Customer Reviews

Sweet Waters: An Otter Bay Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tara Sweet, a sensible, predictable, older sister had her life turned upside down when her Mother suddenly marries a very younger man and Tara's long time boyfriend dumps her. She never thought that she would be moving back to her hometown of Otter Bay, but before her Dad passed away he made her promise to return. With no ties to keep her in Missouri, and in hopes to relive some of the good memories of her youth, she takes off for Otter Bay.

Tara's mom leaves for her whirlwind honeymoon and her sister Liz moves to Manhattan. So Tara and her cousin try to find their way around. Upon arriving in Otter Bay Tara meets the sexy, firefighter Josh, but the longer she is in Otter Bay the more she finds disturbing information concerning her family's past. As Tara faces her past she is left questioning everything she has known. But through it all she learns to rely on the One who is faithful and who never changes.

I found this to be a fun book to read with a great message: God is there when life seems to be spinning out of control.

Sweet Waters is Julie Carobini's third novel and she gets better with each one. This is the first in the Otter Bay series set in California. I read the book on my way to Gulf Shores, AL, last month but it is more than just a beach lit novel. It is hard to put it in one category. Anyway I loved the development of the characters as the book progresses and the light spiritual aspect in some of the characters lives. The author's descriptions make you feel like you are right there. My only gripe is the beginning felt a little slow but then the overall pace of the book is not fast. It is a book to be read and taken in slowly. So it is a sorta chick beach woman lit with a little romance. I look forward to rereading it and not just in the summer. I think it can be read and enjoyed any time of year. Recommended.

The Story. Tara Sweet, oldest of three sisters, decides after the death of her father, her mother's remarriage, and the breakup with her boyfriend, to leave her midwest home and head for California where she remembers happy years as a small girl.

When she arrives in the town she has romanticized, however, she begins to unravel realities regarding her family that destabilize her world.

Add in a growing friendship with firefighter Josh Adams who has his own problems to work through and the friction between her and her sisters, and Tara's dream of recapturing the joy of her early years seems lost forever.

Strengths. The characters' voices are unique. From dinner-owner Peg to successful sister Mel and empathetic employer Nigel, each has a distinct voice.

These help create realistic, believable characters, another strength of the novel.

As is place. I feel as if I've been to Otter Bay because Carobini makes the setting come alive, a hard thing to do, in my opinion. Characters come alive by what they do and say. A setting comes alive by how the characters interact with it. Carobini does this well.

The story is interesting and tension abounds. Why is Peg so set against the Sweets? Are the snatches of history Tara begins to uncover true or are they lies?

There is also strong, believable, well-integrated Christianity. Many of the characters profess faith and some live it out while others don't. Some characters show no interest in God or "religion," and some act in overtly sinful ways. The variation makes the world seem more real and the faith of the faithful true.

Weaknesses. I've mentioned voice. I do think Carobini has a natural fresh voice and her characters pop off the page because of their distinct voices. I think I want more of that. Mel has a somewhat snarky voice but isn't particularly likable. Tara, however, is the sensible one and has the least distinct voice of all. I'd like to see her stand out from the crowd more. But then, she wouldn't be Tara. So it's a curious point.

Another one is that this book is labeled Christian fiction/romance, and certainly B&H is known for its romance. However, this book is not your typical romance. I'd say it has romance in it, but it isn't a romance. Someone picking the book up expecting to find a typical boy-meet-girl, yada-yada-yada story, may be disappointed.

I wasn't. Rather, I was pleased with the depth and insight and character growth, with a little romance along the way as a nice bit of spice.

Recommendation. This book came out in August with a "Pure summer, pure enjoyment" marketing tag. Don't be fooled into thinking that Sweet Waters is nothing but light, summer entertainment. This is a quality book and an enjoyable story, in the fall and winter and spring as much as in the summer. I highly recommend this book to women looking for a good story.

his book is a story of homecoming. Tara Sweet has always been sensible and lead a frankly boring life. She had the same boyfriend for YEARS, worked at a mind-numbing collection job, and mothered her sisters because it was what she thought her job was. Then her mother suddenly marries someone and takes off for an extended honeymoon in Europe.

With that change, Tara decides to change everything by returning to her roots across the country in California. Things don't go as planned -- at all. First, she meets the hunky firefighter who takes her breath away, but battles shadows. Second, she runs into rumors about her father that she can't imagine are true. Third, she has to balance out her relationship with her sisters. And I've hardly scratched the surface.

What happens when the fairy tale turns out to be a soap opera? A fun twist in this book is that Tara takes life advice from a soap opera star. You can imagine for yourself how that works.

The publisher has labeled the book a romance, but it's much deeper than a straight romance. It's the perfect read when you want to escape and explore how the truth sets us free. It's also a great addition to Julie's first two books.

