Vivian Arend

Vivian Arend is an American romance novel writer who has written a large number of award winning and bestselling novels. Arend’s series Forces of Nature is her most revered work. The first book in the series is “Tidal Wave” and was published in 2009. Tidal Wave follows the sexual dreams and adventures of a beautiful and sexually ambivalent Alexia Colten. Alexia has returned the ocean-side village of Jaffrey’s Cove to visit her grandmother, who is ailing and needs to be moved into an assisted living facility. Her love for the seaside has kept her coming back to the dreamy town but this time the sense of urgency is real as she realizes that her grandmother does not have much time left. Every minute she spends with the once vibrant and energetic woman is precious. Her grandmother offers her a beautiful family heirloom and her house on the seaside. Alexia accepts the dolphin-etched necklace but declines the house offer. She finds herself the center of attention for all men in town and soon finds herself fantasizing about a boy, now a man, she had grown up with in the town before moving. The medallion was not just a decorative piece, but I marked her as the new leader of a secret society of merfolk she had no idea about before. The medallion around her neck not only marks her as their next leader but as a love interest for every man in town. Joshua Marley has eyed Alexia since they were young and wants to get close to her but he is not the only one with interest in her. All the men in town, including his own brothers and cousin see her as the ultimate prize. The new matriarch of the merman society finds herself plunging into a sea of sexual adventure with Joshua and his equally gorgeous cousin Anthony. Arend describes the emotions and perhaps more importantly the explicit sex with vivid imagery that will leave erotica fans ravished. While the sex scenes do not take up much of the content, she has a way of building up to each sex scene making them periodic crescendos that keep the reader moving through the pages. The buildup is as gripping as the sex itself which allows for substantial character and setting development, a deficiency that many erotica novels suffer from. For many romantic novellas, it is possible for readers gloss over all the “boring” parts and go right into the sex but every scene in Tidal Waves generates intrigue and excitement. Nevertheless there are some deficiencies that many readers will ponder over but will ultimately forgive Arend for. Plot holes are relatively rampant on the novella; for example we do not get to know why Joshua is always away during every summer that Alexia returns to Jaffrey’s Cove.