For Whom the Stars Shine

The Dawn of Hawaii #.5

by Linda Lee Chaikin

As the family of the last queen of Hawaii fights for their rights to the monarchy's vast properties, one granddaughter, Eden Derrington, returns, only to discover family secrets that will greatly change the course of events on her beautiful island. Original.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Historical, Historical Fiction, Romance

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Linda Chaikin is a Christian fiction author with a focus on historical fiction. She sometimes publishes using the name L.L. Chaikin.

Linda was the youngest of 10 children and her father died shortly after she was born. She wrote her first full-length novel with pen and paper at the age of 14 - this novel was later rewritten as Wednesday's Child, part of the Day to Remember series.

She met her husband, Steve, in a Bible study, and they were married 6 months later. They both went to Multnomah School for the Bible, now known as Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[K.M. Updike · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very good book! If I had read it faster and hadn't gotten so side tracked with so many other things, I think it would have been better! :)

Mrs. Chaikin, in For Whom the Stars Shine, keeps you so on your toes with the mystery involved in the story! She just gives these subtle little hints everywhere and by the middle of the book you're tearing your hair wondering "What could it possibly be?"

I really recommend this book! It is very good. There is very little romance, but there is some. And when there is a romantic part, it's very sincere and--real! She is an excellent historical fiction writer, much, much better than any others I have ever read.

[Kim Bakos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book although it wasn't a quick read. It was at times hard to follow the politics of colonial Hawaii, and to keep the revelations about the mystery of the main character's mother straight. This author used much more advanced vocabulary and sentence structure than many who write Christian fiction, which made it take a bit longer to read than many of the authors that I usually read. But overall, the book was very enjoyable, especially if you are a fan of HI and always looking to learn more about its history.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"For Whom the Stars Shine" is a historical set mainly in Hawaii from 1888 to 1891. It also has a fairly typical romance and a mystery about Eden's mother's death. However, it's primarily a historical novel, and anyone skilled in solving mystery novels will probably have this mystery figured out before the book is halfway done.

Daily and social historical details were woven into the story which created a vivid picture of what life was like then. There was also a lot of information on the (past) Hawaiian missionary movement and (current) political turmoil in Hawaii due to the plantation owners wanting to have Hawaii made an American territory. If you're not interested in this, then you'll probably find the level of detail a little heavy since more information was given than was strictly needed. However, if you are interested, this story is a very enjoyable way to learn about about this history.

The characters were engaging, though Eden was rather naive and the only other character we really got to know was Rafe. The suspense was created by the mystery surrounding Eden's mother's death and the family discord.

There was a high level of Christian content, from giving the history of the missionaries on Hawaii to a preacher character who liked to quote Scripture. But I didn't feel like any of it was preaching at the reader. There was no bad language or sex. Overall, I'd recommend this novel as an enjoyable way to learn more about this period in Hawaiian history.

[Christin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the writing could be stilted, I enjoyed the story and characters. Plus, I actually enjoyed learning about the history of Hawaii, though I didn't anticipate doing so. The story really kept me guessing...though sometimes it did get a little repetitive i.e. "what happened to my mother" x a thousand.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but parts were too much like a history text book.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So happy to find out Ms. Chaikin decided to continue this series with The Spoils of Eden.:)