What a compelling wonderful story. I headed into this one a little hesitantly as I am not a romance reader, but I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Hobbes writes a delicate and gentle fantasy romance that wraps itself around your imagination and carries you along on a beautiful old-fashioned journey.

I have not read anything by this author previously, but I won't hesitate to pick up whatever they write next. I'm so pleased I took a chance with this one. Trying something new can often result in a delightful new discovery and this is one of those occasions. Perhaps not a new favourite genre just yet, but a new author for sure.

4 Delightful stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much OneMoreChapter and NetGalley for giving me this ARC to review

I absolutely adored this book more than any other book I've read recently. It was totally unputdownable, and Effie's voice was so engaging that I had to finish the book in one sitting just to spend some more time with her )

I loved the juxtaposition of fantasy (i.e. the Selkies (one of my favourite myths)) in good old fashioned Yorkshire,

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Recommend to everyone.

Wow! This book is incredible! It is intriguing, gripping, enchanting, magical, romantic, heartfelt, heart-wrenching, and so much more! Whenever I picked up "Daughter of the Sea", I was whisked back in time, and went on such an emotional journey with this story.

This is the first book I have read by Elisabeth J. Hobbes, and it certainly will not be my last. Her writing style is visceral, vivid, descriptive, and truly grabs the reader from the very first page. Her storytelling is simply spectacular, and she seamlessly weaves together a story that is impossible to put down. Each moment throughout this book jumped right off of the page, and I often forgot that I was sitting on my couch. I felt like I was right there with the characters watching every scene. I could hear the waves crashing on the shore, the storms approaching, and so much more.

Effie, a young woman, is truly so strong, brave, selfless, caring, and intelligent. When she hears a baby's cry coming from the ocean. She soon finds a baby girl and brings her home, thinking she will take care of her along with her own son, Jack, until someone comes looking for the child. Effie soon finds out that the ship her husband was on has met with tragedy, and there are no survivors. Effie, who is sadly considered an outcast by many in her village, is now a widow. She has a friend in a man named Walter, though, Walter wants more from the relationship, where as Effie does not. Soon, Effie decides she will keep the little girl, though struggles to name her. Her grandmother, Alice, helps her watch the children, and it is clear from the start that the two kids love one another, and that Effie and Alice deeply love them both. Soon, Lachlan, the little girl's father, appears, and promises to visit every six months and give Effie payment of some sort for caring for his daughter. He tells her the girl's name is Morna, and that he will not take her away from Effie, as they have a strong bond. As the little girl grows and Effie realizes she (Morna) is drawn to the sea, Effie begins to have more and more questions. Lachlan soon tells her that both he and Morna are selkies, who can transform between seal and human form. Effie finds herself drawn to Lachlan, and is falling in love with him the more time they spend together. With her heart pulling her toward a future with Lachlan, and those around her telling her she should marry Walter for stability, Effie finds herself torn at first. When true colors show, will Effie follow what she thinks others believe is the right thing to do even though she knows it is wrong, or will she follow her own heart? You will just have to read to find out.

(Possible Spoilers!)
I found myself pulling for Effie and Lachlan throughout so much of the book. Not every moment in their relationship is smooth, and there is heartbreak and extremely difficult moments as truths come to the forefront. However, they truly make one another happy, and their love for both children is beautiful to read. You can feel Effie and Lachlan's chemistry, and many moments had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen. The ending is absolutely beautiful!

If you enjoy historical fiction, I highly recommend this book! I found myself turning the pages into the early hours of the morning, and so look forward to reading what Ms. Hobbes writes next.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins UK-One More Chapter and NetGalley for the ARC of this book, it is incredible! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It was the cry she first noticed, the plaintive wail that called to her over the crash of the winter waves. Wrapped only in a sealskin, the baby girl looks up at Effie and instantly captures her heart. She meant only to temporarily foster the young orphan, but when news reaches Effie that her husband had been lost at sea, and months pass without anyone claiming the infant, she embraces her new family - her son Jack and her adopted daughter, Morna. Effie has always been an outcast in her village, the only granddaughter of a woman people whisper is a witch. Then a man arrives claiming to be Morna's father.

