Heather Hampton is an architect working for a big firm in Seattle when she finds herself reluctantly going back to her hometown of Moses Lake to find out why her family suddenly decided not to sell their farmland. Everyone is keeping secrets from her, from her mother to her brother, her uncles and also her once high-school crush Blaine Underhill. Something is going on and Heather is determined to find out and then skedaddle back to her high-powered job where she doesn't have to face her painful past.

Heather has big issues with the death of her father when she was a teenager and her estranged relationship with her mother. She is angry, frustrated and hurting because her family is keeping things from her. I was kept guessing until the end about what was going on with Heather's family. There were times when I thought they should have trusted Heather and told her rather than lie to her and string her along. I was frustrated with their behaviour too!

Overall, I enjoyed Blue Moon Bay, although I found it took time to get into it. It dragged in some spots, and finally picked up toward the end and came to an action-packed ending. Heather gets to grow as a character and she begins to appreciate her past memories as not being all bad. She reconnects with Ruth, the Mennonite woman who took care of their household when she was a child. Through conversations with Ruth about family and God, Heather gets to thinking of her own life and if she is really happy with her life.

Wingate reveals her characters slowly and the picture of their lives is like a jigsaw puzzle that slowly comes to life, so you need to be patient as a reader. In this way this is more of a character-driven novel. The romance was under-developed though, and after such a long story, the ending seemed a little abrupt. If you like contemporary stories of small-town folks, Southern characters, with a little bit of mystery, you will enjoy Lisa Wingate's latest novel.

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