The Surf's Up Collection (4 in One Volume of Surf’s Up Novellas): A Tide Worth Turning, Message in a Bottle, The Shell Collector's Daughter, and Christmas by the Sea

By: Beth Wiseman

Narrated by: Cecily White

A Tide Worth Turning: Addison and Logan aren't in the market for love. She's recovering from a breakup, and he is hiding out on Galveston Island, trying to save enough money to get back to his country of origin before his world crashes down around him. But when Addison awakens feelings in him that he thought died long ago, Logan begins to question whether or not fleeing from the past is worth leaving Addison forever. Can love triumph where currents are rough?

Message in a Bottle: Kyle loses the love of his life when girlfriend Morgan is whisked away by the CIA in the middle of the night. Almost six years later, two men show up at Kyle's door with news that he has a daughter who is ill. Her only chance of survival lies with Kyle, if he'll fly to an undisclosed island location in the Pacific. But reuniting with his first love and saving his daughter places his engagement to his fiancée, Lexie, at risk. Can love bridge the troubled waters of Kyle's past and present?

The Shell Collector's Daughter: Carianna isn't like other 26-year-old women. She's never been on a date, never experienced the euphoria of a first kiss, and certainly never been in love. Can a man's heart speak to hers in a way that she can understand? And if so, will any man believe that Carianna sings with the angels and has tea with God? Will he see the star dust twinkling in her eyes or hear the secret whispers of the ocean in a seashell? When the right man comes along, will Carianna's father lift his protective wings and allow Carianna to soar into the life that God meant for her?

Christmas by the Sea: Parker McIntyre is late evacuating Galveston Island prior to a hurricane. When he becomes trapped in rising floodwaters, he is going to drown if help doesn't arrive soon. Alexandria Hanson is on her way off the island to escape the immediate storm threat, but she spots a person trapped in the water. Helping the man is going to require great personal risk, but she can't leave him.

©2018 Elizabeth Wiseman Mackey (P)2018 Elizabeth Wiseman Mackey

excellent

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narration was great.

For the Faithful, Not Me

Title: Surf’s Up Collection
Author: Beth Wiseman
Format: audio
Narrator: Cecily White
Genre: Romance, clean, religious, novellas
Standalone: yes
Part of a Series: 4 novellas from the Surfs Up Series
3/5

If you’re looking for a clean, religious romance then this collection is for you. There’s a wide variety of tropes in each story with an extra helping of god and faith.

While the writing was good this definitely wasn’t my cup of tea. By the end I was treating it like one of those hallmark movies that I can’t help but roll my eyes at and make fun of.

See below for my reviews for each novella.


Book 1: A Tide Worth Turning
Trope: A hint of suspense
POV: Addison and Logan

Logan is a caregiver hired by Addison to take care of her mom. Along the way we realize that Logan isn’t what he appears. And who is that older gentleman hanging around Addison’s mom’s house? I liked the hint of suspense that A Tide Wirth Turning created but the religious aspect was too much. Very in your face Christianity.

Book 2: Message in a Bottle
Trope: suspense, secret baby, second chance, witness protection
POV: Kyle, Morgan, Lexi

Message in a Bottle is sweet and emotional. Kyle finds out that he has a daughter when the CIA show up out of the blue to whisk him away so that he could possibly save her life. Intermixing old love and new, heartbreak and impossible decisions Message In a Bottle asks what you would do for love, what you would sacrifice and how far you will go to find the person you love. Again, it was heavy on the religious overtones but it was less distracting than the fist novella in this box set.

Book 3: The Shell Collector’s Daughter
Trope; ???? Contemporary romance, women’s lit
POV: Carriana, Dominick

Carriana is definitely not the type of heroine that I like. She’s meek and... i don’t know. Rather than truly listening to this story i was trying to understand her and diagnose her. She’s smart (as indicated by her speaking multiple languages) But she can’t tie her shoes (???) Her (earthly) father is protective ? Knows that she’s naive and will attach herself to random people yet he allows her to travel on her own to collect shells for him. This story is a study in contradictions, the most in your face religious novella (she has tea with god on Thursdays) in this collection and frankly my least favorite. I sped it up to get it over with faster but ended up DNF

Book 4: Christmas by the Sea
Trope: holiday, single dad
POV: Parker and Alex

Parker is trapped in a flood of rising water in a hurricane. Alex stops to help. But she’s not a strong swimmer Yet she’s lived in TX long enough to know better to wade into flood waters but she doesn’t. Instead she goes to rescue him. Only getting each others first names, neither can find each other until Christmas. It’s a Jesus miracle.

I received this audiobook for free from Audiobook Obsession. This is my honest and voluntary review.

The Surf's up collection

All four of these stories are worth the read.They are full of heart and family.I enjoyed them.Narration by Cecily White was done well.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

A Sweet Box Set

This box set has four sweet romances. The stories themselves were well written with nicely developed characters. The only problem I had was the strong religious tones throughout each story. I don't have a problem with religion I just don't think it has to be so strongly written into such lovely sweet romances. To me, strength of faith (whatever faith that may be) can be portrayed without being 'in your face' about it. The narration was well done by Cecily White. She gave the characters their own voices and emotions and helped to bring the story to life. Overall, if you enjoy romances with a heavy dose of religion then this set is for you. If that is not your cup of tea then bypass this one.

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Recommended

'A Tide Worth Turning'

A sweet romance with strong christian undertones.  Being a Catholic Christian I was happy to notice the references were correct without prejudice. Immigration and citizenship are such hot topics right now.  I was surprised to see it as part of this story.



'Message In A Bottle'

A poignant story about loss, devotion, secrecy and trust.  This is not a 'happy' story even with the HEA there is a sense of loss.  Saying that in no way discounts the story.  This journey shows the depth and near miraculous ways God works with hin the human spirit.  


Cecily White did a good job narrating but I do wonder if a male voice would have been more effectiveness the stand out character, Kyle, was male.



'The Shell Collectors Daughter'

A rather strange quirky story.  Carinna is so sweetly innocent and delightful. It is not hard to imagine why she is so well loved.  Dominic is more worldly aware.  Carinna frightens and captivates him at the same time.  


An delightful story with touches of sinister.  I really liked the ide of having tea with God every Thursday. 



'Christmas By The Sea'

When looking at words to describe this story I didn't see the one I wanted.  Stressful and suspenseful.  As I listened to this experience during a deadly hurricane I could picture it perfectly.   My shoulders were tensed and my body read to jump into action.  It's good writing but not so good reading right before sleep.  


I recieved a free Audible copy, at my request, in exchange for a honest review

these books were given to me at my request for rev

I have enjoyed listening to all of these books they were very entertaining. the narrator was really good.

great collection!

What a wonderful collection of novellas for just one credit.
These 4 stories weren’t long, but they each had lots of suspense, romance and were faith based. What else could you ask for.
I am sad this series has ended. Very enjoyable.

I was given this free review copy audio book, at my request, and have voluntarily left an honest review!

Faith, Trust, God

These stories are Christian faith based Books. Each one tests the Faith of the characters. no matter what is going on in their lives. Life, death, finding renewed faith, love lost a new one found, they all reflect on their relationship with God. The stories are sweet, some with danger, but it's their belief that gets them through each crisis.
Cicely White narration was very good. I enjoyed listening to these stories. 🎧audiobookobsessionreviewer🎧

Great Collection

This is a great collection of shorter novellas. Each of them is standalone, fully developed, and wholesome, with a touch of faith.
My favorite was Message in a Bottle, but I would recommend reading them all. Since each book is stand alone, the collection provides the reader with options for what they may want to read at any given time.

Ms. White narrates the entire collection and does a great job providing unique voices for each character and inflection and tonal difference when called for. Her narrations helped the reader to better imagine the situation and locale of the stories.

I certainly look forward to reading more by Ms. Wiseman and hearing more from Ms. White.

I was provided with a free copy of this audio book for my honest review. The views expressed here are entirely my own.

The Surf’s Up Collection

I have listened to each of the four novellas separately, and this is a great way to get all four of them in a single collection. Each of the stand alone stories has a very satisfying ending. My favorite was Christmas by the Sea!

Beth Wiseman certainly knows how to write an entertaining story, and the narration by Cecily White added to my enjoyment.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.