Gifts from the Sea

by Jane Goodger

On Cape Cod, a woman watches the sea-and prays that her sailor husband, whom she refuses to believe is dead, will return to her. Instead, the mysterious captain of a whaling ship drifts ashore-and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451204786
• ISBN13: 9780451204783
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

High on my list!

What a combination of personalites. Shy, retiring Rachel, who never really knew a true marriage and bold, intensely masculine Jared. Inspite of her cold husband, she mourns and looks to the sea for his return. Always hopeful. Jared, having lost his family to the sea, finds life totally hopeless.When the two meet, sparks start to smolder. And what a fire they will finally light.Supported by a cast of true New Englanders, stoic, stern and quiet, filled with inner strength, the townspeople routinely come together for shipwrecks, to save the people and the cargo.The key to the heart of the story, is Rachel's daughter, Belle. It is she that first warms the heart of the captain and later, is the final catalyst that brings our two lovers together.A great beach book!

A love story to cherish

When burley, drunk Captain Jared Mitchell is pulled from the sea he never expected to live...let alone find love.Rachel Best searched the sea for her lost husband...only to find an angry sea captain bent on destruction.Jane Goodger has written a moving and wonderful love story to cherish. She brings the reader back to a time where life was tough and the sea ruled the lives of others. This book is a book to cherish and to keep on that special shelf titled 'Keppers'.

A Definite Keeper

Rachel Best is always watching the sea near Truro, along the Atlantic Coast, searching for her husband lost at sea months before. When a whaleboat washes ashore with a man lying inside, Rachel is almost afraid to hope that the man is Richard, her husband found alive. Unfortunately, the man is Captain Jared Mitchell, sea captain of a whaling vessel who asked to be set adrift from his ship and drank himself into oblivion. Refusing to believe in Richard's death, Rachel doesn't welcome the attraction that she feels for Jared, a big gruff, hairy man so unlike her blonde husband. As Jared recovers in her parents' cabin, he loses his heart to Belle, Rachel's precocious five-year-old daughter. Though incensed that Jared rents her husband's cabin from her family, Rachel can no longer deny her attraction to the handsome captain who has opened his heart to her daughter. Their relationship would be such a sure thing if only Rachel could let go of Richard. Will she be able to let go of the past before it is too late? Full of intense emotion and love scenes set among the tempestuous background of the sea, Ms. Goodger's captivating writing is at its best. And the unanswered questions behind Richard's death add a pleasing element of mystery to this tale. And for those romance readers, who devour romantic tension, prepare for a literal feast as this read thrives on romantic adversity. Though the tension in this read proves to hold the reader's interest, the only drawback is that Rachel and Jared's constantly thinking that the other does not love them gets a little overcooked. However, this is definitely a read to be savored again and again-a keeper.

An insightful American romance

In the days of the thriving whaling industry, the residents of Truro, Massachusetts survive by recovering cargo from the shipwrecks near their Cape Cod community. Rachel Best and her husband Richard have lived in Truro all their lives. He knows the nearby Atlantic Ocean as well as anyone, but when he disappears at sea, everyone else concludes he died. Rachel refuses to believe her spouse is dead so every morning regardless of the weather she walks to the ocean expecting Richard to return. Sea Captain Jared Mitchell has wanted to die ever since he blamed himself for the accidental deaths of his wife and daughter. Unable to cope, he tries a strange suicide by commanding his whaling crew maroon him in the sea. The ocean fails to listen to his plea; so on a cold autumn day, Rachel finds the whaleboat containing the half-dead Jared. She and her family nurse Jared back to health. Jared falls in love with Rachel who begins to reciprocate, but she feels guilty because she still believes Richard is coming home. GIFTS FROM THE SEA is an insightful American romance that is excellent when it concentrates on a second chance at love though closure from the previous relationship has not occurred. When the novel meanders into unnecessary subplots, it loses some of its wallop. Jared is a compassionate hero while Rachel is more difficult to accept because her marriage was not a happy one so why one wonders why she loyally clings to a memory. Still when Jane Goodger keeps the love story of the lead couple front and center, readers receive a wonderful historical romance.Harriet Klausner