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SPLINTERED PADDLE

A NOVEL OF KAMEHAMEHA THE GREAT

An action-packed adventure, a wealth of historical and cultural minutiae, and an engaging protagonist.

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A historical novel set during the period of Kamehameha the Great’s battles to consolidate the Hawaiian Islands stars a fierce yet tenderhearted young warrior determined to bring security to his family.

It is 1790, and 17-year-old Kalani Moku Tana has been sent by his mother to Kona to live with his Aunt Lei. Here he is to attend Kamehameha’s Pa lua, a military training academy. He faces daunting challenges. His mother warned him: “The men in the school are chiefs. Unlike them, you cannot show ancestry to the gods. For this you will be tested, humiliated. Be strong. You must survive the training and become a koa” (warrior). Kalani’s father, captured during a battle, was sacrificed to the War God Ku. Gruesome human sacrifice had been brought to Hawaii by the Tahitians, who conquered the original settlers near the end of the first millennium A.D. On his first day at the academy, Kalani makes one fast friend, Moki, and one very dangerous enemy, Hauna. Kalani becomes skilled in the use of the Hawaiians’ primitive weaponry—slingshots, spears, and shark-toothed clubs and daggers. He also becomes entangled in a risky romantic liaison that will cost him dearly. The capture of the Western schooner Fair American presents a new opportunity for Kalani: He learns how to handle muskets and cannons. In this rip-roaring tale, Bill Fernandez (Hawaiian Rebellions, 2018, etc.) has done his research. His narrative is rich in small details of island life before the impact of Western civilization, such as keeping track of time by counting heartbeats. The numerous battle scenes are graphic, bloody, and riveting. And there is endless intrigue, as the islands’ various higher and lower chiefs (there are so many of them that readers are likely to have difficulty keeping them all straight) forge fluid alliances based on current opportunities or the chance to settle old grievances. The author’s wife, Judith Fernandez (Hawaiian Rebellions, 2018), contributes helpful hand-drawn maps of the islands, black-and-white photographs, and sketches. In addition, there’s a valuable upfront glossary of Hawaiian terminology used throughout the text.

An action-packed adventure, a wealth of historical and cultural minutiae, and an engaging protagonist.

Pub Date: April 13, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-9990326-7-1

Page Count: 387

Publisher: Makani Kai Media

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2019

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THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Life lessons.

Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-345-46750-7

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004

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HOME FRONT

Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...

 The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.

The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart. 

Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9

Page Count: 400

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012

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