I can not remember anything about this book. I've read it once when I was 17. I had ended up acquiring three Annette books along with some other random assortment of Whitman girls books when I bought a "lot" on eBay for the Donna Parker books. I ended up reading all of them except this. I remember being 17 and looking through my books and thinking "huh, why haven't I read this?". I wasn't allowed to buy books often when I was a kid so I re-read and re-read like crazy. So it was quite strange I left any book I owned unread. Funny thing is it appears it's previous owners had also left it unread because it is in almost new condition which is unusual for Whitman books.
Annette and her friend/house guest Babs are relaxing on the beach of Annette's Laguna beach house. The girls are discussing an upcoming Luau they're going to be throwing with there friends when Rod and Neil sail up in their boat. The boys tell the girls how they're on their way to go skin diving and ask if Annette aunt can give them some soda. Annette sends them into the house to get some and then jumps in the sailboat with Babs as a prank on the boys for not inviting them to go sailing.
As the girls sail out the waters get rough and the wind picks up causing them to head farther out then they had planned. Not able to turn around Annette is forced to sail down the coast in search of a bay that can protect the small boat from the wind. They end up in Smugglers' Cove and soon see a motorboat with 2 men fast approaching. The girls think it must be someone sent out by Neil and Rod on a rescue mission but once the boat gets close it begins doing fast circles around the small sailboat, causing violent waves before taking off.
Babs quickly falls overboard and when she doesn't reemerge Annette jumps in to save her. Upon surfacing they find the sailboat on it's side. They hang on for a bit in hopes the motor boat will return but when it doesn't they swim for shore. The swim is almost fatal as Babs, already a weak swimmer, has grown tired from the ordeal and Annette struggles to help her to shore. Once safely on the ground they rest on the beach and quickly fall fast asleep, not even waking when the sailboat crashes into the rocks.
When the girls awake they walk up the canyon and find a little cottage and barn. It is the home to Mr. and Mrs. Marino and their grandson Pablo. Mrs. Marino is kind and gives the girls hot chocolate and cookies before they begin their long trek back to Laguna. However Mr. Marino glares at the girls from the barn door. Later Annette learns they are from San Marcos but have fled the small country due to the recent revolution. On the road a coast guard helicopter passes overhead looking for the girls and soon picks them up. On her arrival home Uncle Archie scolds Annette and tells her she will be paying for the repairs to the boat.
The next day Annette takes the two boys to Smugglers' Cove to start repairing the boat. While they work she hikes up a cliff and notices the same motorboat coming towards the cove however it disappears after signaling to Mr. Marino who indicates for them to stay away. Annette and the boys are hoping to catch site of the motorboat again and see it's registration number so they can identify the owners and have them pay for the boat repairs.
When Annette returns home Babs is bursting with exciting news. Convinced that she has seen their new, good looking Latin neighbor before she has spent the day scouring celebrity magazines and has finally discovered that Mr. Horton is actually the son of the exiled San Marcos President. Babs wants to rush over to his home and get an autograph and Annette goes with her.
Once at the properties hedge Annette is shocked to see one of the men from the mysterious motorboat and quickly concludes that the Mr. Horton was the boats other occupant. They rush home and Annette tells her uncle, who has recently becomes friends with Mr. Horton, and expects him to mention the repairs to the boat. He refuses saying Annette is still at fault for the boat repairs. Neil and Rod disagree and later that night hot tempered Neil marches over to Mr. Hortons to demand the money. While there he overhears Horton being threatened to some tough Las Vegas men he apparently passed a bad check to. He promising he'll be getting the money for it soon. Before Neil gets a chance to talk to him he is grabbed by Horton's guards, punched, and tossed out on the sidewalk.
The next day the boys are going back to Smugglers' Cove to scuba dive for their snorkeling equipment that was lost when the sailboat overturned. Mr. Marino has forbid them from entering the cove so the boys plan on anchoring at a distance and scubaing unnoticed into the cove.
Annette, wanting to bring some books to Pablo, bums a ride with them. When she gets to the house Mrs. Marino asks her to quickly leave saying her husband has an important guest coming but asks her to come back the next day. Annette heads down to the beach and relaxes between two rocks while she waits for the boys to pick her back up.
Soon she sees the mysterious motorboat stopping outside the cove and an airplane flying overhead. A cylinder is parachuted from the airplane and lands in the water but just as the men get ahold of the parachute the cylinder becomes disconnected and disappears into the ocean. The boys soon come sailing along to pick up Annette and the men quickly scram.
That night the two boys and two girls head back out to Smugglers' Cove. The boys are going diving for abalone for the luau and the girls sit in the sail boat practicing their luau songs on a ukulele. Little do they know that Neil has plans to find the cylinder and attempt to exchange it for the boat repair money. The three others are peeved at him after he finds it and get him to agree to give it to Horton the next morning.
Unfortunately they all over sleep and by the time they awake Horton is already at Smugglers' Cove with tree hired divers looking for the cylinder. Annette heads over and speaks with the Marino's who tell her the package is Mr. Marino's and very important but Horton is trying to get a hold of it to help his Vegas debts. Annette rushes back home to stop the boys from handing it to Horton but finds that they planned to do it that evening.
Neil ends up getting curious and opening the cylinder to find a "worthless" old painting inside and is convinced it must have had money and jewels in it that had been switched out. Worried he will be on the hook for a stolen fortune he needs to reseal the cylinder with a soldering iron before it can be taken to the Marinos. This causes a delay and the cylinder is hidden in the garage and then in Annette car all while Horton, having found out about the groups presence in the cove the previous evening, is looking for it.
Annette ends up having to rescue Pablo who has been kidnapped by Horton and race to the Marino's all while Horton chases them. This is at the same time as her luau is happening. Horton gets arrested for stealing Annette uncle's car to chase her in. The painting is super old and worth a fortune. The money is to help the Marino's exiled countrymen. All ends well and before the summer is up there's a counter revolution in San Marco and the Marino's go home.
As you can tell I was pretty burnt out when I got to the end of this book and my summary got real sloppy.
- Annette rushes to the Marinos with Pablo and the cylinder as if she's suddenly safe from the menacing Horton and his henchman once she steps foot in their house. But the Marinos are an elderly couple living in an isolated area. Horton could very easily snatch the cylinder and harm her even if she gets there.
- I think Annette's uncle is dumb to put so much blame on her for the boat accident. Two sixteen year old girls were almost killed because of two immature adult men and he still is angry at Annette.
This is where I left off in my review. It's been two months since I finished it and I don't really remember any closing thoughts. I decided to keep this book for now, more because it's one of the books I've had for so long and it's a little sentimental but I'll probably try to give it another read in a year or two and see how I feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment