THE FAMILY SHIP by Sonja Yoerg

 

From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes a disarming and emotional novel about a family in distress and a daughter’s mission to keep it from going under.

Chesapeake Bay, 1980. Eighteen-year-old Verity Vergennes is the captain of the USS Nepenthe, and her seven younger siblings are her crew. The ship―an oyster boat transformed into a make-believe destroyer―is the heart of the Vergennes family, a place both to play and to learn responsibility. But Verity’s had it with being tied to the ship and secretly applies to a distant college. If only her parents could bear to let her go.

Maeve and Arthur Vergennes already suffered one loss when, five years earlier, their eldest son, Jude, stormed out and never returned. Now Maeve is pregnant again and something’s amiss. Verity yearns to follow her dreams, but how can she jump ship now? The problem, and perhaps the answer, lies with Jude.

When disaster strikes and the family unravels, Verity must rally her sibling crew to keep the Nepenthe and all it symbolizes afloat. Sailing away from home, she discovers, is never easy―not if you ever hope to find your way back.

My thoughts:

This is the second book that I have read by this author. True Places was excellent. A real page turner. I loved it. I was not quite as happy with this one. It was not horrible mind you but didn't give me what I love in this type of book either.

Maeve and Arthur Vergennes have nine children: Jude, Verity, Eden, Spider, Harper, Roy, Wallace, Cyrus, and Nellie. They are expecting a tenth. I can't begin to imagine having that many siblings much less children. 

The children all have certain responsibilities. They also have a boat in their yard that they play on. It's a bit more than playing but it's not like they are out at sea either. I think it was to teach them some kind of responsibility and give them something to do. Each had a part to do and they did it. These children are very good, well behaved, and seem to love each other deeply. They basically get along better than normal families seem too. I would expect with this many that there would be a lot of bickering or jealously involved but there isn't. The older children basically take care of the younger ones and the parents keep having more. Not fair but that is the way it is.

Jude and Verity are the oldest and have the bulk of the responsibility. They can't just go out and do things with friends or normal teen things. That I found to be unrealistic. Almost all teens would rebel against that. But these children in the Vergennes family are almost too perfect. They have very loving parents. The mother is always there to make them feel better if anything happens and the dad works hard but is also very loving to his children. But his wife is the love of his life and he loves her above anything and anyone. 

When a tragedy strikes this family it strikes hard. There is a breakdown in the family and things seem to be falling apart. There is some mental breakdowns, sexual assault, family anger, and one child leaves. But you know that in the end all will be ok. 

This book has three parts and each is very important to the story. It's told from each child and the mother's POV and if you are not careful you might lose your way. I was able to keep up but found that some of it was not necessary. I believe it would have been better to just tell from maybe the older two and both parents POV. But what do I know. I'm not the author. 

It was a well written story and had lots of emotion in it. All the feels you expect. It was just not what I was expecting, thus the three stars. I found it hard to connect to anyone because there were just too many. The descriptions were great. You did feel like you was there. Especially in the storm. That was a very intense part and was the turning point for this family. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, #SonjaYoerg, #LakeUnionPublishers for this ARC. These are my own true feelings about this book.

I gave it 3/5 stars but only because I could not connect with anyone. Other than that it was a good story. I do recommend that you read this one. You may absolutely love it. Enjoy!