Which of your books is your favorite? It’s very hard for me to choose, but I think I have to say Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers. I love the characters and the setting and I think because it’s the one most closely based on my grandmother and mother’s stories, it feels special to me. I also really loved writing from Ella’s (the young girl) point of view, and how she experienced the war.
If you had to pick a favorite character, who would it be? Sorry, but I can’t do that, lol. But I will say this: there are always characters that seem easier to write, who come alive on the pages for me and I develop a real fondness for, aside from my main characters. Like Jean and Bernard Lalamilo in Sweet Pies, Brandy the dog in The Lieutenant’s Nurse, Coco and Sailor (the Great Dane) in Red Sky, Fluff in Radar Girls, and Matteo Russi in Codebreaker.
Do you have a favorite scene in your books? In each book, there are always a couple scenes I really had fun writing. One that stands out is the Waipio Valley scene (Sweet Pies) where Violet and Parker go to the waterfall and encounter Bernard Lalamilo.
I also loved immersing myself aboard the Matson SS Lurline in The Lieutenant’s Nurse, imagining how incredible a journey it would have been.
And in Red Sky, I loved when Lana and the girls hike down into the crater and Coco wishes the volcano would erupt.
Also, that opening scene in Radar Girls! That came to me as though it was a movie playing in my mind.
In Codebreaker, I love the scene on Goat Island, and also the part where the two storylines converge. That was so satisfying to write.
I guess that is more than one scene. Sorry!
Which of your books would you most like to see made into a movie? I would have to say The Lieutenant’s Nurse. Again, I’d love to see the Matson SS Lurline crossing to Hawaii brought to life, and then all those mysterious radio signals along the way. The Pearl Harbor scenes, too. I think it would all be so cinematic. So gut wrenching, and yet also uplifting.
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