By Love or By Sea by Rachel Rager

Genre: Historical Fiction-Romance

Publication Date: April 2009

One Word Review: Good

Author Website: www.rachelrager.com

GoodReads Synopsis: Alice Lind Frank never forgot the boy she loved when she was just six years old, even after he was lost at sea. Now a young woman, Alice has found happiness in living and working with her grandparents, and in the affections of Clarence Hielott, the wealthy shipyard owner who intends to make Alice his bride. When a ragged sailor appears in town, Alice is reminded of the young boy who once held her heart. Upon learning that the sailor is in fact her childhood love, Caleb, she finds herself yearning to trust him again. But Clarence refuses to let this ghost from the past destroy his plans for the future. He exposes the secrets of Caleb's past and Alice realizes that the boy she once knew is now a man with a dark history.

Kathy’s Review: I’ve been wanting to read this one for a long time. While I enjoyed the story, it didn’t really sweep me off my feet. I liked our heroine Alice. She had a nice mix of spunk and sweetness. I liked the side story between her and old Betsy Winters. Caleb was a good leading man, although I would have liked a little more tension with the love triangle. Speaking of Alice's other love intrest Clarence, his character was a little disappointing. I never got the feeling that he was really a bad guy. We’re told certain things, but I just didn’t feel it. I was a little confused with Caleb’s relationship to royalty. It seemed like a storyline that was thrown in for convenience sake and wasn’t really explained. It just seems like if he was really related to royalty his family would have held a different position.

There were a couple problems I had with the book. First, I had no clue where the story was taking place. It wasn’t until about 125 pages that China and England were mentioned and I finally figured out it was suppose to take place somewhere in reality. I also had no clue when the story was suppose to be, I could tell by a few things that it was suppose to be a long time ago, but I would have liked a little time frame to work with.

Bookworm Rating: 3.5, G