Eternal Sea by Alice Alfonsi is part of the Haunting Hearts series published by Penguin Putnam.

This novel is the story of a young woman escaping from her rich life and the ghost of a man who wasted his own. In the year 1849 Eric Wolfe, a Captain known as the Sea Wolf was murdered as he struggled to complete the last request of Jenny Smithton, the woman who would have been his wife if only her illness had not taken her from him.

Placing their locks of hair in the mysterious urn Eric breathed his last wish, that the sea would take him.  And so it did…for 140 years he served with his crew on the ghost ship Windward invisible to the world except when saving lives in peril on the seas.

Miranda Burke is a young woman with a fortune held in trust for her by her aunt and uncle who she has lived with since the deaths of her parents.  As they try to mould her into their ideal niece Miranda rebels and seeks sanctuary from them in her boat The Sea Sprite.  It is on one of her jaunts along the coast that she comes across the deserted Blue Nights Cottage and decides that this would be the perfect place to hide out from her family before they take over her life completely.

Miranda did not reckon with having to persuade the ghostly owner of the house to let her stay.  But after her initial run from the ghostly cottage Miranda soon returns to stake her claim.

Eric is shocked when Miranda shows that she can not only see and hear him but also see and hear his crew.  After an initial comical interlude where the crew of his ship insists that she can see and hear them he soon realises that he is more real to Miranda than he has ever been to anyone else.

Coming to a compromise Eric agrees to let Miranda stay in his cottage while he is on leave from the ghost ship.  And inevitably their love for each other grows in this isolated time.

However not everyone wants to see Eric and Miranda happy.  Apart from their own reservations due to Eric’s non-mortal state they also have to contend with the captain of a devil ship who is seeking revenge on Eric even 140 years after he murdered him.  And of course Miranda’s family will not let her or her fortune leave their grasp without a fight and set about tracking her down immediately.

As the forces against them are closing in Eric realises that they cannot have a future together and leaves on his ghost ship once more, this time not to cross paths with Miranda for another ten years.

Together again after all this time Eric is shocked at the change that has come over his “little mermaid”.  She seems to have lost her spirit and can no longer see or hear him.  But the evil that drove them apart ten years ago is still there waiting for its final revenge and somehow Eric must bring back the Miranda he fell in love with so that they can battle the danger together.

This book was advertised to me as very much resembling The Ghost and Mrs Muir.  As such I was reluctant to read a book so similar to one of my favourite movies in case it fell short of my high expectations.  However I am glad to say that I was completely wrong and this book is a delight of romance and adventure on both land and sea.

Some delightful twists on the reincarnation theme add to the story and the ghostly crew of the Windward provide numerous moments of humour to the strongly emotional story.

This is a book that should not be missed.
 

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Also by Alice Alfonsi:  Eternal Love, Eternal Vows, Star of Wonder (anthology), and Some Enchanted Evening.