When Effie discovers a tiny baby floating in the sea, it changes her life forever, for even though Effie only means to foster the child alongside her own son no-one in the small Yorkshire fishing village comes forward to claim the tiny girl. Effie takes the baby into her heart, generously sharing her life in the small cottage above the sea, soon becoming fiercely protective of both her children.

This is a lovely, light romance which caught my attention from the start. Daughter of the Sea moves effortlessly carrying the essence of the story with a lovely light touch, flickering into and out of a fantasy world of legend, myth and folklore which is so often caught up in the stories of mysterious folk from the sea. I enjoyed Effie's dilemma as she learns more about Morna and also discovers the secrets of the mysteriously handsome man who turns up on Midsummer Eve and who steals his way into her heart changing her life forever. It's charmingly written with an authenticity which brings this sleepy Yorkshire village alive especially as its people are slightly mistrustful of anything out of the ordinary, and who judge Effie for being a widow with strong opinions.

The story takes us on a lovely journey of discovery especially when Effie discovers the true nature of the tiny girl she calls Morna. Heartfelt, emotional and unashamedly romantic, reading Daughter of the Sea is just what I needed to take me out of the lull after Christmas.

Summary: Following the death of her husband Effie finds a baby in a basket and wrapped in sealskin and decides to raise the baby along with her son Jack. However, the baby girl is not what she seems, and when her father comes to claim her a bargain is struck and old myths and secrets come to life as Effie must decide what she can and cannot live with.


Thoughts: This was super cute and interesting! I love how the effortless the fantastically was added to into our world and the story it was super fun. Lachlan and Effie’s romance was super precious and I loved them together. Their conflict made a lot of sense and I love how both of them dealt with the clear social issues with them. Lachlan being a Selkie was a unique and fun twist compared to the usual Fae and mythical book boys and I like that Lachlan listened to the history and didn’t fully commit himself until all of their issues were addressed and dealt with he is a gem despite his past. That being said I almost wish Alice was the main character she deserves a mystical prince to come and scoop her away she was my favorite character and I loved her relationship with Lachlan she immediately knows what he is and just goes with it Alice gets a 10/10. I now need to find a romance between a witch and a Selkie. Walter, however, is a 0/10 I don’t care how nice or how much money he has I understand that he’s a safe option but he should he been more open-minded. Overall it’s a super cute fun story and I recommend it.

I'm not often one to read read much romance, but I love historical fiction and anything to do with fairy tales. Daughter of the Sea is a different take on the traditional selkie tale, and the obligations that bind the fae and ourselves. This is a fairy story full of bittersweet and longing; a few chapters in and you can nearly taste the sea salt and unanswered questions.


I'm so very glad that Daughter of the Sea is my first review of 2022. Taking place in an unspecified point in the 1880s, in a small village called Allendale Head, this book follows Effie; a young widow who rescues a child from the sea only hours before learning of her fisherman husband's death. Effie is forced to constantly adapt, learning and growing into her role as a mother and well as a woman throughout the book.


The book revolves around the seasons, the years swinging from Midwinter to Midsummer and back again. I found the duality of opposites to be a subtle theme, from Effie's children - Jack and Morna, the odd liminal space in the village that Effie inhabits between the fishwives and village gentry; and the men in her life, Walter and Lachlan. Walter is the son of the owner of the alum mine, wealthy and educated, a dear friend, and while Effie knows he has fancied her for years, she cannot find it in herself to reciprocate his feelings. Lachlan, Morna's father makes her heart flutter, but he only visits twice a year, and is full of secrets that Effie isn't sure she wants to know...or can accept.

Effie's grief and mourning are well written, as is her love for her children and the confusion she feels for the two men that vie for her heart. Honestly, I found the author's handling of sensitive subjects to have been done with exquisite tenderness and care throughout the book. Effie's Grandmother Alice is an herb-wife or "wise woman", a compounder of herbal remedies for good and ill, serving her village despite the occasional hypocrisy for those who partake her services. Jack, Effie's son with her husband, is described as being of limited verbal capacity and having many traits that are on the autistic spectrum. Despite of how Jack is perceived by other people, Effie adores him and makes her life decisions with his best interests in mind (very much out of character for the time period). Effie loves Morna no less than Jack, despite being her foster mother and not understanding the ways that selkies are different from humans. And, best of all, the intimate scenes are well written delicate fade-to-black moments that enhance the story.


While I normally am not a fan of a story where the woman is forced to choose in a lover's triangle, in the end, Effie's choices are less about the men she must choose (or not!) and more about what sort of life she chooses to live.

I've always been enthralled by songs and stories of selkies, so it was fun to read something new that featured them.

When widowed mother, Effie's, almost solitary existence is interrupted by a mysterious basket borne to her on the ocean waves, her maternal instinct takes over and she brings the babe home with her.

As her foster daughter grows alongside her own son, the child's father suddenly appears one night, hoping to take her home. But he recognizes the bond that's developed between Effie and the child, so proposes an unusual arrangement. Effie will care for the girl, and Lachlan, the father, will visit every six months and pay Effie for her services with a pearl.

