The Sea Keeper's Daughter by Lisa Wingate

Hey everyone,  I have just finished reading the Sea Keeper's Daughter by Lisa Wingate, and I loved it!  It is the story of Whitney Monroe who is desperate to save her restaurant the  Tazza  2.  She is having financial trouble and Tagg Harper, a competitor in the Italian restaurant business is trying to make her go out of business. After dealing with Mr.Harper she heads home and her neighbor/landlord meets her before she gets in the house and tells her that there is a message for her about her stepfather,  Which is strange, because she NEVER talks to her stepfather because she blames him for her mother's death ( her mom had cancer and she never knew about it, She thinks that he is the reason that her mom never told her about her illness) She finds out from one of his neighbors that he was taken to the hospital because he had fallen in the bathroom and no one knew about it until someone found him four days later. So Whitney heads over to Manteo in the Outer Banks NC to assist her stepfather and to retrieve and hopefully sell some of the items that were her inheritance from her parents that is currently in her stepfather's hands, so that  she can use the money for her restaurant. When she arrives at the Excelsior ( a old hotel that had been in her father's family for years, currently  where her stepfather lives ) she discovers her stepfather Clyde is missing. After about a day Clyde returns and is angry that Whitney is there because he believes she wants to kick him out of the Excelsior and sell it,but reluctantly he agrees to allow her to look through some items left  from earlier generations of her family that have been stored on the 2nd floor. While cleaning up and looking through the mess of items, looking for things that she can sell, Whitney comes across a letter by her grandmothers sister, Alice. The letter tells of the struggles Alice faced and a new job that gave her the opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to interview people that in the mountains and to write their story. Curiosity holds Whitney captive as she tries to find the pieces of Alice's letters so that she can learn more of her story while trouble for her restaurant is still brewing at home.  Whitney and Clyde relationship improves ( they can stay in the same building and not scream at each other, they can have a nice civilized conversation) and Whitney starts to feel a strange attraction to Mark , the store owner downstairs ( Mark owns the Rip Shack, A little surf shop on the bottom floor of the Excelsior building) But suddenly disaster strikes!
Whitney betrays (not intentionally) all of her new friends including Mark and then Whitney's restaurant burns down due to suspicious circumstances.  Will Whitney be able to restore her broken relationship with Mark and Clyde after she betrayed them?  Will she be able to save her restaurant?
Guess you have to read the book to find out!

I was very surprised by this book, This is the first book I have ever read by this author and I loved it. It was a little rough getting into the story but about half way through the book I just did not want to put it down. The author wrote the book in such a way that the character almost seems like a friend telling you what happened on her trip to the Outer Banks last year.  The plot did not have a lot of action  but it had enough drama to hold your attention until the end of the book. And suprisingly it did not have a lot of romance in it. (Sorry, lately I have read several books that are WAY too romantic) My favorite part was the end, it showed that Whitney is the ...
Sorry, I can't say what happened because then I would spoil the whole story.
I give it 4 out of 5 Stars ****

I will definitely be checking out her other books, Want to check them out too? Just click on the link below.
http://lisawingate.com/blog3/lisas-bookshelf/


I would like to thank Tyndale House Publishers for allowing me to read and review this book in return for a free copy and I was not asked to write a favorable review, Just a honest one.