About this book:
“Laura Callaway daily walks the windswept Cornwall coast, known for many shipwrecks but few survivors. She feels like a castaway, set adrift on the tides of fate by the deaths of her parents and left wanting answers. Now living with her parson uncle and his parsimonious wife in North Cornwall, Laura is viewed as an outsider even as she yearns to belong somewhere again.
When ships sink, wreckers scour the shore for valuables, while Laura searches for clues to the lives lost. She has written letters to loved ones and returned keepsakes to rightful owners. She collects seashells and mementos, and when a man is washed ashore, she collects him too.
As Laura and a neighbor care for the castaway, the mystery surrounding him grows. He has abrasions and a deep cut that looks suspiciously like a knife wound, and he speaks in careful, educated English, yet his accent seems odd. Other clues wash ashore, and Laura soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. Their attraction grows, and while she longs to return the man to his rightful home, evidence against him mounts. With danger pursuing them from every side, will Laura ever find the answers and love she seeks?”
Series: A stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- Luke 15:8-9 at the beginning; A handful of Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, & read; Prayers, Thanking God, Praising God, & Blessings over food; Church going, Hiding in a church, & a sermon; A hymn is sung and said; Talks about God & serving Him; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Laura wonders if God truly holds her fate in His hands or if she life has been all happenstance (she wonders this a couple times, but at the end realizes that she is in God’s hands); Laura prays often, but does question if God will hear and answer her prayers (once); Alex realizes about halfway that he does believe that God hears his prayers and that God has not promised that he would live an easy life; Mentions of God, Jesus, & serving Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, praising God, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, & reverends/clergymen; Mentions of a child’s playset of Noah’s Ark; A few mentions of others trusting and relying on God after doubting Him; A few mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of hymns; A few mentions of being Blessed; A couple mentions of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of Holiday services (Christmas & Easter) at churches; A couple mentions of wishing someone Godspeed; A mention of a young Alex railing against God for his mother’s death; A mention of religious persecution; A mention of a christening; A mention of someone’s journey to eternity; A mention of a man crossing himself; A mention of a headstone that has the Madonna and child; A mention of a man saying that his wife is a saint, but he is not; A mention of a woman wanting to avoid even the appearance of sin; A mention of a man saying that he doesn’t care about a fundraiser for the church, but will go because of the women there;
*Note: The phrase “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is said; Celebrating & mentions of Allantide (a holiday celebrating St. Allan on October 31st), All Saints’ Day, & different items/superstitions (such as a carved jack-o’-lanterns from large turnips & a superstition of sleeping with an apple under your pillow and tossing the peel to see your future spouse’s initial (Laura says she doesn’t believe in such things, but her cousin says it’s just harmless fun and it turns out to be accurate)); Mentions of a legend of a man who sold her soul & the haunting howl of the wind people say is him (a ghost tale); Mentions of superstitious people & superstitions (including about a woman being above a ship is bad luck); Mentions of stories about piskies, mermaids, & curses; A few mentions of a man being called a devil & another being called a “charming devil”; A couple mentions of someone’s eyes having evil intent towards another; A couple mentions of a horse costume looking more like a devil than a horse; A mention of Laura’s uncle (a vicar) mostly not believing in ghosts as he’s a “learned man of God”; A mention of a woman saying that men can’t stand it when a woman doesn’t think they’re God’s gift [to women]; A mention of a hellish place; A mention of a man saying he’s “devilishly handsome”; A mention that someone being large does not mean they’re slow, “any more than having red hair makes one a devil”; A mention of a witch.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bah’, a ‘blasted’, a ‘dash and blast’, a ‘thunder and turf’, two forms of ‘stupid’, two ‘idiot’s (used in referring to a very large man and people assuming that he’s slow), and four ‘dashed’s; A bit of eye rolling; Mentions of curses (said, not written); Seeing shipwrecks, people being tossed overboard, bodies, deaths, & Recalling all of it and being tied up (up to semi-detailed); Recalling the death of a toddler (an illness, up to semi-detailed); Being held at gunpoint, Seeing someone shot and killed, Fighting, Knives, Blood/Bleeding, Pain, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Being ill & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Drinking bee wine at an event (Laura) & a sip of ale (Alex); Some lying (to save face, to keep secrets, to be safe, to keep someone from disapproving, and/or find out information); All about many, many mentions of shipwrecks, drownings, deaths, bodies, injuries from such events, & some people leading ships to a coast to crash and get their goods (up to semi-detailed); All about many, many mentions of the war, treason, fighting, spies, rebels, rebellions, prisons of war, prisoner camps, being on the opposite side of family members, executions, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of injuries, illnesses, blood/bleeding, stitches, pain, & deaths (including a child, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of guns being aimed at people & someone being shot and killed (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a man that prefers there to be no survivors on a shipwreck so that he can get some of the goods from the ship & him wanting to kill the last survivor; Mentions of fights/brawls, fighting, violence, taunting others, & being tied up (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of crimes, criminals, arrests, & penalties of fines and death; Mentions of stealing, stolen items, thefts, & thieves; Mentions of pirates & smugglers; Mentions of alcohol, flasks, social drinking at events/balls, drinking, drunks, & taverns/taprooms; Mentions of smoking, cigars, pipes, & tobacco; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deceit; Mentions of prejudice towards outsiders and/or foreigners; Mentions of grief (parents, wives, husbands, close friends, a loved one, a son, a sister, & a brother); A few mentions of a fire; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of rumors & gossip; A few mentions of gambling; A couple mentions of bribes; A couple mentions of hatred; A mention of assassination attempts; A mention of snuff boxes; A mention of eavesdropping;
*Note: Laura feels out of place with her family as she is not blood-related to any of them & places an importance of finding out more about her biological family; Laura feels resentment towards her parents for leaving her & then not returning (dying) after a trip (this is resolved by the end with forgiveness); A mention of a baby being abandoned in a churchyard.
