Customer Reviews

The Boundless Deep

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Kitty Bryant invites her niece Jane and her best friend grad student Liza Donovan to spend their summer break on Nantucket. Liza hopes to learn about people she has been dreaming of, especially nineteenth century whaler Obadiah Young. Aunt Kitty owns the Young estate amongst other properties.

On Nantucket Liza meets and dates whaling museum associate curator Adam Gallagher while Kitty's godson Lucian Theriault is also staying with her. Jane has mixed feelings over the latter as he was both friend and pest when she was growing up, but now is quite a hunk. Meanwhile Liza finds her dreams turning towards erotica while also finding her self drawn to the stairs in which Obadiah's foreign wife Lucy died and still haunts. With Adam's help, she investigates what happened to the wife over a century and a half ago; hoping to solve the woman's death and free her from the dreams that haunt her.

More a romance than a mystery, fans will enjoy this fun paranormal tale starring likable modern day protagonists. The story line is fascinating as much of the clues occur in Liza's dreams; giving the plot an otherworldly feel to it and frustrating Lucian who competes with a dead man for Liza's affection. Paranormal romance fans will especially enjoy the well written THE BOUNDLESS DEEP and seek Kate Brallier's previous similarly unique novel, SEAL ISLAND.

Harriet Klausner

I wanted this book to swallow me in the whale tale, reincarnation theme as promised from the description on the back cover. Instead, I drowned on the poor grammar and weak writing. The characters were constantly shrugging, chuckling, winking, lingering, blushing and nodding. Instead of escaping in the story line, I was bogged down on the bodily actions of the characters. Lucian shrugged, giggled, smoldered, whispered, stammered and tightened. As a genre, Romance is filled with these tags, and I love to read a good romance. The tags usually propel the story forward and add tension between the characters, but in The Boundless Deep the tags were too distracting, bumbling, oafish, and numerous. I am disappointed that such a great story idea was hidden under the writing and The Boundless Deep could have and should have been a better read. The potential, capability, capacity, facility, thought and design were all present, but the words got in the way of making this a memorable work of fiction.

Bought her first book about seals. Was intrigued. So I bought this one too. Love it. It was better than the first. I found it to be quite captivating. She takes you through time in a way where you don't get lost which happens a lot when people go back in time.

It's a tale of discovery. A bunch of young folks meet up at the same place by chance. Dreams have a way of revealing their true purposes. Along the way I got a big history lesson in a way that I didn't find to be mundane. Which is saying a lot since I hated history class.

It was truly a very entertaining book. I've read it several times.

This book is an uneven mashup of bodice ripper Harlequin Romance and supernatural YA. I give the author credit for having done her historical research and the writing is probably at its best during the reincarnation flashbacks, but other than that, this was a sad mess. The present day characters talk more like high schoolers than grad students and the character of Lucian I found unlikable. The way the niece talked to her aunt I found unbelievable and embarrassing. I think the author tried to put together too many themes and if she had concentrated on writing a historical romance, she would have had a better chance of success. She doesn't seem to have a realistic grasp of modern day characters and thus I found many of the situations and conversations awkward at best.

This book starts out with a dram that the heroine, Liza, has about whaling in the mid-1800's. The prose used to describe this dream is amazing, and pulls you right into the story located on Nantucket Island.

The story is about a love so strong and deep that it defines time. The souls are pulled together to deal with the occurances and tragedy of what happened in the 1840's, living again to make things right. It is told from Liza's point of view. What I really loved about this book is the fact that when the events of the 1840's fold out, the narritive is very...formal. And when it's just modern day Liza, it's fun and upbeat.

Some people thought the story cliched, and usually I can figure these things out, but I must admit that I didn't until everything revealed itself. I loved the love stories, both from the past and the modern one.

This book stayed with me long after I finished. I plan on reading Ms. Brallier first book, Seal Island, because the couple from that book makes an appearance in this one.

A pleasure to read for so many reasons! Fun, eccentric characters, exciting whaling history, beautiful Nantucket location, 2 hot guys, one lucky girl, fascinating secret, etcetera...etcetera... This book is candy, candy and more candy!

Reminiscent of Anya Seton's Green Darkness. This romantic story keeps you on your toes and has a bonus peek into Whaling in New England during it's peak. If you like time travel and supernatural romance go and read this, you'll enjoy it. I really loved Seal Island her first novel.

I picked this up from the library because of the topic of whaling and the cover blurbs comparing Brallier favorably to Mary Stewart. I was hoping for more substance because Stewart's heroines generally learn quite a bit about themselves and prove to be both resourceful and resilient in the course of their romances. Instead, I was presented with a mildly entertaining and predictable piece of fluff.

It was obvious very early on in the novel which man Liza would end up with. The "mystery" involving the 1800s was also pretty obvious. I guessed the main twists long before the Liza did, and kept wondering why she was so dense on this particular matter.

Liza is likable enough, as are all the characters in the novel, but she didn't have much depth to her. Brallier's attempts to give Liza angst and conflict pretty much fall flat. Liza says she's concerned about her mental health, but at no point does she ever behave as though this were the case. Other than an easily overcome reluctance to disclose her visions of a past life, she's absurdly well adjusted for someone who ought to be schizophrenic given her history of visions. Further, why would Liza continue a sexual relationship with a man for as long as she did when she was interested in another? Moreover, the guy couldn't stop talking about his ex-girlfriend, calls Liza by the wrong name on at least 3 occasions, and Liza still sleeps with him! Brallier's purported excuse for Liza, that she was with the guy who "believed" her dreams and visions, was unconvincing. I'm left thinking Brallier believes having any man (as long as he's cute) is better than having no man.

I was also left remarking that all Liza ever seemed to do was dream about sex, eat, have sex, eat, hear other people having sex, eat, dream some more about sex, eat, etc. Oh, and the man she is "destined" to be with also happens to be extremely wealthy. I just had to put the book down and laugh. This book reads like the wish fulfillment vehicle of a teenager with food, sex, and money hangups.

I loved this book!! This book made me think of a modern day Mary Stewart tale mixed with a healthy dose of Anya Seton's Green Darkness. If you like Gothic romance/mystery books pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.