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

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 Lisa always finds an interesting premise, location or historical reference that leads me to do further research on the topic presented.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.

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.

Super fantastic!!! Mrs Wingate is the best!!!

Intriguing story. A very good read. Then pass on!

Lisa Wingate's book gave me an exquisite look in a past I knew nothing about--a world of the Melungeons and Roosevelt’s WPA folklore writers. I was enchanted. This was so extremely interesting that I have to admit that I was sometimes irritated when the author got back to the present life and modern day heroine Monroe.Reading about Alice and how she learned that the people saw (and treated) the Melungeons while she was collecting the stories from people while driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains as a folklore writer was a wonderfully different storyline. Reading how used this job to get over her grief and earn money for her daughter and herself, and how she got caught up in the stories that she was hearing was marvelous. I was hooked from the first letter she sent her sister...I did like the fact that Monroe found the letters, and that the letters heped her connect to the step-father, Clyde, whom she was having problems with. But somehow this storyline didn't seem to be quite as polished--not quite as finished as the other one.But still, all in all, this was a terrific book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in history. Especially different and unusual history.

Whitney leaves her struggling restaurant, in Michigan, to give help to her step father who is quite sick. She spent summers at Excelsoir visiting her grandmother. Later her mother inherited the place, married Clyde but then died of cancer. Whitney needs money to support her business & decides to see what she can do about Clyde, as well as find some things to sell. As she sorts through years of stuff, she finds the letters from her great aunt, who travelled rural Nth Carolina with The Writer's Project. She reads about prejudice, esp with the Melungeon people. This is another well written book, the 3rd in the series.