Romance With a Side of Shark

The real love affair happens under water

“You’ll never go in the water again.” If after seeing Jaws you believed that film’s dire warning, then The Shark Club may dispel that notion. Yes, chapter two of this debut novel is a flashback to a shark attack, but never fear, by the end of the book you will come to love—or at least respect—the ocean’s food-chain leader.

By the time the attack is revealed, we have already been introduced to a magnificent lemon shark named Sylvia. The shark is being studied in the wild by our heroine, marine scientist Maeve Donnelly, who incidentally is the victim of chapter two’s attack. After losing a chunk of leg to a shark when she was 12, Maeve, instead of developing a healthy fear of her predator, opted to make a career out of it.

Most of this novel’s action takes place in Southwest Florida, on an island that may or may not be Marco but in the book is called Palermo. The Shark Club has a plot of many colors: a tale of an orphaned girl and her twin brother growing up with

their slightly eccentric innkeeper grandmother; a mystery involving the vile practice of killing sharks for their fins; and a simmering threeway romance between Maeve, her first love and a brand-new love. But the real romance is not the human love triangle that frames the plot, but the love affair the heroine has with sharks. Author Ann Kidd Taylor (whose mother is Sue Monk Kidd of Secret Life of Bees fame) does a credible job of conveying respect for these impressive predators of the sea. The Shark Club has summer beach read written all over it, from its aqua-colored cover to the gentle romance on the pages within. Dive into it from the safety of your beach chair as you scan the water for any telltale fins.

Author Ann Kidd Taylor does a credible job of conveying respect for these impressive predators of the sea.