Water Bound, the first in the Sisters of the Heart series, is a spin off from Feehan's Drake Sisters series. I loved how she linked the two series. I would have liked to have seen more of the Drake sisters and their husbands in this book but references are made about them, and Jonas and Hannah put in an appearance. I do believe after reading Water Bound that future books will satisfy my craving for the Drake ladies.

I have never read a book where the main character was autistic. Rikki has had to overcome so much in her life and her trials have made her a very interesting and strong heroine. Her ability to put routine in her life allows her to cope with her autism, and having Lev in her life is another struggle for her. It is a testament to her feelings for him that she is able to coexist with him. Also, for him to have the past that we know of from the narrative in the book is a testament to his feelings for Nikki. I was excited to learn about his past and how it linked him with the Drake sisters. I really enjoyed how Lev and Rikki communicated and shared their talents with each other. Rikki's talents are unique from any I've read about, and combined with Lev's abilities offer an interesting parallel to their relationship. There is a lot of narrative in this book. I found myself skimming through some of it even though it was obvious the author has put a lot of time in researching autism and sea urchin diving. Rikki's "sisters" are all secondary characters and while all play a small part in this book, Blythe is the most active. It will be interesting to learn more about their stories and how they all became "heart sisters." Water Bound did drag in places with all the narration but the plot was decent. There was some ebb and flow to the plot but I still had a hard time putting it down. I thought their physical relationship was more believable because of the lack of abundant sex even though the narrative let us know their sex life was more active than was actually written about. Overall, it was a good set up for the new series and I hope future books will have less narrative than this one. You can never be disappointed with a Feehan book! Her independent heroines and strong alpha heroes show she is a master at writing the kind of romance we all crave!

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Very sensual

Reviewer: Lisa Freeman
August 8, 2010