Reprise Review: Haole Wood by @DeeDeTarsio

Genre: Chick-lit

Description:

San Diego weathercaster Jaswinder Park is summoned to Maui to help her grandmother. Planning on being there just a few days, she ends up with much more than she bargained for.

Author:

The author of four other novels, Dee DeTarsio is a news producer and writer, currently living in San Diego.

For more, visit DeTarsio’s blog.

Appraisal:

Haole Wood has both mystery and humor, wrapped up in a chick-lit story line.

The mystery revolves around a murder early on with several viable suspects. These include Jas, the protagonist, who is the last known person to see the victim alive (although she knows at least one other came after her, since she didn’t do it). That another person with motive is her grandmother is more than a touch unnerving.

The humor comes from multiple directions. Sometimes it is how the author chooses to word something, like with the play on words in the chapter heading of “Blonde Leading the Blind.” Other times it is the characters, as with almost everything to do with Jaswinder’s grandmother, both the communication difficulties the two have due to language differences and the situations her grandmother gets herself in. That Jas is first sent to Hawaii to bail her grandmother out of jail is one example, even though that seems serious.

A chick-lit story line is a female protagonist, through her experiences and events in the story, learning about herself and ending up in a better place at the conclusion. That happens too, no matter how unlikely it seems through much of the book. A fun read which I highly recommend.

Buy now from:    Amazon US    Amazon UK

FYI:

Some relatively mild adult situations.

Added for Reprise Review: Haole Wood was a nominee in the Chick Lit/Women's Fiction category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran October 8, 2013.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words