When Morna's father arrives, Effie eventually forms a relationship with him. This is a beautifully written story that drew me in from the beginning. At first Effie didn't trust Lachlan, but they soon became friends and she falls in love with him. Effie is an independent woman in the late 1800s. You do have to suspend your belief this book of fantasy, friendship and love.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #OneMoreChapter and the author #ElisbethHobbes for my ARC of #DaughterOfTheSea in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book captivating. Selkies. Scotland. Magic. What's not to love? Ms. Hobbes wove a wonderful story.

Wow!
What a intriguing and unique storyline!
There is a magical element within the story that is so interesting and beautiful.
Daughter of the Sea will give you romance with a mix of mythical fantasy thrown in.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Set in Yorkshire in the Victorian era, Daughter of the Sea is a mix of romance and mythical fantasy. Effie is a young woman out gathering seaweed in the cool waters for she and her grandmother where she makes the startling discovery of a tiny baby. Her life changes from that moment as do those of others around her, including her wee son Jack. Effie experiences loss, sorrow, heartache, love and renewal. She also grows as she matures over the ensuing years. Mythical Selkies play a big role but real and myth are blended seamlessly. I felt a range of emotions whilst reading the vivid descriptions and about what it means to be human.

Hobbes writes with an astounding level of haunting gorgeousness, her words dripping with lovely descriptions, highly atmospheric. Yorkshire is one of my favourite places on the planet and I could easily envision the scenery and feel the wildness of even the mythical Selkies. Fantasy is not my cup of tea but this is written with such sincerity and believability it was easy to get enveloped in.

Readers of a wide range of genres would enjoy this but especially those who read Romance, Historical Fiction and Fantasy.

My sincere thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this fantastical book, one I typically would not choose but am so glad I did!

A widow with a baby boy hears a cry and finds a baby girl in a basket floating in the sea. She brings the girl home and nurses both babies. She lost her husband to the sea. A year later a man arrives at her door and claims to be the baby's father but allows her to continue to raise the girl. He returns every 6 months to see her.

A beautiful story set in Yorkshire. Effie, recently widowed finds a child in a basket in the sea. She takes her into her home to live with her son Jack and names her Morna. Six months later a man arrives to claim Morna as his child. They are both Selke's, that transform into seals and live partly at sea. This is a voyage of discovery for all concerned. Does Effie let her head rule her heart and marry Walter, a local man that adores her but will stifle her. Or. does she go with her heart and leave the village where she has lived for years?

A story of life in rural England and a visitor from Scotland, set in the late 1800's I would guess, though you were never really told where or when . A baby is rescued from the sea in a basket, naked except being covered by a seal skin. The woman, Effie, who rescues the baby loses her fisherman husband to the sea that same day. Effie takes the child in and raised her along with her young son. Life becomes complicated when the father, Lachlan finds his lost daughter, as this father is sometimes human and sometimes seal. A romance ensues. At times this was a little slow paced, but finished with a flourish. A good escapism story for which you need a little imagination! but has all the trappings of a good romance.

A wonderful and gentle romance about a woman called Effie who rescues a baby from the sea, the same day her husband's ship sinks.
What she does doesn't realise is that the baby is a Selkie, part of an ancient race of people who humans call seals. Once a seal sheds it's skin, then it transforms into a beautiful human looking creature.
So when a mysterious man shows up at her cottage a couple of years later and claims to be her new daughter's father, Effie slowly starts falling for him unaware of who or what he really is, or the consequences of her raising the child as her own.

Hands down the best book I’ve read in a really long time. I have never read anything even remotely in the fantasy category so at first I was a bit hesitant, but OMG! This is a beautiful story that captivated me right from the start. I was torn between racing through the pages to see how it ends and wanting it to never end. Never have I been happier to read an epilogue some 14yrs later to learn how Effie is doing. Simply wonderful! Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

Selkies. A lovely story about Effie, a grieving widow who finds a baby girl in the sea and raises her as her own with periodic visits from Lachlan, the child's father. There's something special about Mprna, and Lachlan too. Effie doesn't care what they are, nor does her son Jack, but others in the village have always looked askance at Effie because her grandmother was a healer so they keep things secret. There's a slow burn here and a nice sense of place. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Very much one where the reader must suspend belief and enjoy the tale.

What a beautiful story!

