Crypto Island: A Memoir of Midlife Relocation to Puerto Rico

by Georgine Hodgkinson

Georgine had built a life of careful control. As a wife, mother, and college professor, she minimized risk and played by the rules. Her attorney husband was successful, her four grown daughters were thriving, and her students knew that hard work and deadlines mattered. Having survived a turbulent adolescence marked by poverty and substance abuse, she believed in the safety of well-ordered environments.

Then the pandemic upended everything. When classrooms and offices closed, Georgine and her husband Mark relocated to Puerto Rico, where she discovered a flourishing—and often outrageous—cryptocurrency community. As she navigated the mysteries of crypto trading and uncovered the political complexities woven into the fabric of the beautiful Caribbean island she now called home, Georgine embarked on a journey that would shatter her orderly existence—and force her to revisit the dangerous youth that had shaped her complicated relationship with home, risk, and money.

A memoir about facing past mistakes and embracing second chances, Crypto Island reminds us that personal growth never stops, and that living authentically often demands both resilience and reinvention.

360 pages, Paperback

Expected publication September 22, 2026

Reviews

[Tammy Montgomery]

Set against the alluring backdrop of island life and the risky world of cryptocurrency trading, Crypto Island chronicles Georgine Hodgkinson’s journey from trauma to reconciliation in her fearless memoir of redemption and reinvention.

***

Georgine Hodgkinson is living the good life in Sacramento. A professor of communication studies at a local community college, she has a great career and lives in a beautiful home on the river with her husband Mark, a lawyer who owns his own firm. Over the years, they have blended two families, raising four daughters together, the last of whom will attend college in the fall. So when Mark proposes moving his law firm to Puerto Rico to take advantage of tax incentives, Georgine’s sense of security is shaken just like the 6.4 earthquake she and Mark experience on their first visit to the island.

In Crypto Island, Georgine wrestles with decisions that could upend her carefully curated life. Just as the earthquake shakes her confidence about moving to Puerto Rico, it also tears into old wounds. The book is about arriving at middle age only to discover there’s an entire world out there and the promise of experiences not yet realized. Georgine must risk exorcising a painful past if she is to embrace a prosperous future.

* * *

In Crypto Island, we learn that Georgine has earthquake-proofed her life. Having endured childhood asthma, an abusive mother, and sexual assault as a teen, she turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain. But as she matured into adulthood, she took control of her decisions and constructed a stable life. That meant tucking away painful memories. Mark’s proposal to move his business to Puerto Rico pushes Georgine out of her comfort zone. Through a series of flashbacks, she manages to confront her traumatic past.

When we meet Georgine in Chapter 1, she is with Mark in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to lease office space for his business. They have agreed that Mark will live in Puerto Rico for six months and a day to fulfill legal requirements in exchange for tax incentives. Georgine will stay in their California home, River Acres, and continue to teach. She is not thrilled about living apart for six months, but she does not want to give up her home and career to relocate.

Circumstances change overnight, however, when COVID strikes. Suddenly Georgine’s classes are moved online for the duration of the pandemic. This means she could live in Puerto Rico with Mark and teach remotely. What was a one-year trial period has been extended, and the risks begin to mount.

Whether to keep River Acres is now on the table since it will remain locked and empty for at least six months of the year. Georgine and Mark have leased a condo in the beach town of Dorado, Puerto Rico, but they will need to extend their lease now that Georgine can teach remotely. Soon they meet neighbors Sal and Kathy. A self-described mobster, Sal is a sketchy figure who spends his days smoking pot and drinking martinis. His wife Kathy has Alzheimer’s, which appears to be getting worse. Because of this, Sal’s family is trying to convince them to move to Florida. At first, Sal floats the possibility of leasing his condo to Georgine and Mark, but they want to find something more permanent. If Sal is willing to sell, then Georgine and Mark might be interested. But Georgine has reservations. Not only is she apprehensive about selling River Acres, but she is also worried about dealing with a mobster, especially one who happens to be a misogynist prick. Sal, like so many men Georgine encountered growing up, sees her as a sex object and pushes himself on her.

Another Dorado neighbor, Deborah (a middle-aged woman who has relocated from the states to write a film script and trade cryptocurrency) introduces them to the cryptocurrency trading community and Crypto Tuesdays—a meeting where local traders and international experts share the latest trading information. Intrigued by the possibility of making money, Georgine and Mark begin to research the world of cryptocurrency trading on their own. Soon Georgine purchases a hundred dollars of Bitcoin as an experiment, but she questions her decision the very next morning.

