Surely the worst book of which I have ever read half. I kept thinking, "No self-proclaimed best seller can be THIS bad...it's got to get better, its GOT to get BETTER!" But it didn't. I picked it up at the book store after visiting Lana'i, Hawaii for the first time and becoming enraptured by the culture and the land there, and fascinated by what the people must have been like pre-colonialism. From page one I knew there was little hope for this "historical fiction" book to be better than trite, but even worse was that it was BARELY educational. Very little historically accurate information was provided. I don't consider myself to be a very talented writer, but I found myself reworking every single page of this book that I read- it was like it didnt even have an editor that looked over it. The dialogue was the most laughable part, though. For a book that is supposed to take place in the early 1900's, I was completely appalled when the characters said things like "Hey" and "How's it going?" Its been a while since I took English Lit classes and paid attention to the vernacular of early settlers in new lands, but COME ON! British colonizers didn't use that language and neither would the Hawaiians that had been taught english. Terrible book, with a sappy, unbelievable story line and a bland preaching of morality. I considered it a waste of my time to have read as many pages of this book as I did, but I couldn't help it....I am an optimist :)