Review: Maid for Him

Review: Maid for him... by Tori Carrington. Novella in Blazing Bedtime Stories, volume VI 

Mills & Boon 'Blaze' series (their sexier stories) is currently releasing a series of fairy-tale based anthologies called 'Blazing Bedtime Stories' - In volume VI of the US releases (the UK editions seem to be numbered a bit differently) we have 2 stories: Maid for Him... by Tori Carrington, a sexy reworking of The Little Mermaid and Off the Beaten Path by Kate Hoffmann which reworks Hansel and Gretel.

Since it is the mermaid connection I'm interested in, I'm going to ignore the other story, other than to say that for romance fans it's well worth checking out.

Maid For Him tells the story of Daphne Moore, a red-headed mermaid who is about to give up her land legs for good and dedicate herself to the service of the sea in a final ceremony, when she falls in love with human sail enthusiast Kieran Morrison. After saving him from a storm and indulging in one night of wild passion, Daphne begins to rethink her decision of giving up the human world completely. She goes to a sea-witch who tells her that if she can make Kieran marry her within 10 days then she can revoke her decision. There's one problem, Kieran has only just finalised a messy divorce and he has no interest in remarriage, no matter how tempting his mysterious siren may be.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one although it is sadly short so the emotional build-up of the romance is a bit lacking - you just have to take it on faith that our hero and heroine fall madly in love, pretty much on sight and are soul mates.

Big thumbs up from me on the mer content - I love the bit where Daphne falls asleep after saving Kieran and he wakes up on deck, draped with a fully tailed mermaid. I also enjoyed the scene where Kieran's parents arrive (he's not told them he's divorced) and his mother finds Daphne complete with tail in the bathtub. Reminded me a bit of the bathtub scene in 'Splash' but still really fun.    

The sex scenes are nothing extraordinary, but perfectly adequate, more romantic than erotic. The one really nice surprise was the full tail sex scene showing Kieran accepting Daphne for who she was. I also liked the rather sweet way that Kieran wanted to become a merman, rather than getting her to change, though of course, as she tells him, that's impossible since mermaids are born, not created.

The ending itself is a little too neat, but unlike the fairytale does have a happy ending for which I was very glad, since I did find myself caring for these characters.

Maid for Him then is a nice, sexy retelling of the little mermaid and didn't disappoint on that score - it did everything I wanted it to - a romance with a fishtailed mermaid. Hurrah. It is a little short and lacks the depth of a full length novel, but it's a fun whimsical read that should delight mermaid and romance enthusiasts.

6/10