Great plot line with well developed characters. Perfect summer read with a wonderful setting. Perfect read for those who like to think about the path not taken and the coulda, shoulda, woulda's of life.

Oh for the love of everything great this was exceptional. Top 2017. Highly recommend this beautiful book.

Eliza Barnes, daughter of a lobsterman from a small town in Maine, worked hard her whole life to break away from the fishing boats. With dreams of the Ivy League and medical school, Eliza leaves her high school sweetheart and widowed father to begin her journey. Plans slightly veered when Eliza gets married and finds herself living the country club life with a handsome husband and two beautiful daughters in Boston. This seemingly idyllic spell is broken when Eliza is called to help her father after an accident and finds him in a much more serious situation than she ever imagined. Staying in Maine for a bit to help her dad, she reconnects with her high school love and all the memories that they shared. At the same time she befriends a local teen who is searching for life’s answers that are not easily found. I loved the small town vibe and beautiful settings but was overall disappointed. Without giving spoilers, characters did not connect with each other or with me. Much of the dialogue was contrived and predictable. Luckily it was an easy read but sorry girls, it’s not on my recommend list.

This is a pleasant light hearted read, although I detected a morality/rigidity that was disconcerting to me and ultimately undefined and carried through. The novel fluctuates from a number of character’s pov but they all circle Eliza’s plight. Moore’s characters aren’t particularly well rounded or empathetic but the story provokes lots of food for thought. This is a novel predominately about motherhood (or rather about mother-daughter relationships): about absent mothers, neglectful mothers, substitute mothers, mothers-to-be and good/bad mothers. The concept is fairly simple/straight-forward, as is the dichotomy she presents between rich and poor. Moore presents us with stereotypes, as well as characters that promise to be a little more complex, and implies that there is more depth to them; I remain unconvinced. I didn’t like Eliza and found her choices disappointing, possibly because I found her rather naïve and superficial; the other characters also flail about in passivity. Mary, as Eliza’s foil, is unlikeable to me for the same reasons. Moore manages to maintain a fairly delicate and sensitive nonjudgmental tone throughout the novel; I understand why but I also feel that this ultimately ensured that the storyline lost its fizz and became fairly flat (including the revelations made; for example the Phineas Tarbox reference was a bit of let down, as was the revelations of her mother’s surprisingly frivolous letter – even that last insert).

If you don’t expect too much from this novel then it makes for an easy read; the dialogue and secrets that are revealed move the story fluidly along and there are many scenes I enjoyed (I particularly liked the chapter when Eliza was hauling lobsters with Russell – it was also very interesting).

Moore unbuckles thoughts and sensations about everyday life, family, life, money but ultimately I felt that her characters learned little and no major changes were made to the way they lived/felt/thought.

Eliza ... The Captain's Daughter. Lost her mom at a young age. Her dad was a lobster boat "captain". She came from humble beginnings. She attended med school for a couple years, but never finished. She's married ... married well (country club well) and has two kids. Life is good and cushy and comfortable.

Then her dad falls ill. She goes home to be with him. Learns it is aggressive brain cancer, but he is refusing treatment. She is torn - needed with her hubby and kids and needed with her dad.

She decides to stay and spend all the time she can with her dad. This makes her question EVERYTHING. Did she make the right choices? So many what ifs! I won't tell more to spoil the story, but I found it an enjoying read for sure.

Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for an ARC for a fair and honest review.

This was an entertaining read of adults with children rehashing their lives and wondering if they made a mistake in their earlier choices in life.

The book deals with marriage, children, parents, ailing parents, and what could have been as well as dealing with issues on a daily basis in their lives.

I enjoyed reading this book.

Thanks to Doubleday Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Although I was not a huge fan of <I>The Admissions</I>, I was intrigued by this book's ties to coastal Maine and Massachusetts. I'm a sucker for storied that I can try to put real life perspective on, even if it's just the setting. So, I gave it a chance.

I'm glad I did. The story had many underlying themes and storylines which kept the story flowing. Eliza is in the midst of taking care of her family now that it's the summer and schedules are hectic when she gets the call that her dad is not doing well. She drops everything to spend the summer caring for her dad, while leaving her family to navigate through the summer without her.

<I>The Captain's Daughter</I> was a story about reliving and conquering childhood demons and coming to terms with the responsibilities that center around a sick/dying parent. Neither are easy and seem impossible to manage, until you are forced to. I admired Eliza's strength throughout. Moore did a great job of making her a strong but vulnerable female. This truly was a great summer read.

