The Sea Keeper's Daughters (A Carolina Heirlooms Novel)

This was an interesting and intriguing book. I didn't want to put it down but I didn't want it to end either. It is a continuation of the Carolina Chronicles series, tying together the stories in the mountains and at the sea. The story line and main characters are well developed causing me to want to know them better and form an emotional attachment, rooting for them. There are so many lessons to be learned in this book. I could really relate to Whitney. Her struggle and tendency to just keep going and going. How she self-sabotages. Her fear of opening up. I wrote down many quotes from the book. "Suddenly it struck me that so many of the things I'd thought of as world-turning and earth-shattering probably weren't. Life is a process of storms and rebuilding, of fires and regrowth, of loos and gain." "Scenes like these were made to persuade you that your problems are smaller than you think, transient in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes, even when you've spent years ignoring God, there are places where his fingerprint and his intentions seem absolute. Take a breath, look around, a voice seemed to be whispering. None of this is here by accident, and neither are you." "The most important skill in life is to learn the acceptance of that which you have not planned for yourself. Discontent, if watered even the slightest bit, spreads like choke weed. It will smother the garden if you let it." "How wonderful the days when all was well. How necessary, also, that we must release them now. It is fine enough to glance at the past, but one must never focus there overlong...I have lost the carefree girl I once was...allowed the cutting blades of fear to whittle me do to nubs. I dearly believe it was not fate to whittle me down to nubs. I dearly believe it was not fate that brought me here, but God himself. This is the place I will finally find courage and breath and voice." "Anger and blame were so much easier to manage than acceptance. They were hard and solid. They made good walls. Acceptance was soft. It let everything in, including the pain." "Hugging my arms close, I looked away, felt the wind of new possibilities pull against the mooring lines of old habits. Did I have the courage to cast off the ties to the life I'd been living since I was five years old and trust had become a liability?" "The thing about mistakes is, they become valuable when you learn from them." "Conflicting urges warred-two instinctive reactions. I needed to rely on someone, but relying on people was dangerous. At any moment, people could decide to just...not be there anymore. I'd always relied on myself." "To love and be loved is the very thing our souls scream for from birth and every moment after, the urge to need and be needed as natural as breathing, as life-giving as breath." "I'd see the difference between Alice's choices and my grandmother's. In opening herself to an unplanned future, in taking the risk, Alice had found her way back to life and joy and hope." The history of North Carolina is so interesting and I look forward to reading more about the FWP. I also want to reread these books as well as share them with some friends

The Sea Keepers Daughters is a stunning conclusion to the Carolina Chronicles series. The three full length novels, along with the accompanying novellas, combine for an epic family saga spanning 160 years of genealogy. There are many plot twists and turns, along with a lot of suspense surrounding the family's heritage and the mysterious heirlooms that keep surfacing. Whitney Monroe, a restaurant owner, is in dire need of finances to rescue her ailing business. An unexpected call to help her stepfather has her returning to the aging hotel she has inherited. Her mother always wanted her to sort through her grandmothers belongings at the hotel, so this trip was the perfect time. Whitney hopes to find something of value among the hotels antique furnishings she might sell to raise the much needed funds for her restaurant, but the treasure she discovers along the way proves to be more than the sellable items she was hoping for. Through the letters of her grandmothers twin, a great aunt she never knew existed, she finds her own untold history and that of her fathers family. Priceless! From the first memorable quote to the captivating last, I was mesmerized by this story. One of my favorite quotes, and there are many, was, "To love and be loved is the very thing our souls scream for from birth and every moment after, the urge to need and be needed as natural as breathing, as life giving as breath." Pure poetry. Lisa Wingate is a master storyteller of the highest caliber. She excels in the use of letters and journals to tie the past to the present. Her ability to weave the past and the present together in this book and then to the storylines in the previous books in the series was absolutely brilliant and had me riveted to the pages. Wingate left no stone unturned in drawing out the gamut of every emotional experience possible, feelings of fear, rejection, loss, acceptance, forgiveness, happiness and ultimately love. I would love to see this exceptional series continue, possibly from the "across the sea" ancestors point of view where the story originated. One can only hope. This is an outstanding work of fiction, both fascinating and thought-provoking. If you only read a limited number of books each year, make sure The Carolina Chronicles books are among them. You will be happy you did. Many thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for making a copy of this book available for review.

It starts out a little slow but about halfway in I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy history, great writing and a mystery with know murder and mayhem you will enjoy this book. As usual, Lisa has infused it with wisdom and deep Christian values without being preached. The characters are well fleshed out and she subtly shows God at work in their lives. Love this author.

I absolutely love Lisa Wingate’s novels! I started with Tending Roses and have read and enjoyed each and every one of her books. I enjoy Lisa’s writing style, character development, unique story lines and the fact that there is always personal growth, reconciliation and redemption in her novels. Lisa always finds an interesting premise, location or historical reference that leads me to do further research on the topic presented. I also like that her books are written in series which gives me an opportunity to get to know the characters better as the story lines develop and to see how they are progressing or what they are up to once they aren’t the focal point of the current story. While I don’t always like the personalities of the characters (I’m sure that’s Lisa’s intent) at the onset, I do grow to love them and understand and appreciate their individual challenges and personalities as the story unfolds. I have sometimes felt uncomfortable as I was being taught lessons I needed to learn about how others might be challenged or struggling in their lives and the scenarios are realistic enough that you can certainly apply them to real life situations. At the end of the book, I am always loath to leave them and feel as if they are real people that I’ve grown to know and care about. I have been inspired by Lisa’s wisdom, challenged to become a better person, laughed, cried and fallen in love with the people and localities she writes about. I feel I am a better person for having read these books and always appreciate the measure of grace she brings to her writing. Each book leaves a great impression on me and my heart is full for a long time after the last page is turned. It is important to me that Lisa somehow manages to do all of this without feeling the need to use graphic language or sex scenes as I do not find that these add anything to a story. Don’t think that her books aren’t entertaining! Lisa adds wit to go along with the wisdom! There is always a little bit of romance, too! I hope you will take the time to pick up one of Lisa’s books. You won’t be disappointed.

THE SEA KEEPER'S DAUGHTERS tells the story of Whitney (Benoit) Monroe and the problems she is dealing with which include her two restaurants in Michigan and an old hotel in the Outer Banks, NC where her aging step-father, Clyde lived and has recently been hospitalized after a fall. It also ties together the whole Carolina series. Clyde and Whitney had never gotten along very well and she still holds on to some resentment of her mother’s marriage to him after her biological father committed suicide. Neither of Clyde’s sons wants anything to do with him and since he had been living in a building that had formerly been a thriving hotel, the Excelsior, that Whitney had inherited, she felt duty-bound to find out what was happening with her step-father. She wanted to find out what she might be able to do with the hotel plus the contents that might take the edge off the financial distress she is under with her restaurants. She always seems to butt heads with Clyde, but now also with Mark Strahan, who rents a store called the Rip Shack, on the street level of the Excelsior. Clyde is a crotchety old goat that does not give an inch and makes all his demands in sarcastic tones. All this while the building is in a sad state of disrepair. She starts the task of going through things in some of the old hotel rooms while trying to stay out of site from Clyde. Whitney finds lots of letters that had been torn up and she begins to piece them together. The letters tell the story of the relationship between her grandmother and her grandmother's twin sister that Whitney never knew she had. In reading any of Lisa Wingate’s books, I get so interested that I just have to learn more about a place, a people, or the history she writes about. Lisa is a true genius at writing stories that will grab you from the very first page and will leave you wanting more long after you have read the final page. There also always seems to be a twist in the story that you won't see coming. In this delightful novel, you will get some shout outs to some old friends from the earlier Carolina series books. A 10+ book if ever there was one. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Have you ever been so successful at your job, that you decide to branch out? Whitney Monroe is just that person. She has decided with the help of her cousin, that they should venture out and open another restaurant. They are excited and begin to make plans for the new place. Not everyone is happy about their new restaurant though. Some of the local business owners can't handle competition and devise a scheme to sabotage them. They hit dead ends with building codes and other things that could prevent the place from passing inspection. Seems somebody is jealous of their success. While Whitney is fighting inspections and total chaos she gets a call about her stepfather. Why are they calling her about him? They have never been very close and she has little to do with his kids. The caller explains that her stepfather fell in the bathroom and had been laying on the floor for four long days. That seems very sad to hear that someone you know, has been helpless for a long period of time. Whitney makes a decision to travel to the hotel in Maneto, North Carolina to go through her grandmothers belongings. While she is there she can check on her stepfather since he lives in the building . This is not going to be a pleasant trip and old feelings start to surface for Whitney. What secrets will Whitney uncover? Will she be welcomed there without any problems? Whitney begins a trip down memory lane as she is going through old papers and soon discovers secrets that are troublesome. How is it possible that her mother and stepfather knew each other before her dad was in the picture? Something doesn't add up and she wants answers. A project that Roosevelt's Federal Workers Program had in the 1930s somehow have ties to her grandmothers story. What has Whitney stumbled into? This is Lisa Wingate at her best as she perfectly delivers two stories at the same time and tie them together like a pristine bow. The history in the story is very detailed and is brought to the present to make a story that gives you mystery and action. The author has given us two characters from the past that will have an impact on Whitney's life. What secrets do they hold? Is there danger for Whitney? Will history change her family dynamics? I look forward to reading books from Lisa Wingste because I know she will sweep me on a journey with details and twists that make the story so intriguing and hard to put down. This is another master story teller at the top of her game . I received a copy of this book from The BookClub Network for an honest review.

It took almost half the book before I became truly engaged in the story. I think it was Alice's letters that slowed the story down. They were way to lengthy, and who recounts a lengthy conversation verbatim in a letter? I think she could have conveyed Alice's story with much shorter letters. Other than that, the story was very good. The author is extremely good at describing people and situations. I am still a little confused with the ending though. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say the family relationships needed to be explained better. I seemed to have more questions than answers.

The Sea Keeper's Daughters tells the incredible stories of 2 women, Whitney and Alice. Whitney is a struggling restaurateur, trying to keep her businesses in Michigan afloat despite the efforts of a man who wants to shut her down. When she receives a phone call informing her that her stepfather has fallen and can't take care of herself, she reluctantly heads to Manteo, North Carolina. Not only is she risking her business by taking this trip, her stepfather, Clyde, is a difficult man, who had treated her very badly after her mother died. But she goes, not just to see what she can do to help Clyde, but also to see if her family's Excelsior Hotel can somehow be the answer to her financial woes. While sorting through the boxes and furniture at the hotel, she uncovers a family secret in letters written by her grandmother's twin, a woman named Alice, someone totally unknown to Whitney. The letters reveal to Whitney not only her great aunt's life, but they also tell a tale of life in Appalachia during the Depression; a time when desperate people survived any way they knew how, and also a time of bigotry and danger. As Whitney discovers her past, will she somehow find herself? She is pulled in so many directions, and must somehow make decisions that will affect her present as well as her future. This book is the third novel in the Carolina Chronicles series, and although it is an excellent stand-alone book, I encourage readers to read the first 2 novels and the accompanying novellas to have a richer, more meaningful experience. All of the stories become connected in this final novel, giving the reader insight and knowledge that will be missed if you don't read the others.