Mahalo, My Love [Paperback]

Ida Hills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

When beautiful, newly-orphaned Laelani Winton returns home to Hawai`i with her maid-companion, Amy Hawkins in 1892, they capture everyone’s attention and hearts. Handsome Texan, Clifton Davis, has become the island’s "water-wizard," drilling artesian wells that pour life into the parched plantation lands. He is enchanted by Laelani–but he is an American, and American sugar barons are threatening to take the Islands from Queen Liliu`okalani to increase their profits. Keoni, who bears a strong resemblance to King Kamehameha the Great, is a member of the Hawai`ian Legislature caught up in the battle with the sugar barons. Everyone, including Keoni, thinks he is destined to marry Laelani–until he catches sight of flame-haired Amy, so like an English version of the goddess Pele! Against the tensions of a nation being stolen away, this double romance will sweep you off to Paradise as it was more than a century ago. Join Laelani and Amy as they discover the beauty of the land and the depths of their hearts in Mahalo, My Love.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After several long years spent with her father's people in far-off England, Laelani Winton comes home to Hawaii during its last days as a monarchy. She's accompanied by flame-haired, outspoken Amy Hawkins and met in Honolulu by neighbor Clifton Davis, a Texan who has built a career as a well driller in the islands. Meanwhile, Laelani's guardian and widowed brother-in-law, Lord Jeffry Rockham, has plans to use her substantial inheritance to fund his gambling habit and live it up, unprepared for Laelani's insistence on living at and managing Mahalo, her father's plantation. As Laelani's friendship with Clifton develops into a more intimate relationship, Amy finds true love with a descendant of Hawaiian royalty, Laelani's cousin Keoni, but as political tensions rise, it becomes imprudent for them to be seen together in public. Hills' historical romance skillfully interweaves Hawaii's changing fortune with the hopes and dreams of two young women raised in England but whose hearts are destined to be conquered by these romantic Pacific isles. Lynne Welch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Beagle Bay Books; 1 edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967959128
• ISBN-13: 978-0967959122
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,694,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love in the Tropics!, April 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mahalo, My Love (Paperback)

This book reads like SENSE AND SENSIBILITY meet GONE WITH THE WIND and go to BLUE LAGOON! I could almost feel the tropical breezes, the hibiscus, the ocean, the ripening sugar cane as the characters met and fell in love. I was especially interested in the multi-cultural themes of anglos and polynesians being drawn to each other, even as the American sugar barons conspire to steal the Kingdom of Hawai'i away from it's lawful native ruler. Intriguing and beguiling characters swept me along. But I have to say, the love scenes really captured me. I am running out to buy a peacock feather right away!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love Hawaiian Style!, April 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mahalo, My Love (Paperback)

In this enchanting historical romance, Mahalo is the sugar plantation home of the heroine Laelani Winton. It is also the Hawaiian expression for thank-you. Two high spirited young women, one Hawaiian and one English, arrive in turn-of-the century Hawaii each with a different dream and background. Companions and friends they set the island astir.
The vivid descriptions of Honolulu in the late 1890's take you back to that time and set the stage for a royal ball, dual romances and the eventual overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. Laelani, after being introduced to the social circles of Honolulu would rather be at Mahalo than in Honolulu. Again the vivid details of the plantation, the hideaway falls, the customs and the people, transport you to a far off time and place.
Having been married in Hawaii myself, I especially enjoyed the Hawaiian wedding scene rich in detail and full of emotion. In the back of the book is a dictionary of the Hawaiian words that you'll encounter through out the book. It is a delightful story that takes you away from the fast track of today to two timeless love stories in a lush and lovely island.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fiery, exciting, and engaging historical romance, April 10, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mahalo, My Love (Paperback)

Set in the sunny and splendid 1892 Hawai'i, Mahalo, My Love by veteran romance novelist Ida Hills is a captivating story of love amidst a land of beauty on the verge of being torn apart by strife, as American sugar barons clash with Queen Liliu'okalani. A double romance afflicts the hero, who in spite of being expected to marry one woman falls in passionate love with a flame-haired stranger. Ultimately, Mahalo, My Love is a fiery, exciting, and especially engaging historical romance from beginning to end.