the pages I knew it was not going to be just any other book, and that continued throughout it. While as an author, she may have a ways to go, I think for a first book it was a fabulous read, with twists and turns, reminding me of fantasy books I read as a teenager. Creative and different, I look forward to more by this author.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted March 18, 2005

    PERFECT read for a beach vacation!

    Cecilia 'Cecil' Hargrave inherits a beachfront house and a small business on glorious Seal Island in Maine. Since Cecil has just been laid off from work and lost her apartment, she decides to spend the summer on Seal Island to relax a bit and figure out what she will do with her life. Cecil makes new friends and slips into the local town life almost seamlessly. She also becomes friends with three very different men. ............................................. Richard is the editor of the local paper. He is patient, steady, and dependable. Tom is a lobsterman with the sea in his blood and has a mysterious part time job that pays the bills. His pragmatic look at life keeps Cecil guessing as to just what will happen next. Then there is Ronan who is shy about approaching Cecil as friends, and later as more, but with a spontaneous approach at life that attracts her. ............................................. During her summer afternoons Cecil spends time on the shore line where she makes friends with a special seal named Ragnarok. Between Cecil's new friends, her business, and Ragnarok, her days are carefree and filled with warmth. But when night falls, Cecil is torn between the men. .................................................................... ...................... **** This is the debut novel of author Kate Brallier, and what an excellent one it is! It is larger than most books now-a-days, but only because the author inserts descriptive backgrounds of the characters and the town so that readers find themselves submerged into the life on Seal Island. Most of the story reads like a contemporary romance with some danger thrown in for spice. However, be advised that there is some supernatural or mystical sections as well. This one is the PERFECT read during a beach vacation! ****

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 22, 2005

    Impressive debut

    Though she scarcely knew her aunt Allegra, Cecil is the woman's heir when she suddenly meets a premature death. The timing of that legacy comes as an opportunity. Having just lost her job, Cecil needs a break from life, the simplicity of her aunt's island home holds promise for her. Simplicity? That may be what she expected, but it is hardly what she got. Her aunt's affairs are shrouded in mystery and secrecy, and of the four males who show an interest in her, the least complex and demanding of her is - a seal. However, Ragnorak does not have the appeal that Richard, Tom, and Ronan do. As she learns all three men's secrets, she finds herself pulled in multiple directions and drawn into danger. The choice of who she loves could be one of life or death. ............................................. *** You'll probably think you know how things are going to turn out, but you will find the ending to be a surprise. Some readers may be put off by the first person narrative, yet the introspective aura to the novel does lend itself to that. Ms. Brallier makes an impressive debut with Seal Island. ***

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  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    fine romantic fantasy suspense thriller

    Cecilia is only twenty-eight, but was recently downsized out of her job and her forced to leave her Manhattan apartment. However, homeless Cecilia ¿Cecil¿ Hargrove learns that her not so ¿Aunt¿ Allegra Gordon just past away at only forty-five years of age, but left her home and business on Seal Island, Maine to her ¿niece¿ who she only met twice. Cecil decides to look at the properties and thinks she will probably sell the tourist shop and the home. Cecil learns from her aunt¿s shop assistant Abby and reporter Richard Feinman that Allegra was well liked and friendly until last summer when she became depressed before being murdered. The next day Cecil meets Tom Moneghan a lobsterman. Afterward she learns that her aunt removed $80K from the bank in the few months before she died. There is no evidence of what she did with the money. On the way home Cecil meets gas attendant Ronan Grey, who says he is her neighbor; Cecil feels an immediate attraction.--- These three men ¿court¿ Cecil in different ways. None are what they seem. The reporter loves Abby; the fisherman is a famous author fearing his feelings for Cecil; the neighbor is the weirdest of the trio as he provides great sex but demands all of her time.--- Cecil holds the story line together but is ably assisted by a strong support cast especially her deceased aunt, Ragnarok a seal, and the three males competing for her affection. The story line starts off as a contemporary romance that turns into a mystery and finally curves into a fantasy. Fans will appreciate this modern day romance with an iota of a mystery that climaxes as a fantasy suspense thriller.--- Harriet Klausner

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 2, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

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