I is for Island Energy

Reading and Wraps (Jamberry Nail Wraps)

Island Energy and Honolulu

I have to say this is the best book I’ve read this year and the second best book I’ve ever read.

I love historicals with rich views on other countries and cultures. I also love books about family.  Island Energy is a perfect wrap for this book because not only does the heroine in this book have some serious strength and energy, but the wrap also fits with the island location.This was a book about a strong woman, who despite every single obstacle she was faced with, rose above. And it’s important to know that not only did she continue but she accomplished so much more than anyone could have ever imagined. Her road was difficult and filled with so many twists and turns, rights and wrongs, and happy and sad moments.

The author had a wide group of side characters that quickly became very important. He brought them all alive and gave them strong roles in the story. He was able to bring out so much emotion in me that I hadn’t sobbed or laughed this much since I read The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adrianna Trigiani.

Not only did the author succeed in throwing us into the lives of these characters, but he took us on a tour of Korea and Oahu. His descriptions were vivid and amazing and made me feel that I was there seeing it with my own eyes.

This is one of those books that will “stick” with me forever and I recommend this for anyone that wants to be a part of a rich vivid tale of a strong woman.

Honolulu by Alan Brennert

Summary:
The story of a young immigrant bride in a ramshackle town that becomes a great modern city
“In Korea in those days, newborn girls were not deemed important enough to be graced with formal names, but were instead given nicknames, which often reflected the parents’ feelings on the birth of a daughter: I knew a girl named Anger, and another called Pity. As for me, my parents named me Regret.”

Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young “picture bride” who journeys to Hawai’i in 1914 in search of a better life.

Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education that she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, now growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it’s the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu’s tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous in the islands’ history…

With its passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawai’i far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.

 

To learn more about Jamberry Nail Wraps, go to my website http://jenngarcia.jamberrynails.net

If you ‘d like to pair nail wraps with your favorite books, use hashtag #reading&wrapsjjn to share!