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.

After I finished crying, my next thought was WOW! I wanted the story to continue. The Sea Keeper's Daughters is the tale of Whitney Monroe, a struggling restaurant owner whose life is upended when she inherits a historic hotel on the Outer Banks and discovers the long-hidden letters of a great-aunt who long ago left her wealthy family to become a Federal Writer. I loved the history lesson on the Federal Writers behind the story of Whitney and her inner struggle and discovery. I was so into the characters and the situations that I found myself feeling frustrated right along with Whitney. I wanted to reach into the book and make things happen and I felt as if I was living right in the middle of it all. But, that is the way Lisa Wingate writes; she paints a vivid picture not only of the physical and material things we can see, but also of the inner struggles, thoughts and ideas of the characters. It was a moving picture experience for me and the wisdom imparted has truly caused me to change my way of thinking about some things. If I could give it more stars I would! I was privileged to be a part of the Sisterhood of the traveling book and was able to read a pre-publication copy and what an honor it was! I truly fell in love with this book. The wisdom that was imparted through the characters in this novel is so real and practical that I had to keep writing in my journal, as I reflected on the truth's that were put forth. I went on a roller coaster ride with Whitney, the main character as she worked out her inner hurts and the turmoil as her life starts to fall apart around her. As I neared the end of the book and saw that I only had a few pages left, I kept thinking, "Oh, no, we're going to be left hanging and having to wait for the sequel". But, what a surprise awaited! I got goose bumps and tears streamed down my face! Yes, I would say this one really got my adrenaline going! It's my new all time favorite now. Highly recommend it.

Loved being transported to the sandy dunes and then the Blue Ridge satreams. Wingate stories hole just the right blend of human misery, trials , and romance for her engaging heroines.

The Sea Keepers Daughters loops around several people and finally weaves them into a strong braid of history, loss and love. Several generations’ stories illuminate the truest values and how to embrace and move pass deep fears that block us from what is truly ours.

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!

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.

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

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

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.