Lisa Childs, Learning to Hula

Learning to Hula

Lisa Childs

Harlequin Next, September 2006, $5.50

ISBN: 0373881053

Computer company CEO Rob DeJong was only forty-one when he suddenly died. Neighbors and friends are sympathetic to his young widow Holly, but marvel at how she has handled her grief so well. However, one year later at Smiley's General Store, Holly runs into Rob's significant other, Kitty Cupcake. He ate them by the gazillion, leading, in her opinion to the heart attack that killed her spouse. Irate, she takes out her rage on the boxes in the store.

Her neighbors and family, including her children, reassess Holly's mental state and assume she has gone off the deep end. Several fear for the children, as after the cupcake massacre, everyone assumes Holly has lost it. Holly believes she is fine and feels it is time to move on, starting with selling her spouse's firm over the objection and misbehavior of her children, like LEARNING TO HULA to life's setbacks, especially with that hunk of a deputy who seems to want more than just insuring there will be no more cupcake insurgencies.

LEANING TO HULA is a deep look at the grieving process, as Holly and her children struggle in their own ways with the "death by cupcakes" of her husband and their father. Even Holly's sisters mourn, in a realistic way the demise of their brother-in-law. The character driven storyline uses angst and humor to insure that readers understand that grief is customized to the needs of the surviving loved ones. Though action-free, except for the nasty but realistic behavior of the kids, fans of powerful character studies will want to learn to hula alongside Holly and company.