Sexual Content- Two forehead kisses, a neck kiss, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and three semi-detailed kisses; Staring a someone’s lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss & touch (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Winks & Blushes; Noticing (including a man’s hairy chest and hairy legs, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Laura gets into bed with an injured and unconscious Alex to warm him (she feels awkward doing so as it feels intimate, but is not caught by her guardians nor is it brought up again); Laura and Alex have to share a room, but there are two beds (it’s assumed that they are married and they do not correct it; Later at a different place, they have to go along with a lie to a woman that they are newly married; Alex promises to behave gentlemanly and warns Laura at one point to go back to her room before he breaks his word); Laura is helped by a maid to undress for bed and Alex tries not to notice but ends up leaving the room due to being he’s flustered and noticing (up to semi-detailed); Alex helps loosen Laura’s stays & Laura imagines being kissed and held by him (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing a couple in a fond embrace; Mentions of a wife’s affair & her being pregnant with another man’s child (*Spoiler* Alex’s wife & the man likes to rub it in his face and says he stole his wife; The baby was stillborn and the mother died in childbirth *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of how servants used to warm their masters by lying in bed with them & Laura wonders if she should do that for Alex, who is freezing & injured (she does and does not get caught by her guardians); Mentions of flirting, flirts, blushes, & winks; A few mentions of couples kissing & kisses; A few mentions of touches, embraces, & hand holding; A few mentions of a wife leaving her husband for another man; A few mentions of elopement & a young woman running off with a man (unmarried); A few mentions of reputations & propriety; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of a belief that if a girl is touched by a person in a certain costume, she’ll be pregnant or married by the end of the year; A couple mentions of a woman’s sensual appeal; A mention of a possible unwed mother; A mention of a man seducing a maid; A mention of a man (mostly) teasing Laura that he’ll share a bed with her; A mention of a romantic tête-à-tête; A mention of words uttered innocently but can be taken another way, so Laura blushes; A mention of a man saying something that would sound flattering from someone else, but sounds suggestive from him; A mention of a man not having a relationship with a woman (misunderstood and corrected); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Mentions of wives/mothers who died in childbirth & a stillborn baby; A mention of that in some countries and traditions, a man is encouraged to marry his brother’s widow.
-Laura Callaway, age 23
-Alexander Lucas
3rd P.O.V. switches between them & In the Prologue and Epilogue, it is in her 1st person P.O.V.
Set in 1813-1814 (Epilogue in 1815)
392 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Treasure hunting was one of my favorite hobbies as a child—though, I’ll admit the parks nearby didn’t have much treasures, but sparkly trash like a broken bracelet or bottle cap.
Maybe that’s why I was so interested in this story, particularly the element of Laura trying to reunite items that have been washed ashore after a shipwreck to the families of the deceased. Those parts were truly the most interesting and I even teared up a few times at certain parts regarding her findings. I absolutely adored her compassion for others and how kind she was.
My only “compliant”, if you will, were the few times that Laura or Alex noticed something physically about the other that felt scandalous for the time period. It might not be scandalous nowadays to notice a man’s chest or muscle-y legs or even to cut his hair, but it felt so intimate for the time period and therefore made me a bit uncomfortable.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, though, overall. If I could, I would give this book a 3.75 stars and rank it as possibly my favorite by this author. It truly captured my interest, and I didn’t find this book to be slow or unable to keep my attention. There were so many parts that I honestly forgot I was reading and had the scenes playing out vividly in my head. I found it to be an enjoyable story, personally, and could be a possible read for older teens.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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