Dark Side of Paradise
By Connie Crow
Awe-Stuck E-Books
ISBN: 1-58749-520-1
235 pages
Margaret Morton is the newest partner in Morton and Morton, a company founded by her great-grandfather. Her job has her boarding a plane for Hawaii for an audit where she'll meet with the Chairman of the Board of the Queen Liliuokalani Heritage Foundation to see if money has been taken illegally. But she's planned a mini-break so she can think things out. With most of her time being spent pleasing her family, there's been hardly any time for her to consider her own needs and goals.
No sooner does her plane land in Hawaii, does she see a pro surfer handle a wave and then leave the ocean to dress right in front of her. At a luau, Meg recognizes the surfer as the host. Talk about embarrassing moments. She faints at the sight of a pig roasting.
Marc pulls her into his arms. He recognizes her immediately as the shutterbug from the beach. Marc's family owns the plantation and offers luaus to help pay for its expenses. They also harvest taro. They are native Hawaiians, blood relatives of the Queen.
A short time later, Meg awakens from her fainting spell and rejoins the other tourists during the intro to the Warriors of Samoa and the start of their fire dance. After learning the basic steps of the hula, Marc approaches her and asks her out.
Marc has always been regarded as the "best catch on the island" because of his heritage and wealth. But his birthday is approaching and he is obligated to find a native bride in order to inherit the Queen's money. At first he considers the short time he and Meg will have together as "one last fling," but the more he spends time with Meg the more he realizes he loves her. So he has to make a choice of marrying for love and coming up with an alternative way to save the plantation from financial difficulties or marrying a native and possibly falling in love later.
Meg's own personal problem is that she's engaged. Though she doesn't love him. She's in love with her vacation guide-dancer-pig carver-surfer-swooning woman catcher. Not even her friend, Carol, can tell her exactly what to do. This is her decision. To make matters more difficult, Marc works for the Heritage Foundation that Meg will be auditing.
Connie Crow does a wonderful job of introducing us to the beauty of Hawaii and what it must be like for the natives to keep ownership of their family land. The book tells about a young woman trying to prove to her father that she's capable of meeting the responsibilities of her position and a young man with the same challenge. They might be from two different societies, but they're good for one another and they really do love each other.
Can Marc resolve his families' financial difficulties and still find happiness? Will Meg make the right decision in her personal life and job? Read the book to find out.
--five luaus out of five
Denise Fleischer, gottawritenetwork.com
January 23, 2006
c D. Fleischer & GWN
