Spirit Bound (Sea Haven: Sisters of the Heart Book 2)

Being an avid fan of Christine Feehan makes one understand the uniqueness of her talent. Ms Feehan has an amazing ability to write about her characters instead of shoveling them into her style of writing. It is a gift that continues to astound me. Sometimes she will write a book that I find boring, insipid or even just uninteresting, then I will really look at the characters and I realize it's not the book... I know why write about such characters? Well because they are pivotal to the main arc and others might enjoy their stories and most importantly Ms Feehan needs to write them. When I read such a book I usually place it aside only to be re read if I am reading the entire series in order. Spirit Bound is not such a book.. Ms Feehan has eclipsed herself in this book.I love words, absolutely love words.. there are so many wonderful words, some that slip silently off your tongue, others that virtually dance on air. Words that hurt and words that heal.. Words that bring a character to life and other words that kills the plot. The ability to mix together the proper words is what a writer focuses on. How does she bring her characters to life? How does she show us their world, share with us their life's journey? When done right.. oh the joy we receive. In Spirit Bound.. Ms Feehan does it oh so right!! Ms Feehan, continues her Sisters of the Heart Series.. about a group of unique women who have survived individual tragedy and come out stronger.. They find each other in therapy and form a tight circle, creating their own family.. literally Sisters of the Heart. We were introduced to these women in Water Bound and had a taste of their individual talents in Spirit Bound we see a little bit more of each of them and they definitely make fascinating secondary characters and I will touch on them a bit more later on. While I enjoyed Water Bound it had a bland feel to it.. it was too regimented and contained of course Rikki, the heroine of the book was autistic and as I stated in my opening paragraph Ms Feehan writes her books around her characters. Rikki needed bland and regimented but in Spirit Bound we focus on Judith. Who is anything but bland!! She is vibrant and alive and filled with color. Ms feehan brings her to life completely!In Spirit Bound we meet Stefan Prakenskii the third Prakenskii brother. He is deep undercover ready to continue his life in the shadows.. knowing that is all his life can ever be, gray and dismal, bleak but he has a purpose. He is driven to remove as much of the truly evil element from the world as possible. To take them down as he hides his true self deep within, knowing eventually the man he is will destroy the man he could be. All he clings to is the love he has for the brothers he barely remembers. When his assignment parallels a threat to Lev, one of his brothers he leaps to defend Lev and complete the assignment by any means possible.While in prison, pretending to be an upper echelon thug, trying to get close to Crime Lord, Boss, Resident Evil extraordinaire, Jean-Claude La Roux; Stefan has the opportunity to study Judith. As his target is completely and totally obsessed with her. Years ago Jean-Claude met and fell in love with a young innocent artist whose innocence and beauty shines through the very pictures on the wall. Calling out to not only Jean-Claude but Stefan as well. As his assignment leads him to Sea Haven and Judith and Lev Stefan creates an entire new persona to infiltrate the town.Judith, a beautiful woman with a tormented past. Years of self recrimination forces her to attempt to control her gift. She compartmentalizes parts of her self forcing herself to remain calm and focused and never letting herself feel anything in the extreme and certainly never the negative emotions (For all you Nalini Singh readers out there it reminded me of how the Psy removed all emotions and created the alter netmind.. ) While this allows her to heal from the debilitating grief caused from her past, it also destroys parts of herself. Even her art has changed... less of her joie de vivre shines through. And always an aura of sadness wraps itself around her. To the extent that instead of rejoicing in the life she has created she spends many hours hiding in the dark, creating a room of revenge. Ms Feehan delighted me while introducing both Judith and the room with the following passage"DARK purples swirling with black lines moved across the high cobalt ceiling, weeping crystalline tears. With so much sorrow filling the room, floor to ceiling, simple stone and wood could barely contain the intensity of emotion. Sorrow lived and breathed. Rage moved in the walls, breathing in and out, so that the slashes of red and orange undulated, bulging outward and then pressing back, great gulps of air to control the force of anger, the need for retribution, for vengeance. Rage lived and breathed alongside sorrow there in the spacious confines of the large, dark studio. A breeze drifted in from the open French doors leading to the patio and backyard where great grasses obscured all view of the studio from outside, teasing at the flames flickering at the tip of each of the dark candles illuminating the paintings. The dancing light caught glints of jagged glass embedded in the dark, angry paintings. Bold, red Japanese characters wept out a single name--Paul Henderson. [1]"When Judith and Stefan meet it is instant attraction and Ms Feehan creates a relationship that sizzles with sensuous delight. It is a fast paced and unlikely relationship and yet completely believable. You, understand their almost compulsion like need for each other. Stefan, for the first time in his life finds it impossible to remain in character and parts of his real self keep revealing themselves to Judith. Judith begins to trust, really trust for the first time in years.. and as Stefan gradually reveals more and more of himself she falls deeper in love.The necessary evil in this book is two tiered and most excellently combined. Stefan has to learn how to rely on Levi and how to trust Judith. He doesn't quite get the concept of total honesty and Levi, the baby brother, is the one to show him the way. I liked the way the brothers interact and renew their relationship. In a way forging new ties.. with the childhood as a foundation. We do get to spend a teeny bit of time with Jonas and we see Aleksandr as the interesting and intriguing man that he is. Both Levi and Stefan recognize him for the predator he was originally written as. Which I enjoyed immensely as in the last few Drake novels, Ilya comes to power and Aleksandr comes off as the red headed step child. It's nice to remember that he too is a dangerous man. What I didn't like, is once again we didn't get to see Ilya as he is off on a prolonged honeymoon with Joley. I want that reunion!!I will promise you this.. as far as I am concerned this was one of Ms Feehan's BEST books! Her characters are passionate, loyal, driven and totally perfect just as they are. I rarely give a five star review as that needs to be with held for the best of the best but believe me, this one earns all five stars.Shauni