Julio, who hosts the Crypto Tuesday meetings, invites Georgine and Mark to learn more about the community by attending a retreat in the mountains. The situation proves less-than-desirable as the male leaders promote drug taking and flaunt polyamorous relationships that don’t appear to benefit the women as much as the men. Later, when Derek, a wealthy Crypto Tuesday participant, targets Georgine’s daughter as a possible love connection and addition to his polyamorous trio, Georgine must decide whether to continue participating in the community.

***

Georgine provides women with some good advice about cryptocurrency trading. Mainly she advises caution. While cryptocurrency trading could be a way for women to create wealth, she knows that there's a high level of risk. The community is patriarchal with few women involved in trading. And there’s a dark side of the trading culture. Those engaging in it must enter with their eyes wide open.

One of the tangential, but important, observations Georgine makes is the difference between the haves and the have nots in Puerto Rico. In several scenes, she notes the wealth exhibited by the leaders in the cryptocurrency community as well as by those who have moved their businesses from the states. In contrast, many people born and raised in Puerto Rico live in poverty. Georgine identifies a connection between the people of Puerto Rico and her own community college students, many of whom also live in poverty. While there are no easy answers for eradicating poverty in Puerto Rico (or in the states for that matter), Georgine recognizes that it is not enough to enjoy the tax privileges of a relocated business unless she is willing to assist the people.

The greatest challenges arise from the memories that continue to haunt Georgine. At one point she explains the terrible bullying she endured at school. Then she says, “The fear I felt at school was matched by the fear I felt at home.” This is in reference to her mother after she and her father divorced. Her mother became angry and embittered after the divorce, and she took this out on her children. Yet in the telling, Georgine allows her mother to be forgivable, a single mother, struggling to survive with two children to support. The fact is that she raised two children without child support at a time when many women were relegated to service jobs and could only expect to make about 70% of what a man made for the same work.

Still, Georgine has plenty of reasons to be angry with her mother. We learn, for example, that at one point, Georgine and her mother worked at the same establishment. Georgine found herself snorting cocaine alongside her mother when they showed up separately for a party after work. And they never talked about it. While it would be convenient for Georgine to blame her mother for not protecting her in such circumstances, that is not the path Georgine opts to take. Instead, she manages to navigate between the pain she endured growing up while holding space for her mother’s humanity. The reader is free, then, to root for reconciliation between the two.

***

Crypto Island is a story of resilience. Georgine’s willingness to revisit childhood trauma in the service of her future growth is evident throughout. It is also a love story as Georgine and Mark become the champions of each other’s dreams. The pacing of the story is strong and steady as is the character development. The interweaving of past and present keeps the author’s purpose at the fore. If you are looking for an honest, uplifting love story, Crypto Island is for you.

Tammy L. Montgomery, Ph.D.

[Barbie Elsasser · Rating 5 out of 5]

CRYPTO ISLAND: A MEMOIR OF VULNERABILITY BECOMING FREEDOM

Georgine Hodgkinson found an unexpected path to financial freedom through crypto trading. But the money was never the point — trading was simply the backdrop to something harder won: learning to trust herself. When her husband's long-term financial plans for the law practice he'd spent decades building took them from a familiar Sacramento life to Puerto Rico, an island she never asked for and didn't want, Hodgkinson lost every guardrail she'd spent a lifetime building. What she found underneath them is the real subject of Crypto Island: the tension of reinventing yourself in midlife, learning to speak up instead of staying safely quiet, and finally trusting herself enough to be truly seen.

The memoir moves fluidly between her life today and the experiences that shaped her, and the writing carries real intensity — she puts you directly in the moment rather than describing it from a distance. A mother's arms holding her through an asthma attack on the way to the ER. The men who took more than they gave. A partner who finally shows her what genuine trust looks like. You don't read these scenes, you feel them.

Underneath all of it is an image Hodgkinson keeps returning to: an imaginary crossing guard, born from a real one she remembers from childhood, standing watch over every decision. That guard kept her safe for years. It taught her diligence, caution, control. But the memoir's real question is what happens when the thing that protected you becomes the thing you have to release.

When she meets her current husband, something different happens: he doesn't take from her. He shows her what it looks like when two people trust each other enough to let the other person become fully themselves, even when that means growing in different directions.

