A couple weeks ago I got a recommendation from Anne Scott, our fabulous editor at Samhain. She’d recently read Sea Witch by Virginia Kantra and had really enjoyed it. I found the first chapter with a quick google search, and by the 5th paragraph I was hooked.

Why? Well, there are a couple reasons, and the first one is all my own. I grew up on the coast of Maine, and I love stories set in tiny fishing towns. (Though for the record, anything with a year round population of over 1,000 is NOT tiny! My village had a year round population of around 60. We only broke 100 when the summer people came to town.)

But that’s not why I bought the book. I bought the book because in the first chapter we meet a seven hundred year old heroine who has come to the coast of Maine to find herself a hot fella so she could get her groove on.

Oh yeah! squealed my inner fangirl. Because while I like a good journey of sexual (and sensual) discovery as much as the next person, sometimes I want a heroine who knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it using any means necessary. Margred was bold, confident and ready to get down with her bad self. And I loved it, because I don’t think heroes should get to corner the market on understanding lust better than love.

The fact that the opening paragraphs make it clear that Margred has found and lost a mate already was the cherry on the top. One!True!Mate! stories are like fine gourmet meals for me. Only the masters can serve them up in a way that I like, and even then I only indulge on special occasions. But no worries here, the hero in this story is decidedly human. Double oh yeah with extra sprinkles!

Margred is a 700 year old selkie who has lost her mate and lives a solitary and peaceful life in the sea. On the rare occasions she gets a yen for a little skin-on-skin contact she can always find a handsome man and frolic under the moonlight. The lack of lasting connection implied in such interactions, however, certainly puts one in mind of behavior more often seen in the brooding, distant heroes we love to, well, love.

Heroes certainly can get away with more, that’s for sure. Margred is not an an easy heroine, and that’s part of why I like her. No one who’s lived so long as a powerful, immortal creature is going to be warm, soft and snuggly just because she meets a handsome man. My friend Shannon and I discussed how Margred’s aloof and occasionally condescending behavior could grate on the nerves. If you don’t like your heroines prickly and slow to learn love, she might not be the character for you.

Me? I love it. It shows a depth of characterization and consideration of world-building that makes a story real and vivid. Perhaps a heroine who goes from Zero to Melty in 2.6 seconds and is kind and generous to strangers, children and kittens is easier to cheer for, but how realistic would those traits be in a woman who has spent most of 700 years alone and content to be that way? And Shannon agreed with me that the characterization would have felt a good deal more shallow without that prickly outer shell.

It also makes her eventual capitulation that much sweeter. She does fall in love, and watching it happen, watching her fight against it and then fight for it, makes it so much more meaningful. And while I could go on and on about the ways I adored Caleb as a hero, this isn’t a post about Rockin’ Heroes.

I’ve been urging people left and right to buy this book, but I’m so excited about it I’m going to buy someone else a copy. On Friday May 22nd I’ll pick someone from the comments and order them a paperback copy. Meanwhile, I’m going to be busy reading Books #2 & #3… unless you ask my editor (in which case I’m writing Crossroads) or my husband (in which case I’m packing up my office.)

(Really, Anne brought this one on herself. Now we have to make deadline with our next book, or she’ll never give me awesome recommendations again.)

My Question To You: Do you like books with heroines who are olders/more experienced than the hero? And I’m talking centuries, not decades. If so, what are some books you’ve read that you liked? If not, what bugs you about them?

Click here to read the first chapter of Sea Witch at Virginia Kantra’s website.