The Last Mermaid

This romance novel has its roots in Kell, a mystical island off the shores of Scotland, and a siren who seduces a ship-wrecked prince in the sixth century. Tracing the family's ties forward to the eighteenth century and then to the twenty-first, the plot is teeming with seduction and intrigue. Jill Tanner makes good use of pace and accents to differentiate the characters. Her even storytelling brings out the relationships among the characters and the magic of Kell without overstatement. She draws out the passion between the characters without any hesitation, and its striking contrast to the calm and steady narration heightens the story's intensity. J.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine