True Confessions ... Wish I Lived Here

Aloha! I'm so pleased to be the newest Genre-ista.

I'm just as pleased to be writing my FIRST post from
Kihei, Maui, Hawaii.

'Aue! It's 87 degrees here at the Kihei Beach Condos on Sugar Beach, but with the lovely breeze you'd never know it. The air feels like a kiss, soft and humid. Smells like the sea, warm earth and flowers. Sounds like surf  surging on the beach just off our lanai, bird calls (mostly chickens living in the brush across Kihei Road, lol), the occasional Harley roaring past and happy kids playing on the condo lawn and beach.

This vacation is a gift from my in-laws. (Thanks, folks. Love ya bunches) Otherwise I'd be in the middle of a Montana snowstorm--brrr! Rather be here, typing away in my damp swimsuit while I sip iced tea. Not quite time for mai tais, 'cause we're several hours behind you folks on da mainland.

This morning we snorkeled, got nose to nose with two big sea turtles and a number of tropical fishes. Then it was time to hit the local farm stand for pineapple and other fresh fruit and veggies, and back here for lunch.  Some careful suntanning, 'cause it's easy to fry our pale haole, Caucasian hides here in the first few days. Strenuous schedule, I know, but someone has to do it.

Wish I lived here. I mean, I could seriously do this full time. Never too hot, never cold. Always beautiful. But since that's not really in the forecast for the DH and me, I will just keep doing the next best thing! You guessed it--writing stories set here in paradise so I can relive my vacations here and on da Big Island, and YOU can pretend you live here too.

Ready? Let's drop in on the Ho'omalu ohana, family, in Nawea Bay, south Kona, Big Island. It's a small, private beach enclave that's been in the ohana for as long as there have been Ho'omalus on Hawaii. Ho'omalu means guardian in Hawaiian, so it was the perfect name for my Hawaiian Heroes, a family of powerful warriors tasked by the goddess Pele herself with keeping her island safe while she slumbers, deep beneath her volcano, Kilauea.

Book 1

Book 2

In this contemporary series, brothers David and Daniel and their cousins Bella and Leilani discover they have powers gifted to them from Pele herself. David can bring to life the fiery lava of the volcano. Daniel can call upon the denizens of the deep, from the friendly nai'a, dolphins to the not-so-friendly mano, tiger sharks.

Book 3

Bella discovers that the plants and trees of the forest obey her, while Leilani has rain, wind and lightning in her fingertips. They use their powers to battle vicious drug smugglers and ruthless land developers, both very real problems in Hawaii.

Kind of a Hawaiian mixed plate, yeah? And did I mention they're all dead sexy? Kinda goes without saying if you've ever read one of my stories. If you haven't ... pack your heat proof bikini, wahine!

Visit my website for excerpts, reviews and more @ http://www.cathryncade.com

Although the Ho'omalus are not a real ohana, they've become real to me. I fell in love with David, Daniel, Joel and Jack, heroes every one. I suffered along with Melia, Claire as they struggled to find their place in Hawaii as women in love with heroes, and Bella and Leilani as heroes themselves, wielding powers that terrify and exhilarate them. All of them living in paradise, here on Earth.

So if you could live anywhere, where would it be? The tropics, the mountains, a houseboat, the wild west, or even a desert? I'd love to know.

Leave a comment, and I'll enter you to win a FREE ebook from me. Your choice of one my 3 Hawaiian Heroes available now. Book 4, Burning up the Rain debuts next month, Jack and Leilani's story

Be sure and leave your email so I can contact you!

best,
Cathryn Cade

... red hot romance!

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I just visited Hawaii!

Okay, technically I only read a book, but the descriptions were so vivid and the cultural references so plentiful that I feel like I’ve just spent time in that gorgeous place.

Though I’ve never been to Hawaii, I’ve heard about it my whole life. My parents lived there when they were first married. Dad was in the U.S. Navy and Mom fell in love everything about the islands. Her favorite perfume scent was plumeria and I’ve lost count of the number of stories she told me about the lush beauty of Hawaii.

I always thought I’d visit Hawaii someday. I even thought it would be fun to be able to take Mom back for a visit to the place that has lived in her memory for so long as a kind of nostalgic paradise. Living in the Pacific Northwest, a visit to the islands seems closer than ever but it’s still just a “someday” plan with no definite shape or due date.

Then I read Cathryn Cade’s Walking in Fire, the first in her Hawaiian Heroes series. This book is the perfect summer read. It’s set in a haven-like bay near Kona on the Big Island and features a likeable heroine and a super hot (you’ll find out just how true that is if you read the novel!) hero. Cade doesn’t just write lovingly about the scenic beauty of Hawaii, she seasons the entire story with Hawaiian myth, history, and language. While reading her sexy, suspenseful story, I could hear the waves, feel the warm breezes, and smell the heady plumeria that my mom loved so much. I thoroughly enjoyed the love story between Pacific Northwesterner Melia and sizzling hot Hawaiian David “Malu” Ho’omalu, but I loved the fictional visit to the Big Island and a refreshing dip into the mythology and culture of the islands.

If you can’t afford a plane ticket to a tropical paradise, take a trip to Hawaii through the pages of the perfect summer read: Cathryn Cade’s Walking in Fire.

Unfortunately, one visit wasn’t enough for me, so I am eagerly awaiting Cade’s second Hawaiian Heroes novel, Rolling in the Deep, due out at the end of the month.

When’s the last time you read a novel that so totally transported you that you felt you’d visited the story’s setting?