Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel
Pirates. Honestly you either love them or avoid stories written about them. Either way they are a fantasy all their own. When you throw in a merman or two, the party just gets better. Kay Berrisford takes a genre based partially on legend and partially on fantasy and creates a rollicking, fast-paced story that might just change your mind about pirates.
Raef is a merman. A bored, determined merman who has had enough of the restrictive life the leader of the Mers has enforced on their colony. The final straw for him is the day when his ruler, Galyna, decides Raef must marry his daughter. Now Raef might be a bit confused at some points in this novel and a tad naïve but he knows what he wants and it certainly is not a woman or a merman either. He wants to fall in love with a human and so he sets off to do just that.
Now begins the real adventure! Raef fancies himself in love with a nobleman, Lord Haverford and one day, while once again watching his infatuation from afar, he sees him set upon by three pirates. Now to mermen, pirates, or kluggites as they call them, are the lowest of the low. So, seeing his dear Lord Haverford seized and robbed of a ring and a dagger, Raef sets off in pursuit of the pirate ship to retrieve them and thereby ingratiate himself to the nobleman and win his love. Well, that is not exactly what happens. Through a series of swashbuckling adventures, Raef begins to realize Haverford is a wretched man and the pirate ship Captain, Jon Kemp, is actually the one he could fall deeply in love with, hands down. The only problem is that Jon is a rake, loving and leaving both men and women in his wake and a real commitment-phobe to boot.
As the two team up to restore the Haverford fortune to the real and true heir, both men must come to grips with their growing attraction for each other. Can Raef ever really capture and keep the heart of a man who seeks adventure and a new love in every port? Can Jon ever really settle down and allow himself to commit to and love just one man? The answers to these questions remain unanswered until nearly the very end of the novel. But one thing is for sure, there is action a plenty and a ripping good story to boot.
Author Kay Berrisford has created an entertaining and captivating tail of pirates and merman, adventure and love. While there are slight imperfections here and there, The Merman and The Barbarian Pirate is a delightful romp that will leave you happy!
