This month's challenge from Wendy's 2013 TBR Challenge "More Than One. Read a book by an author with more than one book in my TBR pile. I have three books by Colleen Coble who writes Inspirational suspense novels, contemporary and historical. I had the privilege of meeting the author at the RTBooklovers Convention earlier this month. I received a signed copy of Tidewater Inn and decided to read it for this challenge.
Tidewater Inn is the first in the Hope Beach contemporary romantic suspense series. Libby inherits a seaside hotel from a father she thought was dead. She goes to the Outer Banks to see the property and meet her half sister and brother who hate her on sight, feeling she is an interloper. Her other reason for being on the island is her business partner Nicole. Nicole went to the island before Libby to follow up on a business opportunity. Nicole has been kidnapped and throughout the story we discover what that has to do with Libby's inheritance.
Libby meets Coast Guard lieutenant Alec, who helps her with the search for Nicole. Alec has reasons to believe that Libby may be implicated in the kidnapping, but as they spend time together, he trusts that she is innocent. The story moves between Libby's search for Nicole and her personal search to be loved and accepted into a family. As we meet the residents of the island, and Libby's siblings, Coble gradually builds the suspense, revealing one secret after another. Why did her father abandon her? Is Nicole still alive? Can Alec love her? Will her family accept her? It's not a nail biter, but it's a page turner.
My grade for subtle suspense, soft romance, nasty half-siblings and taking place in one of my favorite settings - the Outer Banks. B-