This is where the book distinguishes itself from a simple story about risk and reward. Hodgkinson isn't chasing a windfall or running from a mistake. She's exploring — slowly, sometimes reluctantly — what it means to let life change shape around her instead of forcing it into the form she's always controlled. Crypto trading becomes one language for that exploration; her marriage becomes another. Both ask the same question in different currencies.

Crypto Island is not really a book about cryptocurrency, though the trading runs through it as both distraction and metaphor for risk. Hodgkinson has moved through a lifetime of identities — teenager, daughter, mother, stepmother, professor — building the perfect guardrails inside each one. It's a book about what happens when a person who has spent her life protecting herself finally lets someone see her fully, and finds that she was there all along.

[J.D. Lasica · Rating 5 out of 5]

You might expect a memoir titled "Crypto Island" to be a dry account of one author's brushes with cryptocurrency's grandiose promises and its almost cultlike true believers. But this is not another guide to getting rich.

It's the story of one remarkable woman's transformation from stay-at-home mother and college professor into a risk-taking empty nester willing to move 3,600 miles, upend her life, and embrace reinvention. Hodgkinson tells that story with grace and grit, sharing what she learned as an expatriate building a new life in Puerto Rico. As an Act 60 decree holder and fellow California-to-Puerto Rico transplant myself, I can vouch for the accuracy of her observations.

Along the way, we meet a fascinating cast of billionaires, misfits, true believers, and opportunists. There's Sal, an arrogant, unrepentant former mobster who embodies the attitude of the wealthy visitors and expats who treat local residents with a boorishness bordering on contempt — rich white men who gather at places with names like (I kid you not) The Plantation.

What lifts the book from colorful travelogue to genuine memoir is Hodgkinson's willingness to confront the uncomfortable, messy truths in her relationships — with her husband, her daughters, and herself. Her account is marked by a series of small but consequential emotional traumas. Rather than merely titillate the reader, they illuminate the arc of her journey: from telegram striptease artist to savvy crypto investor and fiercely protective mother, shielding her youngest daughter from some of the island's more unsavory characters.

Pick up a copy. You probably won't come away richer (crypto’s go-go days are behind it), but you may come away with a deeper appreciation for one woman's life choices — and a renewed impulse to examine your own.

[HEATHER CAIRNS]

Georgine Hodgkinson, a woman with a dark past, a fiery marriage, and zero knowledge of cryptocurrency says yes to the improbable idea of moving to a world she knew nothing about. I read an advance copy of Crypto Island and found myself reluctant to put it down — which, for a book that includes the subject of cryptocurrency, is not something I expected to say.

It starts with a reluctant wife. Her husband wants to move to Puerto Rico; she plans to stay in California. Then COVID scrambles the plan, and she goes. She ends up inside a subculture of expats deep into cryptocurrency, a world she had no map for. What follows is a crazy journey she witnesses with clear eyes and steady footing — never losing herself.

Her descriptions are vivid and immediate — you feel the heat, inhabit the rooms, sit inside the conversations. She had no prior claim to this world, and yet she renders it completely. You are on the island with her.

Woven throughout are the earlier chapters of her life — a difficult childhood, a stint as a singing telegram stripper, and the slow accumulation of identities: mother, wife, professor. What lands deepest is her account of building a college program for formerly incarcerated people. It gives her a quality of attention to Puerto Rico's local community that no one else in the book seems to possess — she arrived on the island as an outsider and ended up seeing what others miss.

Underneath the adventure, this is a book about trust — in a marriage, in a place, in one's own capacity to navigate the completely unfamiliar.

This is a self-aware, unflinching book about blowing up your own life on purpose. You'll get a crypto education as a bonus. Highly recommended.

[Robin Rosenbluth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Georgine Hodgkinson wrote a gorgeous book (I read an advanced reader copy) that explores how choosing to try something new can lead to unexpected adventures, new friends, and, in her case, a deeper connection with her husband. At first, she is unsure about her husband's interest in establishing a residence in Puerto Rico while she remains in California, but when COVID hits, she moves with him. To both of their surprise, they meet expats and locals who are investing in cryptocurrencies, something she knew nothing about. She dives deep, and her encounters with other investors take readers on a wild ride of drugs, alcohol, and sex, which she avoids. Her descriptions of places, people, and her own thinking are carefully crafted, and as a reader, I felt like I was there, experiencing the day-to-day on the island with her.

Georgine Hodgkinson reveals much about her past through flashbacks, showing us how she became the mother, wife, and professor after a working-class upbringing. She shares her experience starting a program to give the formerly incarcerated an opportunity to attend college, which gives her sensitivity to the difficult lives of local Puerto Ricans. Her self-awareness, reflection, and willingness to make dramatic changes take readers on a good ride while also offering a bit of crypto education.