But challenges await each of them, including discovering the answer to what it really means to be a family.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and its characters. Thank you, NetGalley, Elisabeth Hobbes and One More Chapter for an advance review copy.

Because of family issues regarding elderly parents, I was not able to complete the review at this time, but am running a spotlight per Rachel's Random Resources.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for giving me this ebook in return for a review.

This is an interesting and sweet story exploring the idea of motherhood and the very romantic legend behind selkies.

The main character of Effie is very well drawn and her desire to bring up both her son and her foundling daughter are convincing. The central love triangle shows her pulled in vastly different directions as she carefully considers which would be the better choice for her.

This is an undemanding and pleasant read that I would recommend to people who are interested in reading supernatural fiction for the first time as it doesn’t stretch too far from reality.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUk for a digital arc of #DaughterOf TheSea by Elisabeth J Hobbes.

This book blew me away. What an utterly charming, magical, romantic, mystical and beautifully written tale.

The power of the sea. As one wave takes Effie’s husband away another washes in a basket containing a beautiful baby girl.
Effie takes the baby and brings her up as her own, along side her own son.
A year down the line, a strange man appears at Effie’s door claiming to be the baby’s father.
Who will bring the baby up? And what will the future hold for them all?

Like the mysteries of the sea, this book will draw you in and take you back to Victorian times on the coast.

An absolutely delightful read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Daughter of the Sea by Elisabeth Hobbes is a wonderful ‘folk tale’ set in Victorian England in northern Yorkshire. The author wonderfully combines mythical/supernatural elements with historical romance. The story was easy to read and the setting descriptions were excellent. You can smell the ocean and feel the tide crashing on the shore. The majority of the story takes place in a tiny seafaring village Allendale Head (which are based on Robin Hood’s Bay and Runswich Bay on the northern Yorkshire coast where the author spent some of her summers as a child).

The characters are wonderfully deep and rich. Most of the main characters are victims of prejudices of one kind or another. They are outsiders who are partially accepted in Allendale Head. I was pleased with how the author had such a wonderful sense of place. The primary female character exhibits a strong gift of giving of herself. She jumps in to help even at times when one would intrinsically question her choices.

The story will completely draw the reader in from the start. I was hooked reading about mythical/supernatural elements and the windswept English coastline. I was also intrigued by the author’s comments at the end. The story came to ‘life’ as a story written for a Romantic Novelist Association contest. The story was chosen as the winner of the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy. The author was encouraged to take the story further and this is the result. Well done!

I would like to thank Elisabeth Hobbes, One More Chapter Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Daughter of the Sea is a wonderful, wonderful book and a must-read! Such powerful writing, such captivating characters, a story that draws you in like the tide in the ocean. It’s mystical, magical, lyrical. Time moves slowly, but suspense and desire and anxiety build and build and build.

Effie has a bleak and lonely life. It’s been that way since her parents died and she went to live with her grandmother, Alice, a healer often thought by the townsfolk to be a witch. She was never accepted in her small fishing village, shunned, avoided, always an outcast. Effie thinks there must be more to life but she doesn’t think she’ll ever experience more than her day-to-day routine. And there is a part of her that doesn’t want to be “just like them.” A strong, stubborn streak in her that doesn’t really want to conform, not if it means repudiating her grandmother and giving up herself. She has Baby Jack, her son, and a fisherman husband who is away more than he is home, but that suits them. And one day she rescues a baby from the sea. The next day she learns her husband John has been lost in that same sea. Bleak, yes, but with Baby Jack and Baby Girl and her grandmother Effie’s life is as full as she ever expected it to be.

There is also Lachlan. Mysterious, maybe a little dangerous, but who lights a fire of desire in Effie. There is a pull between them, a connection. And of course there is Walter, her friend since childhood. He is a good man and wants there to be more between him and Effie. He wants to take care of her. But Walter is very much a product of his time, his place, his upbringing and while Effie truly values him as a friend – one of the few friends she has – something inside her chafes at the idea of letting more grow between them. She fears if she gives in to Walter she may have up something of her essential self.

Daughter of the Sea will transport you to another place, will make you yearn for more for Effie and her babies, and will make you feel everything the characters are feeling: hopeful, hopeless, sad, joyous, pain, sorrow, anger, and fear for what Jack’s life might become if she lets others have their way, and a mother’s fierce love for Morna warring with a mother’s fierce desire to let that child live the best life it can, even if it means giving her up.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK One More Chapter for providing an advance copy of Daughter of the Sea via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest review. This is a wonderful story that educated me, enthralled me, enchanted me, made me laugh, made me cry, and kept me engrossed until the very last page. Elisabeth J. Hobbes is an author I will follow from now on. All opinions are my own.

Effie finds a child in the sea, wrapped in a sealskin. Since losing her husband, she has been lonely and fostering this child gives her a new lease on life. When a stranger comes, claiming he is the babe's father, Effie must adjust to a new way of thinking, and acceptance of the otherworldly. Excellent writing and recommended.

