"The Voyage of the Morning Light" by Marina Endicott, although a lovely seafaring journey, was populated by a plethora of characters, many arguably, seemingly non-essential. The main characters were not fully developed in this work.

I could not get into any type of good …more reading groove with this one. The beginning was confusing to the point in which I had to read the publisher's synopsis to figure out what was even going on. Then a little bit of the backstory is introduced about the two sisters and I start getting my hopes up. But that was short lived and I just never felt fully invested in the characters or the story. I think this is a case of a book just not being the right fit for me.

The story takes place in 1912 and from my understanding of the Author's Note this book is a work of fiction but the writer did draw some inspiration from real life events and people. This book can be placed in the historical fiction genre but much of it is the product of the author's creativity and imagination. Thea and Kay are half-sisters and there is a bit of an age gap between the two of them. After their father died, Thea put her plans of marriage on hold to relocate and raise her younger sister. Now ten years later, Thea is recently married to the captain of the Morning Light ship. The newlyweds and Kay set off for a lengthy voyage.

I felt like I was able to better understand after reading the Author's Note what she was going for in the book and I appreciate the attempt to bring something different to the historical fiction genre. Unfortunately I had a hard time with the actual execution and had a bit of a choppy reading experience. Early on I felt like it was setup for me to care about the two sisters, but ultimately I just didn't, especially in regards to Kay.

Judging by some of the other early reviews, either the story hits home with you or it is a complete miss. While I had problems with the story, it certainly doesn't mean other readers won't enjoy it. (less)