Chesapeake Tide

Rating:
Summary: exciting romantic suspense
Review: Almost two decades have passed but Elizabeth Delacourte realizes that marrying Eric was a mistake and she ended their relationship. Pride has kept her in Southern California rather than returning to her family in Marycreek, Maryland as she only heard from her daddy perhaps a dozen times since she left home and never from her momma because they thought Eric was not good enough for her. Her daddy informs Libba Jane that her beloved mother suffered a stroke and needs her to come home. Daddy shakes her further when he apologizes for driving her away. Libba Jane accompanied by her recalcitrant sixteen year old daughter Chloe comes home.

Russ Hennessy also comes home to take over the family fishing business. He never forgot the starfish he let get away when his beloved Libba Jane left with the actor for the coast. Now he has a second chance, but the obstacles are great as Libba Jane is reluctant to get into any relationship while mending the fences with her family and struggling with a daughter who wants to go "home" to California. Besides which he has his own problems as someone is poisoning the waters.

CHESAPEAKE TIDE is an exciting romantic suspense that is at its best when the theme is a character study. Libba Jane, her parents, her daughter and the man she loves struggle with forming endearing lasting relationships in spite of love flowing between everyone as pride hampers communication. Though the environmental mess adds suspense, this subplot also takes time away from a terrific family drama starring individuals trying, not easily, to simply talk about their feelings for one another.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: exciting romantic suspense
Review: Almost two decades have passed but Elizabeth Delacourte realizes that marrying Eric was a mistake and she ended their relationship. Pride has kept her in Southern California rather than returning to her family in Marycreek, Maryland as she only heard from her daddy perhaps a dozen times since she left home and never from her momma because they thought Eric was not good enough for her. Her daddy informs Libba Jane that her beloved mother suffered a stroke and needs her to come home. Daddy shakes her further when he apologizes for driving her away. Libba Jane accompanied by her recalcitrant sixteen year old daughter Chloe comes home.

Russ Hennessy also comes home to take over the family fishing business. He never forgot the starfish he let get away when his beloved Libba Jane left with the actor for the coast. Now he has a second chance, but the obstacles are great as Libba Jane is reluctant to get into any relationship while mending the fences with her family and struggling with a daughter who wants to go "home" to California. Besides which he has his own problems as someone is poisoning the waters.

CHESAPEAKE TIDE is an exciting romantic suspense that is at its best when the theme is a character study. Libba Jane, her parents, her daughter and the man she loves struggle with forming endearing lasting relationships in spite of love flowing between everyone as pride hampers communication. Though the environmental mess adds suspense, this subplot also takes time away from a terrific family drama starring individuals trying, not easily, to simply talk about their feelings for one another.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Good Story, But Needs Serious Editorial Help
Review: Having grown up in Maryland and on the Chesapeake Bay, I am always thrilled to find a story based on that locale. Chesapeake Tides was a good story, but my enjoyment was undermined by the outrageous number of editorial errors. At least three times, the heroine, Libba Delacourt, is called Libba Hennessey. The locale of Marshyhope Creek is confused - at one point it is on the western shore of the bay, later on the eastern. Libba's route home follows Kent Island to Annapolis Island - Annapolis is not an island. (This indicates an east to west route, adding to the confusion over the location of Marshyhope Creek.) The book says the migrant workers "shuck" the peach orchard. Oysters are shucked - not peaches. Many references are made to shrimp trawlers - on the Chesapeake Bay? A truckload of oranges (?) is also spotted. Soft crabs are NOT sold by the pound. It is very unusual to spot brown pelicans on the bay, except in the extreme south where the bay meets the ocean. When a trot line is run out to catch crabs, a net will not subsequently be hauled in. Libba took a ferry on her trip to Marshyhope Creek, but Eric took the bridge. And the plight of the migrant farmers is not as dire as recorded in the story - the state has rules and regulations regarding facilities provided to migrant workers, and many happy, educated migrant workers will return year after year to work the same fields of benevolent farmers. Fiction is fiction, but fact is fact. The Chesapeake Bay is a beautiful, fragile environment that needs to be protected.

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding!
Review: The story set on the Chesapeake Bay is rich with colorful characters, described in vivid detail and settings which transport the reader to this wonderful place. The easy going Southern style is prevalent throughtout the story which weaves its way into your heart. A beautifully written book with all the elements of a superb summer read!!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Wow! This book really took me back to my time on the Chesapeake. The smell of the tidewaters, the screaming of the gulls, the brown pelicans as they dove for their daily meals, the engines of the crabbing boats as they came in with the days catch, it all came back to me in the pages of this "hard to put down" book. Each character is beautifully developed, has an interesting story, and a past that is thought provoking and at times disturbing. How many of us have our own ghosts kept in closets that are dieing to get out? The relationships between the characters are very complex, yet so real. I wanted to befriend every character in the book! If you're ever in the Chesapeake Bay area, make a trip to Chincoteague Island and stop in at Steamers for blue crabs. Mounted on the wall in the restaurant lobby is a travel article about Chincoteague Island, written by Jeanette Baker for the Los Angeles Times. Bravo Jeanette!

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Wow! This book really took me back to my time on the Chesapeake. The smell of the tidewaters, the screaming of the gulls, the brown pelicans as they dove for their daily meals, the engines of the crabbing boats as they came in with the days catch, it all came back to me in the pages of this "hard to put down" book. Each character is beautifully developed, has an interesting story, and a past that is thought provoking and at times disturbing. How many of us have our own ghosts kept in closets that are dieing to get out? The relationships between the characters are very complex, yet so real. I wanted to befriend every character in the book! If you're ever in the Chesapeake Bay area, make a trip to Chincoteague Island and stop in at Steamers for blue crabs. Mounted on the wall in the restaurant lobby is a travel article about Chincoteague Island, written by Jeanette Baker for the Los Angeles Times. Bravo Jeanette!