Eden Burning

Rating:
Summary: Sexual healing
Review: I expected a love story, a romance. If there was any doubt in my mind it was confirmed by the ending which was all about sex. I have only read one other book by Lowell so I am not a particular fan of hers or the genre. This book was not that bad. I was particulary moved by the misunderstanding in the middle of the book. But from that point on the book lost all credibility. Nicole never held Chase accountable for his rudeness. And later she did not challenge him on his assumptions about her motives. No way would I forgive someone without having that conversation!
The only other gap I will point to in the story is the absense of the other characters toward the end of the book. I think Lowell could have done a better job of developing some of the other adult characters and making them a part of the story. What about Jan? She is such a great person but she does not have a line past the first chapter. And Dane. Give us some of the conversation between he and his brother at the end. Okay, one more gap... how does Chase know how to drum for Tahitian dance? I thought he was from Hawaii but later it seems he is not. Oh well. It is not a mystery novel, it is a romance. Boy gets girl - boy loses girl - boy gets girl back. I just wish Lowell had ended the book with Nicole's clothes on. Nicole said she did not want to be a man's "thing" yet in the last scene she is naked in the lap of a fully clothed man. Duh?

Rating:
Summary: Sweet but Silly
Review: I purchased the audio version of this book knowing it was one of the author's earlier books. I've always been a fan of Elizabeth Lowell's and when you compare her early works to her current books I can see the difference in character and plot development. Eden Burning lacks depth, though I do give the author points for trying to incorporate some of the technical aspects during a volcanic eruption. I thought the addition of drums as a sound effect on the cassette was a little silly and distracting as it made me think of cannibals rather than Hawaiian dancing. I felt the book ended too abruptly (at least it did on the audio version, I don't know how it is on the text version) and there was a brief message from the author noting she had revisited the characters and had beefed up the storyline. Some things are best left unvisited, and Eden Burning is one of them. Only the most die hard of Lowell's fans may want to read this and appreciate the literary growth of Lowell's skill in her more recent work.

Rating:
Summary: UNSYMPATHETIC CHARACTERS, WEAK PLOT INSULTS HAWAIIANS
Review: When is it going to dawn on writers/Mainlanders running from their mistakes that we in Hawaii don't want them to come here and bring their "baggage" with them? No matter how "at home" you feel, what kind of spiritual moments you think you have here, you will be an outsider until the day you die-preferably somewhere else. Lowell buys into every tourist cliche ever contrived when she misuses famous Hawaiian names and then names her heroine Pele:that alone should be enough to make Kilaeua erupt in indignation. Using the hula for sexual tension and having onstage clinches is another major no-no. Did she do ANY research with local Hawaiians? This is a formula book with the requisite cute meet, sexual tension, sloppy sex, the "bump" when there is a misunderstanding, and the reconciliation. Romance readers should skip it because it appears hurriedly written and poorly edited, not to mention the commodification of Hawaiian culture for a draw, and just plain bad research - I was a fan until read this one. Now it'll be a while before I buy Lowell again and I hope she rewrites this one with more sensitivity to the culture she pillages for material.