 |
| To Purchase |
About the Book:
Although the Winds of Mackinac Inn has been in her mother’s
family for generations, Maude Welling’s father refuses to let her run it
without the guidance of a husband. So she seeks to prove her worth and
independence by working incognito as a maid at the Grand Hotel.
Undercover journalist Ben Steffans, posing as a wealthy
industrialist, pursues a story about impoverished men chasing heiresses at the
famed hotel. While undercover, he
becomes attracted to an intriguing maid. By an act of heroism Ben endears
himself to the closed-mouthed islanders—including Maude—and he digs deep for
his story.
But when scandal threatens, will the growing love between
Maude and Ben be scuttled when truths are revealed?
My Thoughts:
Author Pagels newest story takes us to the beautiful
Mackinac Island in the year 1895. Bicycles are all the rage when getting around
town and due to the author’s poetic prose and descriptions of Mackinac Island, it
sounds like the place to visit, back then and now.
This story centers on Maude Welling and the family drama
that surrounds the family assets, especially their Inn, The Winds of Mackinac.
This story itself starts off simply enough; Maude races to meet her fiancé as
his ship comes in and instead gets the surprise of her life, he has married
someone else. With such a blow, Maude shores up her heart and moves on to her
greater purpose, running the Inn. Her father on the other hand, for some
reason, does not believe she can run the matriarchal inn without a husband so
suggests selling it. So Maude decides to prove him wrong.
Enter Detroit reporter Ben who is undercover as a rich
German aristocrat due to an assignment by his boss. Supposedly trying to get
information on one story, his boss sends him cryptic information that leads him
to uncover what his boss really wants to find out. Ben becomes very much enamored with Maude and
begins to pursue at least a friendship with her.
Nothing and no one is as they seem in this turn of the
century novel. I will say that at times I was a little bit confused with all
the aliases and the fact that Maude seems to be related to everyone on the
island. I was not sure of some of Maude’s motives for doing some of the things
she was doing. I was put off
with her father as well and oftentimes during the story wondered what his game was. But
I found that despite and probably because of these contradictory actions I
could not put the novel down. I have always enjoyed author Pagels stories and
the rich detail and information she puts into each novel to bring the story to
life and this novel was no different. I found this to be an interesting
historical light mystery.
I received a complimentary copy of this book
from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a
review. The views and opinions expressed
are my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment