Take a Hawaiian Vacation

I have been reading “out of my comfort zone” for our next Mystery Book Club Meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, September 15 at 6:00 p.m. I am not a huge fan of cozies, so I decided to try reading some Christian Mystery stories. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading these books! One of my favorites was Distant Echoes by Colleen Coble. This is the first book in the Aloha Reef Series (there are three) and (big surprise) it is set in Hawaii! The main character is Kaia Oana, a Hawaiian woman employed as a researcher at Seaworthy Labs, who is trying to bridge the language barrier between humans and sea mammals. She has a close relationship with Nani, a dolphin that she raised from birth and then released into the wild. Nani swims free, with two other “pod-mates,” but visits Kaia often and comes to her when she is called. When I started reading the book, I thought that the religious message might detract from the book’s action—thankfully, I was wrong! The book is filled with Kaia’s interactions with her brothers and grandfather, a cute Navy officer, and Nani and her pod-mates. The religious message fits in beautifully with the book’s characters and Nani’s antics are a pure delight. A bonus is the Hawaiian language pronunciation guide included in the back of the book as well as a glossary and pronunciation guide to words used in the series.