Review: Moa by Tricia Stewart Shiu (Novel Publicity Whirlwind tour stop)

from goodreads

Hillary Hause is not a witch. But, everyone in her conservative small town thinks so. When she is given a trip to Hawaii for graduation, this energetic eighteen-year-old anticipates adventure but gets more than she bargained for when Moa, an ancient Hawaiian spirit, pays her an unexpected visit.

With the help of her older sister, Molly and her seven-year-old niece, Heidi, Hillary embarks on a journey in which she not only saves herself, her family and Moa, but also the Hawaiian Islands. In the end, she learns to accept herself and her spiritual gifts warts and all.

Review

Reading Moa felt like taking a giant leap into the metaphysical as I was confronted with a lot of elements I knew little about. Hillary meets Moa, an ancient Hawaiian spirit and with the help of her older sister and niece, they embark into a journey of rituals, healing and much more to get over her sister's husband's death and ultimately save the Hawaiian islands.

In the beginning, it felt confusing to wade through third person only to find an alternating (or parallel?) first person perspective but I grew comfortable with it pretty soon. I loved how there was so much subtext underlying the battling of rogue spirits and unlocking of the Ancient Portal.

I was at a pretty bad state while reading this book, since my final year in college is turning out to be pretty stressful and every word I read clung to me; whether it was Hillary getting over incidents at school that still affected her or the need to believe to make available the passage to the light. I felt myself wanting to clear the spottiness from my chakras and wanting everything the characters got by the end of their adventure.

Moa was filled with incredibly diverse characters... it was interesting to meet all the rogue spirits though I wished the Grandad could've been fleshed out a bit more. It also took a while for me to get into the story... for the events to shift from being plain bizarre to meaningful. Nevertheless, set against the backdrop of the Hawaiian islands, I loved the lore, the journey and felt like picking up The Statue of Ku (Moa Series #2) right away!

Publication date: 1st February, 2012
Publisher: Human Being Publishing
Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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About Moa: Eighteen-year-old, Hillary, anticipates adventure as she embarks for trip to Honolulu, but gets more than she bargained for when Moa, an ancient Hawaiian spirit, pays her an unexpected visit. Get it on Amazon.

About Statue of Ku: The second book in the Moa Book Series, "The Statue of Ku" follows Hillary and Moa as they jet to Egypt on the Prince’s private plane to reclaim Moa’s family heirloom, the inimitable statue of Ku. Get it on Amazon.

About the author: Tricia Stewart Shiu combines her addiction to the written word with her avid interest in the healing arts and all things metaphysical in her novels Moa and Statue of Ku and looks forward to finding new ways to unite her two loves. Visit Tricia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.