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Friday, July 17, 2015

Riveting historical fiction within present day fiction


The Sea Keeper’s Daughters by Lisa Wingate

Whitney Monroe is desperate to save her restaurant from a hostile takeover.  She hopes to rescue her business by selling her newly inherited, but dilapidated hotel, The Excelsior.  She travels from her home in Michigan to the outer banks of North Carolina to quickly settle her inheritance and hopefully turn a quick profit.  But her problems are not easily nor quickly solved.  She must deal with her estranged stepfather and the tenants who are determined to rescue the once-elegant building.  She stumbles across some family heirlooms that tell a fascinating love story.  Will these artifacts hold the key to her understanding her rather eccentric maternal grandmother?  Will they enable her to find a way to save the floundering restaurant?

This was the best book I have read in a long time.  I heartily recommend it.  Author Lisa Wingate skillfully weaves two tales, one of the present and one in the past, of Whitney and her ancestors.  Both storylines kept my attention.  I was fascinated by the tales of her ancestor Alice’s adventures as part of the federal writers program.  I was also kept on edge by the developing relationships Whitney had with her step-father, one of the building’s tenants and a real estate developer.

Lisa’s style is very easy to read and flows smoothly.  There are several different sub-plots, which add to the suspense of the story.  Of course, the ending has a real twist that I never saw coming.  Readers of Christian fiction, who enjoy non-preachy but riveting stories will really enjoy this book!

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