I enjoyed this book and the action was good. For some reason, I didn’t feel as connected with Stefan & Judith. Not sure why. Perhaps it’s because their relationship developed too quickly so I didn’t really get to know them as a couple. I like how strong Stefan is and how caring he is to her. The action was interesting with 2 villains gunning for them. This was an enjoyable book, and there were some exciting moments but overall, it didn’t resonate with me as much.

Spirit Bound was a really good read and second in an excellent series.Judith, who lives on a farm in Sea Haven with her chosen sisters has a traumatic past. She is an artist who hides and is anti-social, just like the rest of her sisters.Stefan, just like his brothers has an extremely dark past and chooses not to feel, he is a ruthless chameleon.When Stefan receives an assignment that takes him to Sea Haven he is suspicious of the reasons he is sent and is determined to find his brother. When he arrives in Sea Haven he immediately seeks out Judith and an instant, uncontrollable attraction ensues. He is drawn to Judith and the way she makes him feel. Judith is just as drawn to him, she has felt like an automaton for a long time and Stefan makes her instantly happy and full of joy, she instantly trusts him no matter how much she finds out about him and his past ( the trust, I think, is because of how their powers meld so well) The way they both work through their pasts while they are both exploring the feelings they bring out in each other snags you and makes you want to continue to read. This story has two mysteries involved. One involving Judith's past and one involving Stefan and his brothers. It's another piece to the puzzle of the Prakenskii brothers, and keeps you hanging for the next book. I read a lot and I don't find pleasure in many books any more because most of them are just average, but I am excited to read these stories and for the next installment that I am sure will come. The bond that grows between Judith and Stefan is strong. I am committed to these stories because one they are a lot like the Drake sisters and two because I feel like Feehan has grown a lot with her writing. I've never been super happy about the Carpathian series, but this book is an excellent read and worth your time. I'll admit, having to wait for the rest of the puzzle pieces for the Prakenskii brothers is a tad irritating, but it adds to the overall appeal to the series. We will eventually find out, but it's a matter of waiting for each piece of the puzzle to fall into place. I hope you take the time to read this series you will like it especially if you like a complicated weaving of people, lives and pasts. Happy reading!

