THE COLOUR OF MERMAIDS by CATHERINE CURZON & ELEANOR HARKSTEAD

‘He’d survived whatever horror it was that had taken him into the darkness, and she couldn’t stand by and watch it destroy him.’

We really enjoyed the thrilling dark and emotional story in The Colour of Mermaids which is set in Brighton, England. It started quite slow with a steady sensually charged drum of a passionate affair between the dark and mysterious world renowned artist, Daniel Scott and the pragmatic fellow artist and humanitarian, Eva Catesby. Written in third person, it did take us a little while to fully immerse ourselves and emotionally connect to this story. However, we’re so glad we kept going, as what seemed originally quite morose yet artistically sensual, became quite dark and somewhat sinister.

‘He’d become a brand and people read their own pain in his art.’

Eva meets Daniel at an exhibition held in honour of the man himself and his dark and tormented art. Unbeknownst to her, Daniel overhears her critique him in an honest and somewhat unfavourable way and immediately becomes both intrigued and attracted to this fierce and honest woman. A sexually charged relationship begins, where both Eva and Daniel exorcise quite a few demons. As they learn more and more about each other, the onion begins to peel, showing what a truly complicated man Daniel is due to a heart-breaking past of secrets and lies. His current struggle with reality pouring out in his paintings. When Eva’s daily life becomes a bit of a scary situation Daniel’s past becomes intrinsically entwined.

“I almost fell in love with you.”

The Colour of Mermaids, whilst quite slow suddenly becomes an emotional, dark and gripping suspenseful romance. The darkness increased as secrets were exposed, yet the romance built into a beautiful love affair. Eva was a feisty and no-nonsense heroine, who sees the soft compassionate heart underneath all the hard and arrogant edges of Daniel Scott. A man who is self-destructive and hides his eyes from the world. Eva and Daniel were perfectly suited and their romance completely believable as they struggled to find their way through the drama they suddenly found themselves in. This is our first book by Eleanor Harkstead and Catherine Curzon and we fell in love with both their writing and storytelling. We will definitely be picking up more books from these ladies.

“I thought I’d lost you.” His voice was a desperate whisper. “And I wanted you to see – I wanted to be a man worth loving.”
“And you are.”