From an acclaimed author comes a cheerful, uplifting story of family and belonging, the first in a series perfect for fans of the Vanderbeekers and the Penderwicks.

If you want to get to know eleven-year-old Samantha Ali-O’Connor, you need to know three things:

One, she isn’t the only one of her siblings who is adopted, but she is the only one whose name isn't inspired by the ocean.

Two, she and Harbor always compete with each other to be the best Oldest Sibling—and just about everything else.

And three, she is determined to prove she's a real Ali-O'Connor by taking over the family business, repairing and chartering boats.

Except there's a Capital-P Problem: Her mothers have been Serious Whispering about selling the business before summer's end! Sam needs to come up with a plan, quick, before Harbor finds out. And before Sam loses her chance to inherit the business and be an Ali-O'Connor forever.

Review

In any other circumstance, the technical issues probably would’ve distracted my interest from listening to the book but the narrator had such an engaging voice presenting the book that I was able to enjoy it despite my obstacles. For full transparency, I’m not sure why but my copy of the audiobook kept stopping and repeating with some parts seeming to be cut off. In other moments, it’s as if it were frozen. I had to restart and fast forward but that didn’t change my opinion of the quality of the overall experience. I’d say with all the disruptions, I probably was able to get 80% off the book. I was thoroughly happy with what I was able to listen to.

The House on Sunrise Lagoon: Sam Makes a Splash by Nicole Melleby is the first book in the The House on Sunrise Lagoon series. Based on what I listened to, this sounds like a wonderful series featuring characters that are going through some things that other kids can relate to. With themes of trying to belong and fit it, friendships, being adopted and sibling relationships, the book presents characters that are very likable and you will want to follow along with.

I normally would never address this but I saw a post by someone online who commented about a certain aspect of the book that I would like to address. Everywhere is entitled to their opinion, however, I appreciate the development of a storyline that showed another version of a loving family. It didn’t register to me until I realized there were two mothers in this family. There are all types of families and this one is full of love, fun and support for each other. There’s no focus on that other than that they are their parents. The overwhelming love and support they show their children, especially helping them get through some challenging moments pulls at the heart.

There are some moments in the book that I thought could spark up some wonderful conversation about some of the things kids deal with. Samantha was a wonderful character to begin the series and the supporting storylines involving different aspects of her life kept me listening. The narrator made this book awesome to listen to. Her voice was engaging and fun to listen to. She did a great job with the different characters. Hopefully she will narrate the second book because she made this overall a great listening experience. Again, despite the technical difficulties I experienced with this audiobook, the overall book grabbed my interest to keep going with the second book.

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