First let me say that this book was different than my usual genres, but I loved it so very much. Part historical, part fantasy and part romance, it touched my heart in a way few books do. Effie is a much stronger woman than was acceptable in her time, and her courageous way of not caring what others thought of her is a lesson more people need.

Effie loved her children deeply, despite one not being her biological child, protecting both of them from the nosy villagers, and she also felt love for Lachlan so strongly that doing so alienated her from others. I won’t say more, I don’t write spoilers but I also want you to experience this story on your own, be sure to have some tissues nearby, though.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Baby in a basket

This is a story of a legend of the Selkie. A lonely woman, an abandoned child and the sea. A fun and fanciful read to entertain you for a while as you dream of the sea and it's magic.

While gathering seaweed Effie finds a baby in a basket on the edge of the ocean wrapped only in a sealskin. She retrieves the girl from the water and takes her home and raises her with her son Jack. When her husband's fishing boat is sunk she clings more to her son Jack and the baby girl which she calls Morna.

The children help her with her loneliness as she is used to a solitary life being a bit of an outcast from the village for being the granddaughter of a woman they call a witch because she delves in herbal remedies. Her only friend is a man named Walter she has known for years.

One day a man named Lachlan arrives at her door and claims to be Morna's father. He agrees to allow Effie to raise Morna but he visits her twice a year at midsummer and midwinter. He tells her a tale of Selkies and the power of the sea.

I loved this story of a legend I read about a few times. It was a good story and very well written. I loved the characters and how Effie became an independent person and able to make her own decisions and stand up for herself as a woman.

I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Elisabeth J. Hobbes for writing a great story, to One More Chapter for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read.

I started reading this book with great hope. It captured my imagination and I enjoyed the first few chapters. However, I can’t cope with anything which is not grounded in reality, so abandoned it after the revelation. This is just me, and other readers may be more willing to suspend belief and enjoy the well written story for what it is. It just isn’t for me.

A captivating, wistful tale full of romance and light after dark. I love stories which explore fairy or folk tales, mixing magic with reality in just the right dose.

A romantic fantasy set in a recognisable Yorkshire landscape.

In the early nineteen-nineties, a famous commissioning editor proclaimed that his reading of the future fiction market was for “Erotica in a horror/fantasy landscape.” Thirty years on, this novel turns his specification upside-down.

The author allows herself only one fantastical premise (and this is a very traditional one) in that some individuals can be two different species and change forms at will, or according to their need. Pretty much everything else is solid and decently-researched eighteen-nineties Yorkshire. The landscape of this novel is born of observation and not fantasy. The local industry is correct (there was an episode of “Landscape Mysteries” by the Open University about this!) and we even see how pawnbrokers of the time manipulated prices to avoid the legal requirement to auction high-value unredeemed goods.

There are a couple of erotic scenes amidst all the Victorian morals, but while these are fantastical, they are not perverse.

The characters, regardless of species-shifting, are believable and the heroine’s heart versus head dilemma is complicated by the fact that her heart goes a bit in both directions, as does her head. There’s also a clear divide between being thoughtless or limited in scope and actual cruelty: both occur in the story but the author does not confuse the two.

The stories within this story question whether happy endings are real, but the real question is what is the heroine prepared to do for her happy ending and how does she even define “happy?”

This is a beautiful story. I was completely drawn in from the start. it was easy to read, but the descriptions were excellent. The prejudices and experiences of people who come from different backgrounds were clear throughout. The main character Effie was an outsider, who had come to the village to live with her grandmother after the death of her parents, who herself was only partly accepted. The village was set in a lovely location in Yorkshire and life for most revolved around the church and the local Allum industry. Effie didn't fit in either, although her only friend was the son of the Allum mines.
The daughter in the books title refers to the baby she fosters. This leads to many changes for herself and her family with the arrival of the baby's father. A delightful story to be enjoyed by many.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I was gripped from the very beginning, who is the child found by Effie in the sea & how did she get there?

Effie takes the baby in as her own and raises her alongside Jack, Effies birth child. One night a man knocks on the door claiming to be the girls father… who is the mysterious Lachlan, Effie doesn’t trust him at first however as time goes on & the story develops we are taken on a journey of fantasy, friendship & love.

I thought this was well written & each character described just as you would imagine them.

I recommend this book!

Thanks to the publisher & netgalley for an ARC of this book