In Distant Echoes, the first book of The Rock Harbor series, I enjoyed getting to know the Hawaiian and transplanted mainland characters in this book, including Nani, a very special Pacific bottle-nosed dolphin. There are secrets within secrets in the book, going back more than one generation.
When a US Navy missile goes off course destroying a tourist boat, killing several of its passengers, Hawaiian native and dolphin researcher Kaia Oana is pressured into helping the U.S. Navy Security Chief Jesse Mathews to determine if terrorism was involved. Kaia is not happy about being forced to cooperate and she's afraid her dolphins will be injured or killed helping the Navy, so sparks begin to fly as she interacts with Jesse. Quite a few characters in this novel have secrets and the author makes the reader wait for answers til the end. As Kaia and Jesse get closer to the truth about the missile test failure, their own lives are threatened and Jesse's young niece is kidnapped. As they fight against this threat to US national security and desperately search for the little girl, Kaia and Jesse need to rely upon their faith, while they can no longer deny they are attracted to each other. The Hawaiian settings were breathtakingly beautiful and the native traditions included in the story line were welcoming. As someone who has volunteered in the USO and in a US Veteran's hospital, I know a lot of active duty military and retired military and I'd say the only thing that didn't ring completely true was how US naval personnel functioned on thier missions in this book.
