Hawaii

REVIEW:  Return to Me by Justina Chen

REVIEW: Return to Me by Justina Chen

Dear Ms. Chen: I’m a huge fan of your previous novels. I loved Girl Overboard and I adored the prose and language in North of Beautiful. It’s been a couple years since you last published a novel, and I definitely felt that lack — particularly since I think contemporary YA has come into its own(…)

REVIEW:  Haole Wood by Dee DeTarsio

REVIEW: Haole Wood by Dee DeTarsio

“When San Diego weathercaster, Jaswinder Park, is mysteriously summoned to the island of Maui in Hawaii to help her grandmother, she ends up losing her job. This fair-haired, light-skinned foreigner, called haole by the natives, decides to stay in Maui for a couple of days until she can figure out what to do with her(…)

REVIEW:  Hawaiian Gothic by Heidi Belleau,Violetta Vane

REVIEW: Hawaiian Gothic by Heidi Belleau,Violetta Vane

Dear Ms. Belleau and Ms. Vane, I really enjoyed the free short story of yours I read and have been on the lookout for your other work. Hawaiian Gothic sounded like something up my alley, even with a ghost angle: an m/m with multicultural characters set in Hawaii with a mystery twist and a gothic(…)

Friday Film Review: 50 First Dates

Friday Film Review: 50 First Dates

50 First Dates (2004) Genre: Romance/Comedy Grade: B NOTE: there will probably be spoilers for the events of the film. Read at your own discretion. “You’re the girl of my dreams…and apparently I’m the man of yours.” – Henry Roth Even as I sit here writing this review, I can’t believe it. I’ve actually watched,(…)

REVIEW: Paradise Rules by Beth Kery

REVIEW: Paradise Rules by Beth Kery

Dear Ms. Kery: I really enjoyed Wicked Burn, your debut novel, enough so that I hunted down and purchased quite a few of your ebook backlist titles.   From those I can see that you have eclectic writing tastes and from those I’ve come to acknowledge that, personally, only your straight up contemporaries work for me.(…)

REVIEW: Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy by HelenKay Dimon

Dear Ms. Dimon: When I read Viva Las Bad Boys!, I was struck by how great your voice was for smart, snappy dialogue. But writing a full length book wasn’t the same as writing three novellas and I admit to being a bit worried that smart, snappy dialogue couldn’t carry an entire story. I was(…)