This story is far different than the mermaid stories I have been reading lately. There is nothing light and fluffy about this one. Merpeople are not humans with gills and tails here. These mermaids are killers. Their pattern is to lure happy humans onto the water and then drown them to steal their positive emotions. Merpeople see auras and can tell who will make the best meal.Calder White is the only male in the family. He has three sisters - Maris, Pavati, and Tallulah. Besides being male, Calder is different than his sisters because he was made into a merman by his "mother." He fell off a sailboat when he was three, drowned and was reinvigorated by his mother who forged a psychic link with him that bound him to his family. Each spring the family is drawn back to Lake Superior and drawn to the shore near Bayfield. They are waiting to get revenge on Tom Hancock who betrayed their mother and caused her death. She saved him from drowning and in exchange he promised her his year old son but fled taking his family with him. Now, many years later that son and his family have come back to Bayfield.Lily Hancock is the granddaughter of Tom. She is a quirky dresser and a poet who is entranced with the Victorian poets. It is Calder's job to get close to her and lure her father onto the water so that revenge can be accomplished. He didn't plan to fall in love with her. He didn't even know he could. Now he has to decide who to betray - the family that raised him or the girl he loves. Lily isn't afraid of him and sees the good in him no matter how hard he tries to convince her that he is a monster. This story had a wonderfully tortured hero. Calder was different from his sisters. He doesn't change from human to merman as quickly, has a conscience about killing, and wants to lose the psychic bond that forces him to return to Lake Superior each summer to be with his sisters. Maris offers him a deal - lure Jason Hamilton to the water and she will cut the link between them.Fans of darker but still romantic mermaid stories will really enjoy this one.
