Water Bound (A Sea Haven Novel) Mass Market Paperback – Abridged, July 27, 2010

I love this book. In the sisters of the heart series, this is my favorite. Well written, great characters, fun, creative storyline.

Interesting storyline with an autistic FMC. Told from both POV. I typically don’t like when someone loses their memory, yet the author does an awesome job of not letting that really affect the storyline. I thought this book was really good and I am looking forward to reading the next book. Having different people after the main characters just added to the pace. The spice was good too.

Summary:This book picks up right where the last Drake Sisters novel left off, on the day of the mass Drake sister wedding. Rikki is a sea urchin diver with an affinity to water. On the day of the wedding she is out at sea farming for sea urchins when the huge wave that the Drakes sisters combated back knocks Rikki off her boat and back into the ocean. Thankfully, she still had all her gear on. While in the ocean a large man is being knocked around in the aftermath of the waves, Rikki grabs onto him and pulls him back onto the boat. When Lev comes to on a boat, he realizes that he is not sure who he is entirely but he does know that there is life threatening danger surrounding him. When he realizes there is someone on the boat with him instinct takes over and he goes for the throat, literally. When he comes out of his haze he realizes it is the woman with the eyes that pulled him out of the water. Rikki has no idea what to do with this man, she pulled him out of the water so she feels responsible for him, his life is depending on her and something about that resonates with Rikki and she knows without her he will probably die. He is severely injured and is convinced there is someone out there trying to kill only he doesn't know who or why. Rikki takes Lev back home with her under much duress, after 4 fires and the death of 3 loved ones she is not entirely sure she isn't setting those fires herself, so she has become paranoid about anyone being in her home. Lev quickly learned that Rikki is a very unique person and does not like anyone messing up her routine, but something about her stirs his protective instincts, which he never knew he had. He doesn't know much but he knows that he is a killer, but not in what capacity. As time passes Lev becomes stronger in body, remembers more of his previous life and knows it's not good. He also knows he wants to start a new life with Rikki and starts to build a new identity. Rikki is autistic with sensory problems; simple things like fluorescent lights cause her severe pain. After several fires and 3 deaths, Rikki found her "sisters" and same to Sea Haven where she has managed to carve out a peaceful existence for herself. Letting Lev into her life has been extremely difficult for Rikki, but his presence also brings her some sort of calm she never had before. She comes to accept his existence in her world. Lev recognizes Rikki as a water element and under his encouragement she starts to explore her talents more. She finds that she can do a lot more than she always thought she could, she can actually command the water in all its forms. Lev is not without his own talents; he can plant memories, see through animals eyes, and heal to some extent. But with all their talents combined can they combat the two forces that threaten the peace that Lev and Rikki have managed?Review:I have read some reviews where people didn't like how eccentric Rikki is, I disagree with that opinion. I really enjoyed her eccentricities (well I don't have to live with them, so it's easy for me. LOL). People come in all forms even autistic ones. Not all heroines are going to be perfect with no bad habits. What I like about Rikki is despite her disabilities she has she has found a way to live her life the best she can. I can't even imagine not being able to go into the grocery store because the lights cause her pain. Yet Rikki has managed to become a productive member of the community as well as on the farm with her "sisters". Lev is a government agent for Russia and is tired of living in the shadows, once he starts remembering things he realizes this is his chance to get out, for Lev to die and Levi to live. He knows that he wants to start his life over with Rikki, when she looks into his eyes he feels like she is looking into his soul. He knows he's met someone that he can really start over with, someone that accepts everything about him including his past. It was so sweet to see this hardened killer, really accept someone that would realistically be very difficult to be with. He is willing to do what it takes to keep Rikki stable and able to manage within her personal limitations. You get the feeling that these two are the only two that could possibly make it work with each other for the long haul. I do want to note this novel is more of an emotional story there is very little "action" and what little "action" there is, is at the end. What I did not like about this novel was Ilya did not make any appearances, which was one of the reasons I picked this book up. He was my favorite male from the Drake sisters. I waited the whole book for some sort of reunion and there wasn't one. That was a bummer! And the cover if this book is terrible! So please don't judge this book by its cover. Lol!

This is a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it right from the beginning. I can totally see me reading this again.Rikki is such a cool chick even though she has moments where her autism kicks in and she has sensory overload. She’s a very intelligent and capable woman.She rescues Lev from the ocean and together, they learn how to coexist in her house and fall for each other. Lev is such a stud and so confident and strong. He’s a Prakenskii (see book 6 in Drake Sisters series) and raised in Russia to be a killer. This is his chance of happiness and he wants it with Rikki.The plot is very interesting. From worrying about who’s trying to kill Rikki and keeping Lev’s identity a secret. This was a great read and not a dull moment. I love Rikki and her quirky ways. A must read!

