Glass Beach
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Even paradise demands a price for love and happiness . . .
Widowed Elizabeth Bennett believes her troubles are over. Her loveless marriage is at an end. The death of her husband leaves her free to raise their daughter, Hadley, alone on her beautiful Hawaiian ranch . . . until the handsome Spence Laamea, her husband's heir and illegitimate son from a liaison with a native woman, arrives. Spence takes the estate--and Elizabeth's fate--under his control.
Despite her distrust and against a backdrop of disapproval among the island's strict nineteenth-century white society, passions erupt between them. Elizabeth and Spence struggle to build a life for themselves and her daughter. When a deadly hurricane bears down on the island, it tests the bonds of love and loyalty they've tried to deny.
A seven-time Romance Writers of America finalist for the RITA Award in both the historical and contemporary categories, Jill Marie Landis has also penned five inspirational historical romances and is now writing The Tiki Goddess Mysteries (set on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, where she lives with her husband, actor Steve Landis). Her next mystery novel is TOO HOT FOUR HULA. Her books are not only known for their intense emotion, but for characters you'll remember long after you turn the last page. Visit her at jillmarielandis.com.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her novel set in late-19th-century Hawaii, Landis splendidly recreates the slightly fetid lushness of tropical nature and the islands' unique blending of Anglo, Asian and indigenous culture right down to the Hawaiian and pidgin that her characters speak. However, paradise has its tensions. In 1888, Elizabeth Bennett and her young daughter Hadley have no reason to trust Spencer Laamea, the hapa haole (half-white) illegitimate son of Elizabeth's abusive--and now thankfully dead--husband. Her first introduction to this striking young man is when she discovers Spencer is trustee of the near-ruined cattle ranch on Kauai until Hadley turns 18. Land rights, cultural clash and deep-seated mistrust, plus life-threatening dangers create tension throughout, though Spencer's tragic loss of his young wife gets surprisingly thin treatment. Landis weaves together a strong drama and an unconventional ending, which interestingly omits marriage, in keeping with the prejudices of the times.
