Libby Kelting had always felt herself born out of time. No wonder the historical romance-reading, Jane Austen-adaptation-watching, all-around history nerd jumped at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor, Maine’s Oldest Living History Museum. But at Camden Harbor Libby’s just plain out of place, no matter how cute she looks in a corset. Her cat-loving coworker wants her dead, the too-smart-for-his-own-good local reporter keeps pushing her buttons, her gorgeous sailor may be more shipwreck than dreamboat — plus Camden Harbor’s haunted. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, Libby learns that boys, like ghosts, aren’t always what they seem.
Libby loves history so she’s very excited to be spending the summer as an intern at a live history museum. She’s assigned to run 8-10 year old girls in a Girls of Long Ago class where they learn to cook in a hearth, do needlepoint, quilt, press flowers, etc. Sounds like fun – wish I could have done that when I was young. lol
When Libby gets to the museum she’s put into the intern house with a quiet girl named Suze and the bitch from hell, Ashling. We have no idea why Ashling is all up in Libby’s grill but she really makes life miserable for Libby from day one. When Libby has the chance to move on to a schooner she immediately takes it – even though she doesn’t like the guy that she’ll be sharing a room with.
The guy is Garrett and he is a reporter for the local paper. Because of ghost sightings on the one of the museum’s schooners he asks permission to camp out to see if he can sight the ghost. Because he’s not really a museum employee they get Libby to room with him. Garrett is a sci-fi geek and kind of judgmental of Libby at first but he soon figures out that Libby has a brain under all of that blonde hair and she knows how to use the brain!
So while Libby is putting her huge brain to work and giving us a great dose of her humor at the same time she meets with Cam. He works on one of the other schooners and he’s adorable, kind, gallant, chivalrous, and a great kisser! Libby is falling for the guy but he’s got some not so great friends and sometimes he acts weird. Libby is all about the romantic. She’s always dreamed of the fairy tale romances and at age 16 she’s still got her head a bit in the clouds about that. She wants all the things that she believes that Cam is and believes that he will sweep her off her feet – but is it realistic?
Then there’s Libby’s best friend who is Dev. Dev is gay and destined to be a fabulous clothing designer. He’s spending his summer as an intern in New York. Libby thinks that Dev is having a great time but she keeps getting these weird phone calls from him that make her think that all is not well in fashion land.
This is a really fun story. I have to admit that I was a bit concerned about whether I would like Libby at first but her humor, inner thoughts and attitude toward everything just sucked me in. I was soon a Libby fan. I loved how she was with her 8-10 year old girls and with most everyone at the museum.
Libby’s relationships:
With Cam I knew that things would not go well and knew this almost from the word go. He was a weasel dressed in a very nice package and I wanted him out of the picture!
Garrett I didn’t feel like I got to know very well but I felt he was a very sweet guy who had a great heart. I was happy that things worked out for him as well as they did. (avoiding spoilers!)
Dev was just so great. He was just out and proud and not afraid to show everyone that he was as great as he thought he was! lol He had personality plus and was a great addition to the story.
Overall I liked the book a lot. The interpersonal relationships along with the history and humor just hit the spot for me. This is Strohm’s first novel and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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