MAKING WAVES – Laura Moore
A Beach Lane Novel , Book 1
Ballantine Books
ISBN: 978-0-425-28482-7
eBook ISBN: 978-0-425-28483-4
April 2017
Contemporary Romance

East Hamptons, New York, the Present

Among New York's Hampton's wealthy elite, their luxurious summer houses are called cottages. One such is Windhaven, home of the Hale family for generations. Dakota Hale was never accepted by her grandparents and barely tolerated by her mother's siblings. Her mother, Piper Hale, was—and still is—a flighty party girl who named her daughter after the New York City landmark apartments where she was conceived one night. Piper claims she never knew the name of the gentleman who fathered her daughter. She has always been too self-centered to be much of a mother, and Dakota was never treated kindly by her aunt or uncle.

Dakota has always known she must be strong and independent. She now runs a growing concierge business (Premier Service) catering to the country house clientele, who depend upon her and her employees to ready their Hampton houses for the season, cleaning the places, filling the cupboards and other such chores. She's busy doing so when she gets a frantic call from her mother. Her Uncle Elliott—as the only male heir—owned Windhaven, but he suddenly sold the family home without even telling his sisters he planned to do so! Dakota must come at once and bring some vodka for her Aunt Mimi, who is as devastated as her mother. Dakota has no idea what she can do about it, but she can't ignore her mother. Too bad she can't ignore the nasty digs she gets from her Aunt Mimi.

It turns out that the buyer of the cottage is a local self-made millionaire who hires Dakota and company to redo Windhaven. Max Carr is as handsome as he is rich, with a past even more difficult than Dakota's own. Incensed that Dakota is working for that man, Mimi gets busy informing the community that her gold-digging niece is after Max.

Laura Moore excels at delving deeply into her characters. I've enjoyed her books ever since reading her first one, RIDE A DARK HORSE. MAKING WAVES kept me up into the wee hours to finish it. This time, however, she doesn't find her comfort in horses. For solace as well as fun, she takes her surfboard to the beach and rides the waves.

For an engrossing story with a large cast headed by two strong personalities, don't miss MAKING WAVES.

Jane Bowers