The book for me was enthralling! With that statement, I must say that Judith's stalker's end was spooky, but a disappointment. The other bad guy's ending, Stephan's nightmarish childhood competitor, was a relatively tame ending for a hellish being. There also seemed to be a bit of jerking around within the plot- almost as if scenes had been cut out. The end didn't FEEL like the end. You went from the result of the villans' deaths to the weddings. Dischordant. You can see the set up of further books, which I have no problem with. Just makes me want to read them more! The story was focused mostly on Stephan. Judith had great promise that wasn't fully fleshed out. The sensuality between the main characters, mostly driven by Stephan's character, was enthralling, compelling. You don't see much co-operative work within the 'sister' structure as you do with the Drake series, but you can see it forming. I was expecting more of Judith, within the plot and within the scope of her using her elemental abilities. Stephan could not have been improved upon in my eyes, and Judith just doesn't live up to his intensity. She pretty much took a back seat for over half the book, in my opinion.I don't think a person could come into this series and fully understand it without reading the Drake sisters series and Water Bound, due to so many references to their backgrounds and characters. The story does bring more humanity to Lev/Levi's character, showing a warmth and honesty in his and Rikki's relationship.When I finished reading the last chapter, I felt a huge NEED to continue reading the next book(s). (Which aren't published yet!) The reader is left with a desire, a requirement, to discover more of the 'sisters' story and an almost certainty of the rest of the magical brothers. (Halleluah! :0) As with re-reading the Drake Sisters series (several times over in the past <wide grin> Eventually bought my own set instead of borrowing from the library!), I can foresee re-reading many times the completed set as it is developing into another fascinating series. Ms Feehan, can you please get them out faster? I'm incredibly eager to read the whole series! :-)

feehan always delivers, and this book is no exception, while set in sea haven there is not so much of a crossover with the drake sisters, they do refer to events which happened in that series, so if you are like me and have to know everything, it's probably a good idea if you have read the drake books. The "SISTERS OF THE HEART" are all women who have suffered loss and have been the victims of violet crime, they came together as members of a support group and moved to sea haven to start over, each using their own unique talents to make a success of their farm. In the drake series we were intorduced to ilya prakenskii who was the 7th son of a 7th son, and i think these books have his six brothers as the heros, in water bound we met lev and in this book it's stefan, these brother separated as children and brought up in institutions where they were forced to hone their psychic skills and train as espionage experts, it was survival of the fittest, but some familial feeling has survived but the brothers "so far" have managed to survive but somebody has decided they have outlived their usefulness and wants them killed, in sea haven they will make their last stand as each brother takes a chance on love.

I have to agree with most of the other reviewers, this was not one Christine Feehan's better efforts. The plot suffers from a serious lack of development and both the main characters are very 2 dimensional. Judith has suffered great tragedy in her life. Her parents died when she was young. Then she falls in love with an international gangster who has her beloved brother tortured to death after she escapes his nefarious clutches. Despite all this she manages to build a successful artistic career and owns her own shop while also managing a local gallery. A strong and dynamic woman one would think. Unfortunately not. As soon as she meets Stefan she falls apart and becomes a bit of a swooner. Stefan, on the other hand, reminds me of one of CF's Carpathian males, but without the depth. There are a few scenes/events in the story that are quite good, however, rather than the characters driving the story, it seems that they are just rushing from one crisis to the next with very few linking events. It may well be worth waiting to read this book until after the 3rd book in the series comes out. On its own it is not a very good book, only as part of a good (hopefully) series.

Love this series of books sea haven/Drakes this is Judith's story in the sisters of the heart series . I have read it numerous times along with the rest of the series.They are comfortable reads and it's the thrill of dangerous men and courageous women . Not going to say anything more than read the series it's fab 😛

Great plot, strong characters, smooth writing and lots of tension. If I didn't have to keep skipping the sex scenes there'd be nothing to complain about here at all. Most of those could have been left out, the rest is good enough that they actually let the book down by cheapening a very solid product.