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Leaving Lana'i

Book Two of the Pacific Horizons series

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One horrible night fifteen years ago, a little girl named Maddie was taken away from the island paradise she treasured, the townspeople she loved, and the playmate who shared her soul.

Now, she's coming back to them.

Maddie was only a child in those idyllic, carefree days when she and her best friend Kai swam in the ocean, fished, hiked, and stargazed on the tropical island of Lana'i. At twenty-five, she realizes that her memories of those elementary-school days may have been romanticized, given that the months following her mother's sudden death and her own unwilling departure from Lana'i were the worst of her life. But she has never given up her dream of returning to the people she cared about. Not when warm images of the boy Kai's face continue to haunt her mind.

Having connived to do post-doctoral research studying feral cats on the neighboring island of Maui, ecologist Madalyn Westover has at last managed to relocate herself only a boat-ride away from "home." But will anyone recognize the tall, striking redhead as the same stocky brute of a girl who used to push the boys around? Will her precious Nana remember her? Are her "old man" friends even still alive?

Bold-from-birth Maddie isn't afraid to walk right up and find out for herself. Nor is she afraid to track down Kai, despite several nebulous warnings about how much he has changed. But when she realizes that every man, woman and child in Lana'i City seems to have mysterious knowledge about her own family which she does not, Maddie doesn't feel so brave anymore. And when reality crashes into her fantasy full force, she must decide in whom and what she can trust -- including her own heart -- to find her one true home.

First Edition 2015
Audiobook
Edie's Scoop
The first time I visited Lana'i, I was only on the island for a few hours. We took a boat from Maui, went swimming at the beach, ate some amazing barbecue, and took a tour of Lana'i City in a van with a local woman who drove with one hand and knew her spiel so well she could both text her school-age daughters and throw a friendly wave at all the other local drivers while giving it. I could not get the place out of my head. I was fascinated by her and all the people who lived there, and I wondered what it must be like to grow up on an island with such an unusual tourist-based economy – and such gorgeous natural beauty in every direction. I couldn’t rest until I went back and spent some more time there… and then I wrote this book.
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