I recommend this book; it will keep you engaged and wanting to see what happens.

[Allegra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georgine Hogkinson’s Crypto Island is a deeply personal, surprisingly moving memoir that centers on the emotional weight of uprooting one's life. While the title suggests a fast-paced deep dive into the high-stakes world of cryptocurrency, the heart of the book lies somewhere far more intimate: the tension between seeking new horizons and honoring the roots that anchor us.

The book shines brightest when Hogkinson turns her gaze backward. Her childhood memories are poignant, beautifully rendered, and thought-provoking—easily the most compelling sections of the book. She reveals her childhood traumas with clear-eyed, unsentimental reporting, These are balanced by the stories about her and her family, home, and the sense of stability they represent which she writes about with remarkable candor, warmth and nostalgia. These stories give the narrative its emotional core, and I found myself wishing she had spent even more time exploring her past.

Where the book stumbles slightly is in meeting the expectations set by its title. Crypto Island doesn't quite hit the mark if you are looking for a financial exposé or a tell-all about crypto wealth. While Hogkinson introduces an intriguing—and often distasteful—cast of slimy characters within the local scene, she keeps her own finances close to the chest. Readers hoping to peek behind the curtain to see how she and her husband actually invest, or what kind of returns they are generating, will come away empty-handed.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this memoir! In Crypto Island, Georgine takes readers on a journey through the layers of midlife reinvention, a move to Puerto Rico, the complex world of cryptocurrency, and her own complicated past. What begins as a simple experiment with cryptocurrency evolves into a much deeper exploration of identity and long-held beliefs.

Georgine brings readers along for the ride as she flashes back to unexpected stories from her unstable childhood and adolescence, revealing how those experiences shaped her relationship with money, love, stability, and risk taking.

One of the things I appreciated most was Georgine's thoughtful awareness of Puerto Rico and its people. She writes with sensitivity, continually acknowledging the complex political, economic, and cultural impacts that cryptocurrency has had on the island and its local communities.

Full of rich characters, surprising twists and turns, and heartfelt personal growth, Crypto Island is not just a story about cryptocurrency... so don't be fooled by the title! It's a story about embracing uncertainty and discovering that transformation and healing are possible at any stage of life. Highly recommend this book.

[Sherrie Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book!

First, the crypto information is easy to understand (I had never heard of crypto currency before). It is fascinating to see how it works. And her writing style of allowing the reader to learn about it as she does is brilliant. It helped me understand and feel I was there as a part of her journey into this new world. I was also fascinated as I read her painful accounts of her personal life, past and present, also told as a journey for readers to share with her.

Her skillful writing style helps put a light on her past struggles sensitively as she spills her life on the stage and invites her audience to join her in her journey to confront these traumatic events. I was inspired to face my own past as I watched, empathized, and grew to care about her and her characters. Particularly, I was impressed with her portrayal of her mother. Looks like they had it tough, really tough. The author shares often shocking scene as facts without judgement as she and mother, not always on the same side, did the best they could with the unfair and cruel hands they were dealt. She does not make excuses or play the victim, so her audience, I believe, will feel as I did the raw pain these women endured.

In addition, I was inspired by her realization that home is really where the heart is; it isn't bricks. I am so attached to my home as my safety place that I was struck deeply when I read about her making peace with displacement and seeing her life in boxes. The metaphors of windows (even getting thrown out of them) helped me feel how she never could feel safe and home is just an image. It was strange for me to think about being ok without my home and my stuff. I was impressed how with so much adversity and monumental change that she could find peace with her past. And of course of want to thank this author for teaching me how to start making money with crypto currency!

[slaymi A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crypto Island is deeply personal and so engaging. Who knew crypto currency could be interesting?
Ms Hodginkson’s voice is clear, vulnerable, and with a layer of humor and self awareness that is refreshing. She invites us into her life and her memories with honesty and unflinching detail. Each chapter is full of gorgeous island-life details and entertaining anecdotes. A courageous memoir. I can’t wait to read her next book!

[Jessica F · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens, fittingly, with an earthquake—a powerful foreshadowing of the seismic shifts in perspective and circumstance that unfold when the author relocates to Puerto Rico and is unexpectedly catapulted into the inner circles of the expat crypto community. But this is far more than a story of mobsters and millionaires. It is a deeply personal journey of embracing uncomfortable transformation and discovering the true meaning of home.