Review: Haole Wood by Dee DeTarsio

Posted June 28, 2013 by Karen in Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000031_00006]Title: Haole Wood
Author: Dee DeTarsio
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Just Publishing
ASIN: B0083J4AOC

Synposis

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 life. She realizes that her quick trip to Maui may not be all she’s hoping for when:

She has to bail her Hawaiian/Korean grandmother out of jail for possession of pakalolo. The only thing she can understand her grandmother say is: “Not that.” She can’t decide which hurts worse, her sunburn, hangover, or memories of the night before. She’s labeled the “Liquor Licker” on the front page of the Maui News in a photo that shows her doing a shot of tequila with a hunky Hawaiian who’s been found dead. It seems she’s had orgasms that have lasted longer than her career. She scrapes the bottom of the barrel to find her guardian angel.

Beautiful fabric found in her grandmother’s closet unfolds a future for Jaswinder as she designs sensuous silky wraps called sunshminas that provide sun protection. She tries for a Hollywood connection, but her company, Haole Wood, has some growing pains. From trying to find a killer, to selling her sunshminas, to lusting after Dr. Jac, the island dermatologist, to trying to ignore her so-called guardian angel, can Jaswinder learn to embrace the island way of life? Aloha!

Review

This was such an adorable book to read. It was just so frustrating because I kept getting sidetracked with that irritating thing called Life. But reading is such a wonderful form of escapism when things get crazy. I love my e-reader’s ability to transport me from the boring Midwest to the exotic island of Maui, which is where I visited during my latest book escapade with Haole Wood.

Haole Wood tells the story of Jaswinder Park. She seems to think she knows what she wants in life and that her life is moving in a somewhat positive direction with her career as the weather girl at a San Diego TV station.  Everything was going great until she receives a call from her parents urging her to go to Hawaii ASAP to bail her poor grandmother out of jail. Grandma apparently has been charged with possession of an illegal substance, and her parents are both recovering from surgeries which keeps them from traveling to Hawaii leaving Jaswinder the only one to rescue the grandmother she barely knows.

Jaswinder is white. Not the least bit Hawaiian-looking, a fact that keeps her from connecting to the land, to the people, and to her very own grandmother who is Hawaiian/Korean.

“I laughed. He didn’t offend me even though haole wasn’t the politically correct term. No one believes I have Korean and Hawaiian blood. My dad looks like a westernized version of Don Ho, but my mom is totally Scandinavian.”

For some reason her grandmother, Halmoni, only knows how to say “Not that” in English. That part confused me a little bit. I wasn’t really sure why she didn’t speak English throughout the book because my own grandmother came here to the US when I was four and was able to speak English, albeit with a heavy accent.  So that didn’t seem very realistic to me. But I couldn’t help but feel a connection to this little Asian grandmother, and it warmed my heart because it was a bit like reading about my own grandmother. There were so many parts of the book that I found endearing, because there were customs and practices in the book that I do in my own life, being someone of Asian descent. Every now and then, my husband would awaken only to hear me say, “OMG, she knows about that?”

The secondary characters are hilarious. Haole’s grandmother and the seamstresses are both gritty and savvy. The He-who-cannot-be-named-because-of-spoilers, who is the guiding force in Jaswinder’s life in Maui, was a wonderful addition to the already amusing figures in DeTesario’s story.  But my goodness man, put some clothes on!

I loved how Jaswinder’s  young seamstress comes up with the name Haole Wood. Playing on the word Hollywood, Haole was the last thing that Jaswinder expected for her line of designer shawls.  It was just another example of the many crack-me-up moments that were brimming in this book.

As for the romantic relationship, it never really developed for me. But then, I’m not sure that was the primary intent of the book. It was more of a rediscovering of oneself and finding out where you belong in the world; it was Jaswinder finally coming to grips with her heritage. She seemed angry almost in the beginning to me, angry at those who had appraised her as being less Hawaiian because of her Anglo features. She was thirty years old and hadn’t visited since she was a child. Could this perhaps be the reason she stayed away?

But the book  was also about believing that things will get better even when the worst has fallen upon you. How much worse can it get when your poor grandmother is accused of killing a well-known, but not so well thought of, real estate businessman?

The author’s lyrical way of writing is colorful and fresh, and the situations she places her characters in made the story that much more interesting. I loved the mystery surrounding the murder and the resolution will not disappoint. If you love comical satire, with a wee bit of romance and a healthy dose of mystery, you’ll want to try Haole Wood.

5 responses to “Review: Haole Wood by Dee DeTarsio

  1. Brianna Soloski

    I downloaded this one the other day when it was free and I’m so glad I did. Your review tells me it’s a fun read. I’m going to Hawaii in October and have been keeping an eye out for books based in the area to get a little taste of the culture.

  2. Thank you, I mean Mahalo! I so appreciate your kind words for Haole Wood, Rosette! And Brianna, I am jealous–have a great time in Hawaii!! Aloha!
    Dee

  3. Thank you, I mean Mahalo! I truly appreciate your kind words about Haole Wood, Rosette! And Brianna, I am jealous—have a great time in Hawaii! Aloha!
    Take care,
    Dee

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