Sea Jade

Sea Jade was one of the romantic suspense novels I devoured in my youth. I remembered one of the biggest revelations, but not everything. Miranda Heath's father was one of the famed Three Captains: Obadiah Bascomb, Andrew McLean, and Nathaniel Heath. Her mother was the beautiful Carrie Corcoran whom all three captains loved. Miranda knows that after the maiden voyage of the Sea Jade, in its time a record-breaking clipper ship, Captain Heath never sailed again. She doesn't know why. All alone in the world now, she comes to Bascomb's Point at Obadiah's invitation.

Obadiah's housekeeper is Mrs. McLean, Andrew's widow. Her son, Brock, Obadiah's right-hand man, is himself a widower. His daughter, Laurel, is largely neglected. None of the show more McLeans want Miranda there, not even Brock's big black dog, Lucifer. Mrs. Crawford, the cook, is loyal to Mrs. McLean. She considers Mrs. McLean a well-born lady and snubs Miranda because her maternal grandparents were ordinary persons. Mrs. Bascomb is a high-born lady, but Mrs. McLean and Mrs. Crawford look down on her because she's Chinese. Miranda merely finds that interesting.
Only Obadiah and his left-hand man, Ian, seem ready to welcome Miranda.

It's not long before Miranda finds out why her father warned her to stay away from Captain Bascomb. The old man has plans for her that Miranda has no desire to have carried out. There are so many secrets festering in the hearts of those around her. Why Miranda has an old burn scar on her shoulder is probably the most innocent -- if Mrs. McLean is to be believed.

Someone in that house is willing to commit murder to keep one of those secrets buried. Miranda had better guess the killer's identity correctly because she might be the next victim if she's wrong.

I'm very glad I reread this book. show less

My first Whitney and I'm not altogether impressed, though I think I'll give her another try. The unrelenting atmosphere of hatred was hard to get through and the male lead sadly underdeveloped. The romantic element, once it came into play, was too abrupt; there was nothing really leading up to it. Perhaps I just picked one of Whitney's weaker efforts to start with.

An unusually good Gothic that was beautifully written and not poorly dramatic, capturing a magic of old ships and the allure of sailing the sea. Nothing paranormal or ghostly, but we do get a bratty child to scare us!

The mystery isn't award winning but it's pretty good; there were several twists not easily guessed. Not super cerebral but it kept my focus, along with enjoying the protagonist's headstrong personality. There wasn't much in the way of false death scares like most Gothics of this vein, but the story itself was still strong as she finds out about herself in the midst of her family of vipers. I enjoyed the twists about who her father was - there were different layers of backstory to make the present story richer. Clever twist show more with the marriage too.

I dug the main character - she possessed a spirited backbone. The hero had that personality I can understand eventually being attracted to, although he's an ass most of the book. The author threw in a little sly humor with the main character being spoiled in the beginning. show less

It took me a long time to get through this slim novel. At first, I wasn't terribly interested and it was easy to put down. By the time the book became more compelling, it was the holiday weekend and I didn't have much time to read. Sea Jade is the story of Miranda, who comes to Scots Harbor after her father dies because she is broke and needs someone to take care of her. In the beginning of the book, I wanted to smack Miranda for her naivete and her expectation that she would always be loved and taken care of. Unfortunately, only one person in the whole house wants her there. Everyone else looks at her like she's something they've scraped off their shoe. Turns out that nearly everyone has their own reason for disliking her and that at show more least one of them genuinely want her dead. So, that's awesome. The mystery of who and why is pretty much the rest of the book and the unraveling of old secrets and feuds. Even though this book was short, only 224 pages, the print was really, really tiny. That, plus the aforementioned issues, made reading this slow-going. However, by the end I was quite invested in the story and rather pleased by the ending. 3.5 stars. show less

Kept you in suspense till the last few pages. A gothic romance with all the proper elements. Very highly recommended

Ready for an exciting adventure, Miranda Heath's life is never going to be the same after she descends the steps of the coach at Bascomb's Piont, the residence of her grandfather. She can never even imagine what he has in store for her! She is now trapped in a world where she doesn't seem to be accepted, a world where revenge consumes every part of the house. Unexpectedly she is trapped into a marriage with a dour Scotsman who seems to want her there even less than everyone else. There is no turning back for Miranda as she must face her new world and conquer it to the last.

Also on http://lrjohnson13.blogspot.com/2012/10/sea-jade-by-phyllis-whitney.html