"You want everything to be easy. And controllable. And when it's not? You run." (p. 104)

Oh my! Tara Sweet's sister has nailed her! An older sister, always trying to keep things together, and Tara suddenly finds that everything is falling apart. Thinking that her mother's recent marriage has opened the door for change, Tara and her sisters take off on a rather unexpected adventure and return to a beachside town where they lived as children. Planning only to visit the past, once the girls arrive things begin to change rapidly and in very unexpected ways. The details from their parent's past are launched at them like so many bombs, and the fall-out...well, you'll have to read the story to find that out!

Oh! Let's not forget the romance! There's this firefighter named Josh, and as it turns out, he is dealing with some parental issues of his own. But his amazing faith and his big `ole heart just sort of flow over onto Tara, and he proves to be a great agent of change in this story in more ways than one. And let's not forget Liz and Cam...the two sisters. They also have vital roles and lessons to learn and pasts to deal with. In short, this book is packed from beginning to end, and not once will you ever get bored. You may get a tad frustrated trying to figure out the pieces to the puzzle, but when they begin to fall in place...oh my!!

I think I said that already. Julie Carobini's writing is really superb, and Sweet Waters is chick-lit at it's very best! Originally, this book was scheduled to release from B&H in August, but I just learned it's already available!

I enjoyed the premise of this book: Tara returning to Otter Bay to fulfill her father's dying request and discovering things about her parents she never could have imagined. However, her discoveries were a bit drawn out...it seemed to take forever to get even the smallest (and usually very vague) pieces of information. Tara's relationship with Josh was quite juvenile and the nicknames that she and her sister, Melanie, had for each other (Tare-Tare and Mel-Mel) made me crazy.


Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable read, set on the beach in typical Julie Carobini fashion. A light "beach read," perfect for summer.

Tara Sweet's fiance has called off their wedding and her mother plans to marry a younger man and go on a long honeymoon to Europe. So Tara she decides to move back to Otter Bay, California where she grew up, thinking the wonderful life she left can be hers again. But what she finds are buried secrets about why her family left Otter Bay, stories about her father that are hard for her to accept. Add in a firefighter that she has a deep attraction for, problems with her sisters and you've got a very interesting story. The characters were very well written and I found myself eager to find out what was going to happen next. I liked that there was a Christian theme running throughout the book. The book was slow here and there but I liked it that way. It was an easy read with just the right amount of edge to it. I really liked this book and can't wait to read the next book from Julie Carobini.

*Thanks to the author Julie Carobini for this review copy*

Though Sweet Water unfolded slowly, I found Julie's writing keeping me wanting to continue. This Christian Romance, that is not shoving the gospel down your throat, has twists that keep you thinking.

Wow! Advice from a soap opera star... when Tara's life feels like a soap opera!

I can't wait to re-read this as I lay on a California beach in September! This will be packed with me for my family vacation. This 'beach-lit' book can be enjoyed by all, anywhere, but I look forward to becoming one with the beach and with Tara's story once again!

I've heard Julie's writing to that of Kristen Billerbeck and Melody Carlson, so if you like these authors... be sure pick up a copy of Sweet Waters by Julie Carobini!

Tara Sweet never thought that she would be moving back to her hometown of Otter Bay, California. After Tara's fiancé' calls off their wedding, there isn't much left for Tara to do in Missouri, so moving back home for a new start is exactly what Tara needs.

It seems that Tara isn't the only one looking for new adventures. Tara's sister, Liz is planning to move to Manhattan and their mother will be traveling the European countries with her new younger husband of eight years her junior, Derrick. They will be gone for about a year.

Tara comes back to Otter Bay with dreams and hopes of happy times like it used to be when she grew up. Yes, Tara makes some new friends and even meets sexy firefighter, Josh but Tara also gets more than she bargains for when she learns some secrets about her family.

Tara was a bit of a disappointment for me. I found her to be a bit dull. I found her mother and her new husband had me more interested in what they were going to do. I can't comment on Tara and Josh's chemistry as I stopped reading this book about a third of the way in, before things really picked up. I did think though that the people of Otter Bay seemed nice and a nice place to go to visit. For anyone who likes chick lit than you might like Sweet Waters.

I got maybe 1/3 of the way through and just didn't want to waste my time with it. Characters were annoying, writing wasn't great, and it was very slow paced. I ended up skipping to the end just to see what happened to the sister's dad. Glad I didn't waste my time reading the whole book to find out. It also seems like you can label it Christian fiction just by putting a paragraph or two about trusting God. I wanted an easy, inspiring read on par with Francine Rivers or Tracy Peterson - Sorry Ms. Carobini, but I was not impressed.