Book Review: "Making Waves" by Lorna Seilstad

When spunky Marguerite Westing discovers that her family will summer at Lake Manawa in 1895, she couldn't be more thrilled. It is the perfect way to escape her agonizingly boring suitor, Roger Gordon. It's also where she stumbles upon two new loves: sailing, and sailing instructor Trip Andrews. But this summer of fun turns to turmoil as her father's gambling problems threaten to ruin the family forever. Will free-spirited Marguerite marry Roger to save her father's name and fortune? Or will she follow her heart--even if it means abandoning the family she loves?

Oh those rich folks and their summer resort stories. How I wish I could have lived back in the day and be able to experience life like that. One would go away from city or manor life out to the lake or seaside where you get to experience nature and can pretend that you are roughing it. In reality you're just as pampered and privileged as you are in the city. What a vacation that must have been.

This was a fun story to read. I really liked reading about Marguerite's adventures as she tries to get out of a boring and loveless relationship and finds herself being drawn to her love of the sea. Her attempts at trying to get on board the sea vessel are hilarious and her plans of fulfilling her dreams are quite creative. I admired her for having a lot of spunk. Even though society as well as her mother are insistent that she be a proper young woman ready for marriage, Marguerite isn't ready to settle down yet. She's not a spoiled rich girl either who only thinks of herself.

Seilstad does a wonderful job of bringing the seaside resort to life. I could picture the beach, feel the lake breeze and imagine myself on the boat along with Marguerite and Trip. I love the tidbits of history that are added in the book. The plot is written extremely well. There are multiple story lines but they all tie together very nicely. The chemistry between Marguerite and Trip is really well done. Also well done is the non-chemistry between Roger and Marguerite and I honestly didn't know how she was going to work her way out of that relationship.

While reading this book, I kept thinking about how it reminded me of the movie Dirty Dancing. There were several similarities: Summer resort, rich girl meets working class guy, girl tries to learn something in secret, parents want her to have a proper lifestyle. Well I didn't picture Patrick Swayze as Trip but I could see Baby and Marguerite getting along quite well. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and it's one of the more fun historical reads that Revell has put out this year. The story was entertaining as well as using historical context to place emphasis on plot lines. There's romance as well but it blends in with the rest of the plot as opposed to being just a historical romance. I also really love the cover too. The model looks just like how I would picture Marguerite and I love the costume dress. Also the scenery in the background of the lake is really pretty as well. This is a wonderful debut from Seilstad and I definitely cannot wait to read another book in this series.

Making Waves by Lorna Seilstad is published by Revell (2010)

This review copy was provided by the publisher