Celebrating summer with gossipy cocktails at the club, Eliza Barnes exhales: school’s out and her girls are in the pool. But the lobsterman’s daughter feels like a fraud and when her father’s injured in a boating accident, Eliza returns to the tiny coastal town she once fled. Don’t miss this heartfelt, beautiful tale of the path-not-taken.

This was an outstanding novel! I really enjoyed the way the families’ lives were depicted. The book had a realistic, modern day tone to it. The story is set in Massachusetts and in Maine during the present time. There are some parts that are glimpses of the past, memories that are necessary to understand the characters’ lives. Eliza lives a country club, affluent life in Massachusetts with her husband Rob and her children, Zoe and Evie. Suddenly, Eliza finds herself going home to Maine to see her father Charlie, who was hurt in an accident on his boat while out hauling his lobster traps. This novel is the story of Eliza and her relationship with her parents Charlie and Joanie. It is the story of her life with her husband and her children. We also get to know Eliza’s mother’s close friend Val who has been helping Charlie. And we get to know young Mary and her mother. This story is about families, love, and loss. It is about forgiveness, understanding, compromising, and most important starting over. All the characters are dealing with their own personal struggles, and finding the strength to make a new life.

This book made me feel so much, particularly the point of views of all of the characters. Oh Mary, Mary... my heart broke so many times for this character. I wanted to reach through the pages and hug her. I loved how the main character had a name so similar to mine 😜(Eliza). I loved how the characters were all developed in such a perfectly imperfect way. I'm not sure if the character was trying to do this on purpose after references to how fake social media can be... but each character was flawed and did something that wasn't 100% ideal. This was so raw and so true to life! Lastly, I loved the settings of the book - college memories in my home state of RI, currently living in the same state I live in, MA, and the majority of the story taking place where I'm vacationing next month with my family, ME. So fun! An added bonus is this book just hit shelves this week AND it's part of the super fun and noteworthy summer reading challenge by booksparks - this would be a great beach read or boat read, especially since so much surrounds lobster and the ocean! You have been warned though- this book will make you cry and I can't even tell you how frequently I read this book in public and tried to subtly cry!!

From my blog: Always With a Book:

My thoughts: This is the second book I've read by Meg Mitchell Moore and it's the second book I've enjoyed by her. She has such a way with words and storytelling - being able to draw you in and keep you engaged and invested in the world she creates.

I loved that the characters are so real and relatable! You may not always like them or agree with their choices or actions, but they are true to their characters and that makes them good, flawed, realistic characters. Eliza has been living in an affluent Massachusetts town with her family, which is quite the opposite of the small coastal town in Maine that she grew up in. When she needs to head back to Maine after her dad has been injured, she finds that going home isn't always as easy as one thinks.

This book is filled with subtle themes that sort of sneak up on you. It's not a heavy book by any means, but rather one that is balanced with humor and messages meant to think about. It delves into relationships between parent and child, motherhood, marriage, grief, and the idea of being true to yourself. And the settings - that of both the Massachusetts town and the Maine coastal town are ideal for this story! I loved both and found that both were just right for the messages that Meg Mitchell Moore was trying to send.

This was such a good story, with memorable characters, and insightful messages. It's definitely a great summer read!

I would like to thank Meg Mitchell Moore, Doubleday Books and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review.

Review By Stephanie


What a touching story about grief, marriage and motherhood.The fourt amazing aspect in The Captain's Daughter is the flawless setting of the Maine fishing town. The setting of this book touched me so much that we are planning a family trip to Maine, as I was reading the details of that great town in Maine I was like YES WE NEED TO GO!

Now disclaimer time! This book was a tearjerker for me, I mean like shaking ugly cry crying. I think the main reason is the mother daughter relationship that Meg Mithcell Moore wrote so beutifully. The story was so relatable as being both a daughter and a mother to a daugter. The feelings in this book was very raw and real. I am sure many mothers and dauthers will connect with this book the same way I do.

After I was done reading The Captain's Daughter I hugged my daughter for what she said was forever then I called my mom and told her to add this book her must read list!

I look forward to reading more from Meg Mitchell Moore!

This is women's fiction how I like it: no instant love between characters who just met, simply an emotional and lovely read. I really enjoyed it and while I didn't connect with all of the characters and there were moments that left me scratching my head, it's worth a read. The author goes into great detail about life both in the small hometown of the main character and considerably more affluent town she lives in now. She makes you feel like you're there with them, and maybe capable of hauling in lobster yourself. (I'm probably not.)

Eliza and her husband enjoy the kind of wealth that provides yachts and hundred thousand dollar cars. Fancy, fancy. Eliza spent two years in medical school before dropping out to be a stay at home mother, and her husband has just begun a huge project as an architect which promises to be lucrative, but most of their money comes from his mother.

