Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers

By: Sara Ackerman

Narrated by: Carly Robins, Devon Hales

Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hawaii, 1944. The Pacific battles of World War II continue to threaten American soil, and on the home front, the bonds of friendship and the strength of love are tested.

Violet Iverson and her young daughter, Ella, are piecing their lives together one year after the disappearance of her husband. As rumors swirl and questions about his loyalties surface, Violet believes Ella knows something. But Ella is stubbornly silent. Something - or someone - has scared her. And with the island overrun by troops training for a secret mission, tension and suspicion between neighbors is rising.

Violet bands together with her close friends to get through the difficult days. To support themselves, they open a pie stand near the military base, offering the soldiers a little homemade comfort. Try as she might, Violet can't ignore her attraction to the brash marine who comes to her aid when the women are accused of spying. Desperate to discover the truth behind what happened to her husband while keeping her friends and daughter safe, Violet is torn by guilt, fear, and longing as she faces losing everything. Again.

©2018 Sara Ackerman (P)2018 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Fun book but readers were a poor choice

Full disclosure: I’m from Honoka’a, Hawai’i, born in the early 50s, lived for a time in the Teacher’s Cottages next to Honoka’a High, and even attended Japanese School like Ella, so this book resonated on multiple fronts.

The story is a work of historical fiction and Ackerman does a very good job, with great accuracy, of capturing our town during this difficult time. Yes, there really was a Roscoe, although I never was fortunate to met him.

The fail on this book has nothing to do with the book itself but the readers. Island of Sweet Pies should never have been read by someone not from Hawaii. The mispronunciations of all the Hawaiian words and local names (Hawaiian, Japanese and Portuguese) along with the horrible attempt at our local accents almost ruined a great tale. In fairness, I’m sure these two readers would do fine with a book set in a different locale.

I’ll be gifting this to several friends but only in print form since listening to it is truly painful for anyone that grew up in Hawai’i.

Beyond Paradise

I liked how the story unravels. Ackerman skillfully starts at the idyllic surface and plucks the blossoms off the tropical flowers. By the end we're in the know, about the neighbors, women power, sweet Elena, Herman. I enjoyed it.

Nice story! Great author.

I enjoyed this book. However, it irritates me when Hawaiian words are not pronounced correctly. There weren’t a lot of words to learn. Ask any local. They would have helped.

Delightful

Really enjoyed this book. It brought so many memories. I wonder if it was based on stories from family and or friends.

Should have learned the Hawaiian pronunciation.

I live on the Big Island of Hawaii and was interested to read a story during this time era. The performers did no research and there was nobody supervising them as to how to pronounce the Hawaiian words. The effect of their pronunciations was like fingernails on a chalkboard. Story was good or I would have stopped listening. This is, afterall, an auditory book. Quality control!

Not what I expected

After her latest book Which I enjoyed (Red Sky over Hawaii) I thought I would try this first one because of her good descriptions of. Hawaii and the WW2 setting. Didn’t expect it to be so much from the perspective and read in a child’s voice. Very disappointed.

great narration good story

excellent narration, good story, entertaining, fairly realistic, not to sappy, overall I really liked it