I have read Dawn Thompson's *May she Rest in Peace* work before, and I enjoyed it. So I figured, naively, that I would also enjoy Lord of the Deep. With a title and cover like that, you expect it to be steamy and sexy and a good erotica+romance read, right? That's what I thought.. boy was I wrong!

I was able to read it quickly, in about a day, but I think I kept reading it so quickly, hoping, praying, that it would get better.. but it didn't. The sex, and there was plenty of it, was.. explicit, I guess you could say, but it was anything but arousing! The words she used were repeated too many times and sometimes they were the wrong words, ones that unless you knew exactly what they meant, you couldn't quite grasp what she was trying to point out. And when you are reading a 'love' scene, you shouldn't have to stop and go 'Wait, what'?. Best to leave the big words and synonyms for literature, not erotica/romance. It just doesn't fit in too well, or at least, it didn't in this book.

The number of times *and there were plenty! About 20 too many!* she used the words 'mushroom-headed' and 'pearly', usually combined, ruined it. We get the picture, we know what his penis looks like, and yes, we know what you refer to as pearly. Or when Meg kept having flash backs of what it was like to watch him take the female selkie on the beach while she fondled herself.. I swear, every time the 'flashbacks' came into the story again, it was like the exact same paragraph being used! It was annoying, and anything but stimulating or interesting. I'm okay with the erotica romance books, but this one ruined both the erotica and the romance. In other words, it wasn't a flawless combination of both, like I usually read, nor could it even pull off being a 'good' porno/straight out erotica, and it was definitely not very romance-y. Their love was not very believable, and it fell flat.

I figured that even if the sex and love was crappy, maybe I could connect with the paranormal/fantasy world that she had created.. I tried, but I couldn't. It was too odd, maybe too poorly written or explained, I really don't know, but I do know that it was lifeless. When I read a fantasy or paranormal book, I expect to fall into the world the author is creating, to be pulled in and enjoy the ride to the end. With this book, I couldn't even beginning to fall for it! The magic element wasn't really played on as much as I thought, I was put off by the selkie theme *I love shapeshifters, but I cannot stand the thought of a man or woman turning into a seal and then back to human... At least not when the story is suppose to be hot and steamy and full of love... It doesn't work for me!*, rape was brought in a few times, the heroine wasn't very strong.. the list goes on and on.

2/5 STARS! I tried, I really did, to like this book...I hate when I find a book that I hate *it really doesn't happen that often for me!* and I wanted to like this book, like I have a few of her other books, but I couldn't get into it. The romance fell flat, the sex was tasteless and not very imaginative. When it could have become very, very steamy and arousing, she added in too many words to 'describe' the scene, and it ruined whatever good ambiance she had managed to create. The affect was like having cold water poured on you! And don't even get me started with the whole 'tree sex'! (If you've read the book, then unfortunately you know what I mean. If you haven't, then you are fortunate enough to not know what I'm talking about, but I've probably captured your attention, haven't I? Now you're going to want to go out and grab the book off the shelves just to find out what the tree sex is all about... and No, unfortunately, it is not some new and kinky way to make love while pressed up against a tree. If only!)
To make a long story short, save yourself the money and time, the laugh and embarrassment *Because if you read it, you will find the 'sex' scenes to be so poorly written, it is embarrassing...* and forgo this book. Pick up one of her other books, I'm sure you'll enjoy them more, but this one is better left on the bookstore shelf. Although, I may glance through the next book in the series, when it comes out, just to see if Gideon can get his story and if it is a vast improvement from this..But only because Gideon was interesting and secretive, the total mysterious 'bad' boy. ( )

I have a strong sense of curiosity and a horror of unfinished stories. So it is on very, very rare occasions I put down a book and refuse to finish it.
Not only did it hit a ton of my show stoppers (e.g. rape fantasies, bad world building, female characters with no purpose other than screechy jealousy,) but the language! It used mushroom-headed and pearly in combination - over and over again. And then there was the full-on sex with the tree root, well, I gave up.
I like fantasy stories, I like romance stories, I even like a bit of hot wordy action, but this is a world I am just not ready for! ( )