Nora Roberts’ ‘Bay of Sighs’ Challenges the Way We Think About Love [REVIEW]

Annika may be from the sea, but she will do anything necessary to protect the other five guardians in Nora Roberts’ Bay of Sighs. (Photo by Klaus Stiefel, Flickr)

In Nora Roberts Bay of Sighs, the second novel in her bestselling Guardians Trilogy, six uniquely talented people must protect and restore three fallen stars to their rightful place before they fall into evil’s wicked hands. One of these guardians is Annika, a mermaid who is eager to fulfill her quest to find the water star and who has fallen in love with her colleague in this matter, a man named Sawyer King. But will he reciprocate her love before she has to return to the sea? There hasn’t been a story like this since Tom Hanks fell in love with Daryl Hannah in the 1984 hit film, Splash. But this time, the story is a bit more complicated than the one Ron Howard brought to the silver screen. 

Berkley

In this volume, the guardians have left Corfu and are now working on the island of Capri. First of all, this is new territory they have to explore and defend. Second, their arch nemesis, Nerezza, is once again on their trail, determined to find the water star and destroy the guardians at any cost. In fact, she has even convinced an opportunistic adventurer named Andre Malmon to do her bidding, and he is more than happy to help bring down Sawyer, a man who has kept a priceless artifact out of his grasp.

Although this is an adventure yarn about the battle between good and evil, it is ultimately a story about the heart. Annika is a fish out of water (pun intended), still learning to navigate the human world on her new set of legs. In many ways, she is a stranger in a strange land, a foreigner struggling to learn man’s conventions while still clinging to the customs from her own world beneath the sea. Yet she also embodies everything that is pure and good and loving, and thus she stands out in stark contrast to the others in the group, because she still has her childlike fascination about life and love, and yet to the naked eye she is all woman.

Sawyer, on the other hand, is a jaded adventurer. He has battled bad men, including Malmon, multiple times before. It is because he is worldly wise however, that he is slow to show just how much he cares for Annika, because he doesn’t want to hurt her. He also realizes that they are from totally different realms, and he wants to protect his own heart as well. Thus the couple is faced with a dilemma. Do they cherish what have for a short time, or try to ignore it all together? It is a precarious dance they must learn if they decide they are up for the challenge.

Bay of Sighs is classic Roberts. It is a fun, light read that touches on tough subjects in a unique way. Here readers are challenged to contemplate whether or not love alone is enough to conquer disparate pasts, particularly when two people come from very different backgrounds. As our world grows smaller and people of various races and ethnicities intermingle on a increasingly regular basis, this is a challenge we all face in one way or another, and I take my hat off to Roberts for tackling this here. It proves once again why she is such a popular writer. Because even as she spins a romantic yarn populated by engaging characters in exotic locales, she makes us examine the way we think, feel, and love. And isn’t that what solid, memorable fiction is supposed to do?

Nora Roberts

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nora Roberts has been called “America’s favorite writer” by The New Yorker. She is consistently on the New York Times bestseller list and has won countless awards from her colleagues and the publishing industry.

One of the most prolific authors today, she has written standalone thrillers like The Obsession and The Liar, series such as the Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy and the Inn BoonsBoro trilogy, and numerous category romances. She also writes under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. Her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981.

Born the youngest of five children in Silver Spring, Maryland. Now Nora lives in Boonsboro, Maryland with her husband, photographer Bruce Wilder. Visit her home on the Web, follow her on Facebook and explore with her on Pinterest.

BAY OF SIGHS
By Nora Roberts
352 pgs. Berkley. $17.