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Across A Wild Sea – Sasha Lord
The Wild Series - Book 3
Signet,
February 2005
ISBN-13: 978-0451213877
ISBN-10: 0451213874
Reviewed by Laurel, July 2005
17 Years Ago…
The woman ran with all her might. She was Zarnia, heavily pregnant with her child to the Laird of the Serpent Clan. He was mentally unstable and was trying to cut his unborn child from her womb. Months go by after her dramatic escape and his warriors find her. Risking the life of her daughter she casts her out to sea, along with an amulet, some coins and a note on her real identity, praying that someone finds her and takes care of her.
The Present…
Alannah has always been blind; she’s only known the lady that took her in as Grandmother. Together the two of them have lived on an island outside of Scotland known as The Isle of Horses. She is adventurous; rides the wild stallions with abandon and she is one with nature. She is beautiful; she is naive and yet very independent. When a shipwreck washes Xanthier O’Bannon ashore she is intrigued and curious, having never been so close to a man she brings him to her hut and helps him heal. Over the course of months, her grandmother’s health deteriorates and passes away. Leaving Alannah and Xanthier alone on the island, she is overcome with emotion and grief for the woman she has lost and seeks solace in the stranger’s arms.
Xanthier O’Bannon is a torn and bitter man. Five years ago he was a semi evil person and was pitted against his twin brother by his father. Whoever could produce an heir first would inherit. The fallout from this challenge was devastating, with Xanthier killing his wife, surrendering his home and abandoning his child to his brother. Living amongst the swirl of rumors and endless discussions, he earns his commission to be a Commodore of a ship. For the past 5 years he has prowled the seas, capturing treasures for his Scottish King Malcolm. A stormy night capsizes and sinks his ship. He floats to shore with the aid of a barrel and a rope tied around his waist. He is injured and as a result receives horrible scars on his face adding to the already tainted disposition he carries about himself. When he awakens he is taken aback by the beauty of the women before him and further astounded to realize these two women have lived on their own with no protection from a man. Over the course of the months he is recovering, he realizes that Alannah is blind, and is astounded at how well she managed all her life on this barren land.
When Xanthier’s crew rescue him after months of endless searching, he begins to put a plan in motion to protect Alannah. But to do that he must kidnap her, he knows her true identity and that puts his plans in peril. Taking her aboard the ship was no easy task nor was loading her beloved wild stallion Claudius, he is determined to marry her and claim the island as his own. First he needs to find her in Scotland after she makes a daring and dramatic escape off his ship. Little does he know Alannah finds safety in the one place he dares not go—his brother’s.
Can I just say how much I loved this novel? The descriptions, the vividness, the character portrayal, the story, the plot, the fall out and the ending made this novel an exciting and thrilling read. Sasha Lord swept me in from the prologue and I was unable to put this book down until the very last page. Having to write a blind person requires skill to make the reader sense and feel like the character. Her characters all contained flaws, some were arrogant and some were downright sweet.
Xanthier was a hardened man and this novel was his redemption of all the wrongs he did in the past. He wanted to protect Alannah not only because he was starting to care for her. He was also afraid of what would happen to this woman when others realized that her Island existed. In one of the most soul baring passages I have ever read, Xanthier went on to relate all the horrors he had gone through and all he wanted to achieve. It was powerful and equally emotional as when Alannah succumbed to her grief earlier in the novel when her grandmother passed away. Betrayed by the King, he was a soul who needed repairing and needed love in his life. Alannah was a soul that required acceptance and a sense of belonging. Xanthier knew he betrayed her and he knew he had to work to gain back what he lost.
ACROSS A WILD SEA was a story based on the power of love, you feel it in every page of this story, the passion and desire to be with the one. It was fierce, it was volatile, and it was very real. It was a story when evil and royalty work against you, it was a story of courage and finally it was story so powerful, it is simply put; a captivating story and one everyone should read.
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