Rikki Sitmore is an autistic sea-urchin diver who lives on a farm in Sea Haven with her surrogate sisters who saved her from herself years ago. One day whilst she's harvesting the spiny creatures off of a shelf along the San Andreas Fault, a massive wave comes out nowhere and throws Rikki off of her boat. Midway through her battle back to the surface, she encounters a man being battered against the underwater rocks along the shelf wall. In a split-second decision, Rikki saves the man from falling further into the fault line, risking her own life in the process. Rikki is a believer in the old laws, especially that of the sea. If you take it from the sea, it's yours. and Lev Parenskii is hers, come hell, fire, or damnation.Lev is a foreign secret agent, taken from his family as a child and trained to be the dark hand of his government. While on assignment, Lev ends up underwater in the Pacific Ocean with no rescue in sight. Just as he resigns himself to a watery death, he's rescued by a woman who takes him home to recuperate. He quickly falls in love with this autistic woman with an affinity for water, but he knows that finding their Happily Ever After is going to be a bit harder than a dime-store romance novel.Rikki has a rash of fire and death in her past and things have to work for her or she shuts down and Lev has his entire existence in the way, having to remember who he is and then making sure he remains dead to his country. Separate, the two have special abilities, and together, the pair can work wonders but are their unique gifts enough to survive everything the fates have thrown at them?I have started and restarted writing this review dozens of time in its lifetime. I want to gush and be emotional. And I want to be distanced from it all, all professional-like. I've struggled to find a happy medium to do this review because I want y'all to see how amazing this book is. And I can't. I am emotionally vested in this book and I am definitely not a literary professional as of yet. So here it is.Water Bound hit the quadfecta for me. I found the book because it was written by Christine Feehan, a favourite author. I took it off the shelf for the title. I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis teased me. Author, Title, Cover, Synopsis. I immediately bought the book and I began reading it as soon as I got home and safely ensconced myself in my closet (I like reading in closets). And then, dearest readers, I read the book.Water Bound shoved its way to the tippy top of my favourite books list with the first chapter. Why? Because for the first time ever, I had a book whose heroine I could relate to. An autistic woman with tragedy in her past that thought herself a monstrous freak. I cried reading Water Bound that night and I'm not a crying person. Not only was Rikki an autistic woman, but she was intelligent, not centring herself around math and science (which I strongly avoid), and she was mistreated by 'the system' for being different. Because Christine Feehan normalised autism by having an autistic heroine, I stopped hating being different and began to love myself, autism and all. I even started dating, which I’d sworn never to do because, ew, commitment and close personal contact with a person bother me.Christine Feehan’s descriptions were exceptional, as always. I was enchanted with the vivid description of the underwater seascape that Rikki was so in love with. I was repeatedly reminded of the times when I was younger that I would climb out of my bedroom window at night to sit on the roof and just enjoy every raindrop that fell on my skin, something I haven’t done in over a decade.I know this isn’t a new(ish) book or a yet-to-be-released book, but I’ve seen some disparaging reviews on onilne that griped about Christine focusing on Rikki’s autistic qualities and her fascination with water and I felt the need to switch my review schedule about so that I could dedicate today’s review to this book that me feel a little bit more normal than I usually do. Writing from a point of view that isn’t neurotypical is hard – even for someone who is neurodiverse, trust me, I’ve tried. And the fact that Christine not only attempted to write from Rikki’s POV and give her a HEA, but succeeded in describing that special place we all disappear to during our ‘moments out of time’ and the frustrations of not being able to do ‘normal’ things like grocery shopping or hugging your family, it matters to me and any other reader on the spectrum. She constantly brings up Rikki’s ‘weird traits and obsessions’ because that’s a thing with us. We obsess and ‘space out’ and we stim and fidget. Many of us don’t do actual eye contact and some of us develop fake-out methods such as sunglasses or staring at a person’s nose. We have sensory issues and we have to have things just so or our entire worlds go off kilter. For someone who isn’t an Own Voices writer (that I know of), she manages far better than certain popular TV shows to showcase autistic characters with a realness few authors achieve when writing characters with disabilities.I give Water Bound a whole 5 stars because it is well-written and the research she put into the storyline shows from the succulent plants outside of Rikki’s home to her accurate portrayal of an autistic woman to the diving scenes that are fully developed without glossing over the 'technical' side of diving.Oh, and I actually own three copies of this book. One is so tattered that its cover is duck taped to the binding which is also duck taped, I bought that one fresh off the shelf the first month it was available in my go-to chain bookstore in Georgia. Then I finally had the money last month to buy a replacement copy as a Christmas gift to myself and I bought the kindle edition this month, so that I can read that instead of accidentally damaging my brand-new copy that I cuddle with when I'm having an 'autistic moment'. It's calming and that's all that matters. Buy a copy, rent a copy, audio, print or eformat. Whichever. Just read this book.

It was very hard to put down and I had if finished in two days. I love this series and have read these books when they first came out. They always make me smile.

La rédaction du livre super bien faite

Didn’t read it in order as I like these in book form and couldn’t find it anywhere. Glad I persisted in finding it yet another good read.

Women With Powers ..loved it

Loved this book. Lev and Rikki strong characters that over come Rikki's difficulties with love and patience from Lev. At times humour involved which made it fun. Plenty of action. I think it was my favourite of the series.

Si te apetece leer cantidades ingentes y repetitivas de diálogo interior sobre cómo los ojos de la otra persona te lo dicen “todo”…este es tu libro.A mí me ha aburrido soberanamente, a parte de la poco original insta-lust, todo el elemento “paranormal” de la historia se centra en conectar los dos personajes principales…y encima no lo consigue…un rollo.Y he comentado lo de las repeticiones? Es algo inaudito. Normalmente me pone nerviosa, es como si el/la autor/a no estuviese seguro de la inteligencia de su público(repitiendo cansinamente una y otra vez las mismas ideas por si a la primera, o segunda o quincuagésima no lo han captado) o necesitase rellenar páginas…Ha sido interminable. Y de la parte del “peligro” no te digo nada…de las 500 páginas que tiene la historia sólo 5 se le dedican al suspense…eso sí, páginas y páginas de sexo te vas a encontrar, es lo que mejor se les da a los protagonistas.En fin…decepcionante, aburrido y muy flojo.