Planting Pearls by Virginia King (Book 1 in The Secrets of Selkie Moon series)

 Planting Pearls is the recently published prequel/book one to the Selkie Moon series by Virginia King. I have read all of the books in the series and really liked Planting Pearls. If you have already read some of the other books in the series, you will like reading more of the story as to how Selkie got to Hawaii and her new start and how she met several of the recurring characters that you love. If you are new to the series, Planting Pearls will really grab you and I am sure you will move quickly to the next book.

The Selkie Moon series is a good combination of women's fiction, mystery/supernatural.

About: 

"A new name and a new home.

A scary ex-husband ...

And a ghost.

When Selkie Moon escapes her controlling husband to start a new life in Hawaii, she's under pressure to support herself, stay hidden from her ex, and trust her new friends. But when she encounters a so-called haunting, Selkie delves into the mystery surrounding the old Honolulu house. Are there dark forces at work and is a young child in danger?  Or is something else going on?"

My thoughts: As the story begins, Selkie has planned her "escape" from her controlling husband. As she travels from Australia to Hawaii, she receives threatening texts from him. The suspense begins there as we can feel how he is stalking her. 

Selkie finds a room mate under serendipitous circumstances. Wanda is an artist in Waikiki. She makes "fish art." The one room apartment is also shared by Doris, Wanda's shop dummy that she collected. Plenty of room for Shona, Selkie's statue from Zimbabwe that she has brought all the way from Australia.

As Selkie is setting up her new life, she becomes involved in a mystery. Her new friend Derek, has a business investigating "surreal" phenomena and she accompanies him on an investigation. Is a ghost haunting the property that Hudson and Gracie have bought to begin their new life and is their 5 year old daughter Sage, in contact with the spirit of another young girl? All the while, Selkie continues to receive threatening texts from her husband.

This book is full of suspense and danger that will keep you turning the pages. 

I really like the other books in the series that follow Selkie as she becomes more and more independent. Selkie's seminar business takes her to other countries in the books. In each one, she becomes involved in a local mystery. We learn about different folklore and the countries where the books are set in.

Bonus! Tuesday February 23rd, Planting Pearls free and all the books in the series are on sale.  The First Lie is $2.99 and the rest of the novels are $3.99. 

About the author:

When a voice wakes you up in the middle of the night and tells you to write a fiction series, what’s a writer to do? That’s how I came to create Selkie Moon, after this nocturnal message. I sat down at the keyboard until Selkie Moon turned up -- a modern woman with a mythical name. Soon I was hooked, exploring far-flung places full of secrets where Selkie delves into psychological clues tangled up in the local folklore.

Before Selkie Moon invaded my life, I'd been a teacher, an unemployed ex-teacher, the author of over 50 children’s books, an audio-book producer, a workshop presenter and a prize-winning publisher. These days I live in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney with my husband, where I disappear each day into Selkie Moon’s latest mystery. Bliss.

I really think you would like this series!

 

Here's what happened....

 Looking at my last post, I had no idea it was January since I posted. 

We got so busy at work, (at home) that I was working an hour longer each night.  Then we were all warned of the Polar Vortex. Cute cartoons came out, spoofs on children's show with Mr. Freeze popped up.

I went to the store on Tuesday to get some groceries so I could make "hearty meals" when PV showed up.

Thursday at 1 p.m., PV's sent his helper, Mr. Freezing Rain, while taking my lunch break, power loss #1 happened. Came on middle of the night then off. Couldn't work Friday. This went on all weekend with power off more than on. Then Sunday night - Monday early a.m., PV made an appearance. Snow, rain, sleet, on and on. And it got cold. Power went off and stayed off. The night time temps were 18, 9, 6 and daytime 20. Hadn't been able to get fire logs the week before when we tried. We were told at several stores, "We don't have anymore. It is supposed to be spring here now, so we don't order anymore". 

We had some propane and a heater so we used that and made fires from real wood. Not that easy. Drove the car around the block when we could to charge phones and make sure the car would start. 

Yeah! The power came on Wednesday night. We had really been without steady power for 6 days at that point. Oooops. No water and still no water. So we have been collecting snow before it melted and filled up every water type pitcher, thermos, pot and pan when I noticed the pressure didn't seem right. 

Here we are 1 1/2 weeks later. 50 degrees, sunny, everything melting. Still no water but things don't seem as bad in the sun and now that PV and bag of tricks have left.

Some people still don't have power in the state, most of our city does not have water and the stores are out of food because they lost power also. People bought what they could ahead and then the stores probably had to throw out a lot of frozen food. But they say the trucks are out delivering to restock and the water tanks are filling up. I am still leery of using too much electricity, for fear of blowing it out again.

No I didn't get a lots of books read because there was a lot of effort trying to keep warm, make some kind of food on the grill and do some crosswords by candlelight. 

I also wasn't able to record Scarlett and the Duke, Creatures Great and Small and Nancy Drew! I think I can find them "on demand".

Back to books! Coming up, Planting Pearls by Virginia King.