Recent Reads - Making Waves

Making Waves by Lorna Seilstad - This book was offered for free on Kindle not that long ago, and the humorous and summery cover attracted me. The reviews were mixed but I was willing to give it a try. The setting is a resort lake in Iowa during 1895, and the main character is Marguerite Westing, an impulsive and adventurous young lady chafing against the strict and joyless life her mother is pushing her towards. Mrs Westing fully expects Marguerite to marry Roger Gordon, but Marguerite finds him exceedingly boring and loathes spending time with him. He is completely serious and although he is polite and proper, it doesn't seem as though he has any emotions or that he actually cares about Marguerite other than as a trophy for his collection. Meanwhile, Marguerite discovers that she loves sailing and she is determined to take lessons even though it was not considered at all ladylike. The boating instructor, Trip Andrews, reluctantly takes Marguerite and her younger brother as students, and the attraction between her and Trip is obvious. She takes to sailing quite naturally, and she and Trip are clearly very taken with each other. But Marguerite has a tendency to be sneaky and tell fibs to get her own way, and when Trip discovers her deception he finds it very hard to trust her in anything. Marguerite is not the only one with secrets and lies, and much more than her sailing lessons is at stake when Roger determines that he will marry Marguerite no matter what. Will Marguerite live a lie in order to protect her family, or will she follow her heart?

I enjoyed the lighthearted tone through most of the book, and the humor. I liked that the main characters were not presented as practically perfect, but had realistic flaws that they didn't immediately acknowledge, but had to work through. The ending was overly dramatic and not nearly as believable as the first three quarters of the book and I thought it over the top, but in general this was an enjoyable beach read type book.

(Book #40 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)

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