Review by Lissa Sloan: Sea and Stars

The Porter women have lived without men for generations, teaching their red-haired, green-eyed daughters the art of healing and how to nurture their unique fairy gifts, but never to wish for fathers or husbands. Now, following the death of her grandmother and aunts, Arabella lives alone on the Scottish isle of Skye, the last of the Porter line. But when a letter left behind by her long-dead mother reveals the identity of her father, Arabella breaks with tradition, journeying across the ocean to find him. She soon finds herself in a foreign land where her ways and her very presence are unwelcome. She has a new job in a strange house with a mysterious, gruff employer in a conventional town where everyone has a secret and no one is who they seem to be. 

Set on Skye and in Mystic, Connecticut in 1847, Sea and Stars glows with the confident storytelling and gorgeous language author Kelly Jarvis’ readers have come to expect. While she skillfully combines gothic suspense, a beautifully imagined setting, rich with complex historical detail, and folklore from both the old and new worlds, this story is more than a historical romance with a touch of fantasy magic swirled in. Woven throughout are sparkling threads of Animal Bridegroom tales like “Beauty and the Beast” and Search for the Lost Husband tales like “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” sure to delight fairy tale fans.

As Arabella navigates the challenges of life with a smoldering, secretive employer, she also struggles to make her peace with ghosts of the past and to find her place in a society much less tolerant of her and her beliefs. Arabella’s culture shock provides a thoughtful exploration of pre-Civil War New England society from a perspective much closer to our own. And while this story is a romance (and a spicy one at that), Jarvis also examines love between family and friends, as well as themes of grief, transparency (or lack of it), and trust.

Exciting, clever, heartfelt, and so beautifully written you just might weep, Sea and Stars shines. You can find it here. 

Lissa Sloan is the author of Glass and Feathers, a subversive continuation of the traditional Cinderella tale. Her fairy tale poems and short stories have appeared in The Fairy Tale Magazine, Niteblade Magazine, Corvid Queen, Three Ravens Podcast, Eternal Haunted Summer, and anthologies from World Weaver Press. Visit Lissa online at lissasloan.com, or connect on Facebook, Instagram, @lissa_sloan, X, @LissaSloan, or Bluesky @lissasloan.bsky.social.