[REVIEW] Sea Swept: The Chesapeake Bay (Saga #1) by Nora Roberts

Hello, lovelies! 🌿 Today I noticed I haven’t posted anything since February and I’m like ‘oh my god’. And then I was like ‘typical’, I read and read but I struggle to stop and write a review – especially when I’m reading a book series where there is more than one book.

After reading two mangas and buying new books – one of them being The Priority of the Orange Tree which yay! I cannot wait to read it, I’ve decided to sit down and focus on showing my love for this lovely, adorable, gorgeous book.

I first read The Chesapeake Bay Saga years ago and I absolutely loved it. I adore Nora Roberts, I believe she writes incredible well-developed characters that makes you want to meet them and be their friends. This saga is one of those books. I started re-reading the series a while back, I got the first book in audiobook. I was laughing with the voices, cringing and just breathing in/out because the voices were terrible – but, my love for this book won over it.

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A champion boat racer, Cameron Quinn traveled the world spending his winnings on champagne and women. But when his dying father called him home to care for Seth, a troubled young boy not unlike Cameron once was, his life changed overnight…

After years of independence, Cameron had to learn to live with his brothers again, while he struggled with cooking, cleaning, and caring for a difficult boy. Old rivalries and new resentments flared between Cameron and his brothers, but they tried to put aside their differences for Seth’s sake. In the end, a social worker would decide Seth’s fate, and as tough as she was beautiful, she had the power to bring the Quinns together–or tear them apart… 

Synopsis

What I loved:

• The family aspect. As always Ms. Roberts manages to have a family that is full of support, happiness, angry feelings yet at the end of the day – the support is there, you don’t need to ask.
• The story surrounding these three siblings was fascinating. All of them with their own demons and terrible past but capable of loving. Seth, like all his brothers, is equally scared and afraid of love.
• The relationship between Seth and Cam – like with the other siblings – was well-developed. You see how reluctant Cam is to take in Seth but a promise is a promise and I love how Cam doesn’t change who he is just to adapt to the situation.
• Cam and Anna was also very realistic. You have two adults who don’t mix business with pleasure – even if they end up doing so. You have two consenting adults getting into a physical relationship because they don’t beat around the bush not wanting to explore this attraction.

“Jesus, Anna.” It was admiration, pure and simple, that burst through him as he was forced to catch the vase before it smashed into his face. “You must be nuts about me.”

chapter twenty

• Anna sometimes was frustrating and I wanted to grab her by the neck – but that made her a relatable character. She is a professional, she is strict but fair, witty, intelligent and moving with her own bag of demons but that doesn’t stop her. She is fair, lovely and sexy – and she’s not afraid to say what she thinks.
• Phillip and Ethan were a pleasure to meet and root for. Ethan with his patient eyes and gentle hands, Phillip with his high sophisticated likes and healthy cooking – plus a healthy dose of complains.
• The relationship between the siblings is like any other. You have the fights, the complaints but the incredible support at the end of the day.
• Cam was like an angry child who hadn’t learned to grow up with grace. He was angry at his father’s death, at having to take Seth in, at the fact he had to listen to the town whispering about Seth being his father’s illegitimate child, at how he had betrayed Cam’s mother. He sometimes didn’t know how to separate Anna being a social worker from Anna, his lover and I think all this made him incredible relatable and well to read. At the end, he acted like others would.

Annoyed again, he gripped her wrists. He couldn’t have said why the quiet understanding in her voice, the amused compassion in her eyes made him nervous. “I’m not a good man.” His grip tightened just enough to make her eyes narrow. “I’m selfish, impatient. I go for the thrills because that’s what suits me. Paying your debts doesn’t have anything to do with having a good heart. I’m a son of a bitch, and I like it that way.”

chapter twelve

• Anna’s family support was also amazing even if showcase in a small portion. Her love for her job, her trust in the system was so well written, so believable.
• The flowing between different 3rd person POV was amazing. I love how we didn’t have a chapter per character but instead, Ms. Robert managed to merge their voices in the same chapter and even in the same situation you got a bit out of everyone’s perspective.
• The scenery was gorgeous. We have this small town where everyone knows each other, where there is a season for crabs, where there are tourists everywhere, you have a town where the houses are quaint and next to the ocean and where the dogs jump into the water without care.
• The second characters were also very nice. You see a bit of everyone, who they are and how they impacted the lives of these three – soon four – boys turning into men.
• Also, Seth’s sullen face for everything, he complains, and his attitude even when inside he was ready to jump in happiness.
• The business was also fascinating to read about. The brothers putting everything aside to built something for themselves – even with a few complaints from Phil.

“Better to have it bulldozed and start over.”

“Phil, try to control that wild optimism.” Cam turned to Ethan. “What do you think?”

chapter eleven

• The visits of Ray the father of the boys as a ghost was also an amazing plot twist. You see Ray helping Cam without giving much of his thoughts and reasons as to why he has Seth. You see Ray in Seth’s eyes and wonder, as a reader, if this man was capable of betraying his wife Stella.
• You read about Seth and his mother and while you want to kill the mother you wonder if she will ever come back and what was her relationship with Ray ‘The Mighty’ Quinn.

Overall, this book was a gem. You have great characters, family love and support, a child who grows to be an angry man and a woman who learned to leave her past behind and move on. I loved the scent of this story and I’m already in chapter eleven of book #2 which I will be fangirling over soon enough.