Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Chick-lit
Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words
Availability
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on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
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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.
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.
Appraisal:
Haole Wood has both mystery and humor, wrapped
up in a chick-lit storyline.
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.
FYI:
Some
relatively mild adult situations.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small
number of typos.
Rating: ***** Five stars
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