Sweet Waters: An Otter Bay Novel

by Julie Carobini

There's nothing left for Tara Sweet in landlocked Dexton, Missouri. Her fianc called off their wedding, her sister is moving to Manhattan, and now her mother is marrying a much younger man with plans for a yearlong honeymoon in Europe. Tara believes a move back to her childhood home of Otter Bay, California, will help restore the fun and fearlessness she's already missing in her twenties. Playing back memories of idyllic times spent there with her...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080544873X
• ISBN13: 9780805448733
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: B&H Books
• Length: 387 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Sweet Waters Good Start in the Otter Bay Series

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.

What a fun book! Sweet Waters by Julie Carobini

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.

Not Your Typical Romance

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.

Sweet Romance and Homecoming Tale

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.

A story about sisters, about moving on and about grace...

"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!