Publisher: Lightning Platypus Press, (July 19, 2022)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Tour dates: November 3-23, 2022
ISBN: 979-8985603811
Available in Print and ebook, 286 pages
Description Stealing the Selkie’s Heart by Ella Rose
A cursed town, a kidnapped selkie…what will happen when love is on the line?
Powerful selkie warrior Ronan must negotiate with a group of local sirens before war breaks out. The last thing he needs is a desperate human who steals his sealskin, intent on forcing him to help her. He decides to seduce her, get his skin back, and fulfill his mission. But finding out she’s his True Mate changes everything…
Widow Una MacCallan is determined to save her small Scottish fishing town from the curse that fell over it twenty-four years ago, even if it means blackmailing the fierce selkie. Though she knows he is the key to breaking the spell, she doesn’t anticipate the attraction between them. She can’t afford the distraction, and she doesn’t trust that his interest is anything more than a manipulation, a bid for freedom. But she keeps finding herself tempted…
Together, they must race against time to break the curse. But as the two get closer, they find themselves asking: can they give up love to save those around them? What is the price for their newfound passion?
Stealing the Selkie’s Heart is an exciting enemies-to-lovers paranormal romance and the first book in The Selkie Seas series by Ella Rose. Let it steal your heart today!
Excerpt Stealing the Selkie’s Heart by Ella Rose
Kathleen,
Thanks so much for hosting my exclusive excerpt of Stealing the Selkie’s Heart, Book 1 in The Selkie Seas series. In this scene, Ronan is a selkie male who’s being held captive by the human widow, Una, who stole his sealskin. They are working in her fish shop, shortly after Ronan has secretly decided to seduce Una to get her to reveal the location of his skin.
***
Ronan nodded, glancing again around the store. “And what do I need to do?”
“Go make yourself useful. Know how to clean a fish?”
“I handle fish all the time,” he scoffed.
Una smiled at him and flipped a knife into her hand. “Good. Get to work in the back then.”
Two hours later, Ronan was covered in sweat and fish bits and had shredded not one but five fish carcasses into uselessness.
“What the hell are you doing?” Una cried from behind him. “I told you to clean the fish, not hack it to pieces!”
Ronan glared at her. “I’m trying,” he growled. He scowled down at the fish in his hands. “But it’s not cooperating.”
“Here,” Una said. She stepped up behind him, pressing her chest to his back, and wrapped her arms around his middle. She could feel the strong muscles of his back tense under her chest, but she ignored it and leaned around one side of him. “Like this.” She placed her hands over his gore-covered ones and showed him how to use the knife to cut along the gill line and then down the belly. Then she flipped the knife, expertly spinning the handle around in her palm, and pressed it back into his hand. She cut along the backbone toward the tail, then lifted the fileted piece and placed it in his bloody palm.
“Now just take the skin off and put the meat over on the ice.” She pointed to the trough she’d just filled.
He pivoted so that he was facing her with her arms still around his ribs. “You’ll have to show me that again,” he said in a low voice. He stared down at her hungrily, letting the heat from her nearness creep into his gaze. He could feel his erection bump against her hip as she leaned into him.
She watched his mouth as he spoke, then licked her lips. “I can show you everything,” she murmured. Her eyes widened, and she took a step back. “About fish! I can show you everything I know about—”
His lips fell on hers as his hands reached around her to crush her to his chest. He kissed her, not caring that he’d heard someone’s footsteps enter the front of the store. She responded immediately, her forearms pressing into his ribs as she held her fish-grimed hands behind his back. Her lips slid over his as she ate at his mouth, hungry for his kiss. He pressed his erection against her hips and she moaned into his mouth with need. He felt her breasts crushing against his chest and wondered what they would look like when free of that apron and dress. The thought of her nipples pressing against him undid him and he moaned her name into her mouth.
“Ronan,” she gasped, pulling back. Her face was flushed, and she was breathing heavily. “I need to tend to the front. I need you…” She trailed away, gazing at his lips again. “I need you—”
“To slice the fish,” he finished with a smile. “Got it.” He leaned down and slid his tongue across her lower lip teasingly. She closed her eyes, regaining her composure. “Your wish is mine.”
She stepped back and smoothed her hands down her apron, leaving a bloody streak behind. Then she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and gazed at him with naked lust in her eyes. “How do I look?”
“Delicious,” he told her, and she smirked.
“Get back to work,” she said as she turned and headed through the door.
He wasn’t much better at slicing the rest of the fish the way she’d showed him, but he tried not to butcher them more than he could help—he was acutely aware that every fish he mangled was another coin she couldn’t make. If their roles had been reversed, he wasn’t sure he would have been as patient a teacher as she had been. And the memory of her body against his, the feel of her mouth as she moaned into him… it all sparked something deeper inside him he didn’t know himself capable of feeling.
It’s all an act, he reminded himself as his knife tore through the flesh instead of cutting it. Just seduce her and you’ll be back home soon. But the thought of her body underneath his on her uncomfortable bed at home was too tantalizing. Soon, he promised himself. Very soon. If she responded so eagerly to his kiss now, after threatening to break his hand earlier, there was promise in getting her to fall for him. It was just a matter of time.
***
I hope you enjoyed this tantalizing scene between Ronan and Una. And spoiler alert: it gets much steamier from there! You can read more about them in Stealing the Selkie’s Heart, Book 1 in the Selkie Seas series by Ella Rose.
Best,
Ella Rose
© Ella Rose
Review Stealing the Selkie’s Heart by Ella Rose
Guest Review by Laura
If you know anything about paranormal romance, you will know that this is the type of book that you snatch up the moment you see it. And if you don't know anything about paranormal romance, you need to snatch this one up anyway! 'Stealing the Selkie’s Heart (The Selkie Seas, #1),' is a credit to it's genre.
I loved the storytelling in this one. Ella Rose is not an author that I have read before, but her grasp of what makes a romance book tick was excellent! The pacing, the steamy scenes, everything was perfectly executed.
This novel is set in 1861, in the Hebrides islands, Scotland and it gives a very strong sense of atmosphere that keeps you wrapped up in the story. To give you just a little taste of the plot (without spoiling anything, of course), it revolves around Ronan, a male selkie who is a warrior in his tribe.
One day, just before an important meeting with a siren emissary, Ronan changes into his human form and hides his selkie skin inside of a cave on the beach. But what he doesn't realize is that he was observed in changing into a human, and the woman who saw him is in need of a little magical help.
Una MacCallan is struggling to get by after the death of her husband and the loss of his income. But it's not just her, the whole island of Selbane is facing a crisis in the form of loss of fishing hauls, reefs crumbling and other unfortunate things.
Ronan informs her that the whole island is cursed, and Una begs him for his help in reversing it. Though he doesn't know much about curses, Ronan agrees to help to save his own skin (literally) and the pair pass themselves off as newlyweds in order to gain more information about the town. But when they start to fall for each other, everything gets a bit more complicated.
This book is well worth the read, and one you should add to your TBR right away!
About Ella Rose
Ella Rose is a paranormal romance author who loves kink, ink, and cake, and hopes you do too. She is a bi-sexual author writing through a Bi-Polar Disorder lens and thinks representation and mental health matter. She is the author of The Selkie Seas series, which includes Losing the Selkie’s Skin and Stealing the Selkie’s Heart.Her latest selkie short stories will appear in Dark Rose Press’s Worlds Apart and Dragon Soul Press’s Beyond Atlantis anthologies. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and the Paranormal Romance Guild.
Website: https://www.ellarosebooks.com/
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I am so glad Laura enjoyed 'Stealing the Selkie’s Heart 'so much! Thanks so much for hosting Kathleen!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome!
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