I Loved the Yorkshire coast setting as Whitby is not far from me. The story had me totally hooked from page one. I couldn't put this book down once I started it ! Loved it. Thank you HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the read

A windswept English coastline many years ago - a local girl, Effie, love walking along the shoreline. She sees some sort of package, wades out and finds a baby girl wrapped in a seal skin. She takes the baby home to join her existing baby boy on the basis that with someone will come forward to claim her.

At more or less the same time she hears that her husbands fishing boat has been lost at sea with no survivors.

This fostering story is beautifully told with such a wonderful character as Effie who is a strong girl resisting close male company and is not keen on religion to alienate herself from some people in her small village.

Lovely passages of her hard life mixed with other fantasies; it would not be in anybody's interests to spoil the tale.

Thanks to One More Chapter and Net Galley for the chance read and review.

Daughter of the Sea by Elisabeth J. Hobbes is a beautifully written story from beginning to end. I am so glad that I chose to read it and I found it an amazing, compulsive read from the start.

The story focuses on Effie who loses her husband at sea. Effie is an outcast in her village, believed to be the granddaughter of a witch and on the same day as her fisherman husband’s ship goes down, she becomes a widow but then finds a baby girl on the shore, wrapped in a seal skin. Effie decides to foster this girl, this daughter of the sea. Set in a small fishing village on the Yorkshire coast, the tale is exceptionally well written and mesmerising. Full of mythology and romance it really is a delightful story. Very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from One More Chapter via NetGalley at my own request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed this book - a mixture of reality and myth. Effie finds a baby as she loses her husband to the sea. She fosters the child - Morna - and brings her up alongside her own son, Jack. Effie is an outcast in her village tainted by association with her grandmother - the local witch healer. No one claims the child until Midsummer when a man claiming to be her father arrives in the village. She continues to care for his daughter and at his six monthly visits Effie learns more about him and his daughter’s heritage as a Selkie. Effie is faced with choices as to her daughter’s future and her own.

This is essentially a romance and I enjoyed the growing relationship between Effie and Lachlan.

A heartwarming story - well worth a read.

Romance, sense of place, a bit of fantasy

I really really enjoyed this book and gobbled it up in just a day. Very good sense of place and time, you can just smell the sea. The characters are strong and interesting with romance and a touch of fantasy, what's not to love about this book? Highly recommended!

Thank you to the publisher who lent me a time-constrained e-arc via Netgalley. This review is optional and my own opinion.

EPIC!!

Daughter Of The Sea was such a beautiful story I don't know what to write here to make it justice, I'll try without spoil the storyline and preserve the beauty of discovering and experience these characters for the first time like I did.

My favourite character, and It couldn't be otherwise, is Effie ,the heroine. She is a fierce and strong woman, she isn't afraid of the villagers judgement, she makes difficult choices for her children's welfare and she is ahead of her time. She tells her story without shadowing her feelings, I grew attached to her and to her kids instantly and I flew through the pages wishing they'll find their happiness.

I've read only one other book written by Elisabeth Hobbes and even if this feels totally different, the romantic side of the story is always wonderfully delivered.

This is definitely my faourite book of the month and maybe of the year...I recommend to read it as soon as possible.

This was an entertaining read but it didn’t live up to its potential, which is a shame. There was a lack of depth, lack of backstory, and too much internal dialogue. Was it a good way to spend a snowy day? Yes, but the wow factor just wasn’t there. And I heartily disliked the love triangle.

I didn't really expect to enjoy this - I usually prefer my reading modern and based in fact so I was dubious about a "fairy tale" . However I really loved this - I've read tales of selkies but this made it real. The relationships were beautiful, the characters believable. What was really interesting was the development of Effie's son Jack, her acceptance of his differences. This brought home how autism has progressed, but how children have always been affected - reading it and knowing Jack was autistic made a difference whereas at the time he would have been seen as slow and different. A beautiful read. #netgalley #daughterofthesea

I had heard of selkies before but this story bought them to life in a fascinating way. Well written and gripping from the start.
Effie wants to be an independent woman, with a Grandmother like Alice she has a good example to follow.
Full of strong female characters, Effie is a widow with a baby son to support, after her husband John a fisherman is drowned she is offered a mangle so she can support herself by taking in washing. The shortsightedness of offering this to all three widows seems ludicrous to her. Effie has never been fully accepted by the villagers as she was pregnant when she married.
The hardship of people especially the women who rely on Alice for medicines and potions leaves you feeling every harsh turn of events.
Effie spots a baby in a basket in the sea, rescues her and saves her life. The mysterious baby girl forms a bond with Effie and her son Jack, she lives with them happily until her Father returns to see her, the attraction between Lachlan and Effie is the start of a deeply moving story.
Thank you NetGalley and Elizabeth.

So completely not my usual read. I loved it! Fantasy, legends, witchcraft. Kept me interested from the first to the last page, never knowing where the story was going to take me.