The Whiskey Sea

By: Ann Howard Creel

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Motherless and destitute, Frieda Hope grows up during Prohibition determined to make a better life for herself and her sister, Bea. The girls are taken in by a kindly fisherman named Silver, and Frieda begins to feel at home whenever she is on the water. When Silver sells his fishing boat to WWI veteran Sam Hicks, thinking Sam would be a fine husband for Frieda, she's outraged. But Frieda manages to talk Sam into teaching her to repair boat engines instead, so she has a trade of her own and won't have to marry.

Frieda quickly discovers that a mechanic's wages won't support Bea and Silver, so she joins a team of rumrunners, speeding into dangerous waters to transport illegal liquor. Frieda becomes swept up in the lucrative, risky work - and swept off her feet by a handsome Ivy Leaguer who's in it just for fun.

As danger mounts and her own feelings threaten to drown her, can Frieda find her way back to solid ground - and to a love that will sustain her?

©2016 Ann Howard Creel (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Looking For What Just Might Be All Around You

The daughter of the town's prostitute, Frieda is haunted and determined. This is a fine story of one young woman who can never have enough; it's never safe, she always needs to make more. After all, her little sister is a smart, loving girl/young woman who has needs but can be flighty, and their beloved "caretaker", Silver--perhaps the only man in town who never made use of their mother--is crippled and ailing from a stroke, needing care, dying a little more each day.
Enter rum running, where Frieda's skills make her one of the most dependable and durable of mechanics. Here she finds solidarity, excitement and most of all, money. And soon, a love that turns her into someone she doesn't recognize.
"The Whiskey Sea" is a well-written story, redolent with the fragrances of the past, the mechanics and societal norms of Prohibition and poverty (if you don't get in on the action). It's a story about love, security, and finding forgiveness in your heart for all of that which haunts you. It's about letting go and letting love in.
Angela Dawe narrates very well, never making her male characters caricatures, and suffusing the text with energy and excitement. It's a short story, only 8+ hours, but it's sweet without being precious, and touching without being a ploy-filled tearjerker. I really enjoyed this story about the sea and history, about sisters and friends, about finding the love and steadiness that surrounds us all.

A whole lot of meh...

The end of this book left me feeling just a whole lot of "meh". I guess I was expecting some sweeping prohibition era romance, like Public Enemies set on the sea. What I got was...a rambling 1920s coming of age tale that maybe would have been more interesting to my teenage self as a life lesson than to a thirty year old woman who's been there done that and burned the t-shirt.

I liked Frieda, she starts out with a lot of spunk and quite understandable youthful rage at the world, her situation, and what is expected of her as a female vs what she really wants. The love interest, however, fell totally flat. He wasn't interesting at all. He was pretty, and rich, and mysterious--that was the extent of the depth of his character. LOL and apparently all rich people are super graceful according to the author--what? And then somewhere about half way Frieda loses all this fire and becomes a whining annoying girl, which really lost me.

Also, wish the book didn't start out COMPLETELY giving away the ending. Just saying. An artful prologue is good, but...

Despite all this, I did however find this was well written, and I did enjoy the author's descriptions of the sea and her apparent knowledge of boats. And, the narrator did a good job.

Too Bittersweet

Good historical fiction, great explanation of town and heroine's struggles with circumstances. Beautiful imagery. Annoying choices made by characters with obvious results, bittersweet ending in wrapping up all story lines that reader sees coming, and leaves you unhappy.

Just Another Romance Novel

Adequate writing. Great Setting. Interesting characters. I just wish the author would have done more with the plot. Unrequited love just isn't enough to fully captivate me.

🌟🌟 4 Stars 🌟🌟

Another book I chose for my category challenge, I will admit "roaring twenties" wasn't a category I was looking forward to and after stopping and starting 3 other books I started this one and was hooked from the prologue! This book was so much more than I expected it would be. I loved how different this was from my normal books. Frieda was a great character that grew so much from the beginning to the end of this book. I also loved the family dynamic and the friends she has in this book. This book had me up late because I just couldn't wait to see what happened. I enjoyed this book so much I chose my next book because of this author!

I love Angela Dawe! Sometimes depending on the characters I have to get used to her because I don't always think she is cast correctly but this book is an exception to that for me. She really did a great job on this book!

Whiskey sea

Loved story and narration was awesome. Well worth reading for sure. I think it is worth bring a movie. I saw it. As a word picture.

Great read and wonderful narration!

Really liked this book - descriptions of the coast, the water, the people. . . could almost smell the fragrance of the air currents! Well developed story; annoyed all the characters, too. Narrator was very, very good! I was very disappointed in the annoying 'skips' during some chapters, especially chapter 25 - it was as if I were listening to an old cassette that skipped and I felt I lost most of that chapter and pay off this story - so frustrating o pay for an Audible book that skipped. Please fix this problem. . .

Romance and rum running

The narration made this entertaining enough to finish. Angela Dawn did a very credible job with multiple voices. The story and prose were amateurish.

captivating story

the story and the narration held my attention throughout the entirety of the book. I love stories that Encompass a little bit history and I love how the author pulled you into Frieda's Life in Her small coastal town. it's filled with raw emotion.

a bit slow but good story

I wish she had gone deeper into what really happened during those rum exchanges. the story was steady a bit slow but it was a pretty good story