Her cushy lifestyle could not be any different than her humble beginnings. She lost her mother when she was very young, leaving her with her gruff but dedicated father. He is and has always been a lobsterman, an extremely hard worker. He's always made his living with his hands, rising early in the morning and headed to bed around sunset. It takes a lot out of a person. His long history manning his boat, the Joanie B., may be at an end. Charlie had an accident onboard, leading him to ask for help for one of the first times of his life. Eliza rushes to his side, expecting him to recover quickly... but he's been keeping recent difficulties from his daughter.

Spending more time in Little Harbor is starting to get to Eliza. She loves her husband, but what if things had been different? What if she'd stayed behind with her first love? Would she have an older daughter not unlike Mary, the shy seventeen year old who works at the cafe that she feels strangely protective over? Her husband is also having a difficult time juggling the job and their children, and the girls miss their mother terribly. She can't abandon her father, though. Is this where she's meant to be all along, or does she still belong in the country club crowd?

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Doubleday Books, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

Returning to Little Harbor, Maine, Eliza is helping her father recover from an accident on his lobster boat. Growing up with just her dad had Eliza moving away as soon as she was able. Now she leaves her two daughters and husband to for the summer as she helps sort out her dad's business and home affairs. While there she starts mentoring a young woman who reminds her of her young self. I read Meg Moore's book the Arrivals and enjoyed it. This book was a good story but I had a little trouble following the plot as she switched characters in various chapters. I like books with the wistful what could have been but having the characters discover she made the right decisions along the way.

This could have been called "Despicable Me," except that title has already been claimed.

While I enjoyed Moore's last novel, "The Admissions," this book is something else all together. I found it hard to connect with most of the characters, as their actions belied common sense. Several plot points seemed contrived (a character on death's door shows up out of the blue for a Clint Eastwood "Go ahead. Make my day" moment, among one of several head-scratchers).

Not sure if I was "off" during the reading of this, or if it was the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The loss of her mother when Eliza was instrumental in shaping her life. Raised by her lobsterman father in a small coastal Maine village Eliza couldn't wait to leave for college. Now she lives in an affluent Massachusetts community with her husband and two daughters. Her life revolves around her children and their activities and her friends. Life changes when Eliza receives a phone call with the news that her dad was injured while working on his boat. She heads up to Maine to take care of him. It's where she comes in contact with people from her past that make her wonder what might have been if her life had gone in a different direction. I thought this was a rather quiet novel that kept me turning the pages. I had to know what would happen with a few of the characters. There's a young woman, a girl really, who reminds Eliza of herself when she lived in Little Harbor. I thought Eliza's husband was interesting in his changing professional life. I enjoyed Eliza's daughters and even came to appreciate her mother-in-law. Perspective will help a reader and a character do that. I'd recommend this book to fans of Meg Mitchell Moore, a coastal setting, and contemporary fiction about families.

Following Eliza as she makes her return to her hometown, The Captain's Daughter touches on the familiar landscape of lost loves, teen pregnancy, death, and career success. A quick read, but I did find the characters a bit lacking...it was hard to connect.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read.

A very beachy sort of book. Eliza returns to her hometown of Little Harbor, Maine when her father is ill to help him thorough a tough patch. Her husband remains in her current life with her two daughters. While in Little Harbor, Eliza runs into her old flame and meets a teenage girl who makes her question how her life would be different had she stayed. Lots of characters and ideas in this novel, but I'm not sure if any are fully developed by the end, might have been more fleshed out had they been culled a bit. But a good, quick summery read.

The Captains Daughter
By Meg Mitchell Moore

Eliza Barnes is called home to Little Harbor after her father has a accident on his boat , the Joanie B. 
She meets up with her first love, which makes her question her past, and the decisions she made.

The storyline changes from chapter to chapter, making it hard to follow character development. 

3 stars

I received this ARC through Netgalley for a honest review.

Eliza Barnes should be a happy woman, she’s married with two children and a very comfortable life in a cushy Massachusetts town. But she finds herself missing Maine, and the little town where she grew up as the daughter of a lobsterman. It’s only after her father is injured that Eliza gives in to her feelings and returns to Maine, only to learn her father is in much worse shape than she knew. Surrounded by childhood friends, including her first real love, Eliza begins to question the choices she made. As a Maine native myself, I always read books about my home state with a little trepidation (I once read a book where someone described a very angry-looking moose), but Moore knows her stuff and portrays Maine, the good, the bad, and the ugly, realistically in her lovely story about going home