Ohana

by Sally Royer-Derr

They're Gone, But I'm Still Here

Mandy’s life has become a complex labyrinth following the tragic death of her husband and twin daughters. Despondent and depressed, she withers away in a drunken haze on a glorious Maui beach, longing to turn back time, plagued by strange dreams of her family.

Even with her in this state, handsome surfer, Chase, cannot stop thinking about the mystery woman he sees lying on the beach every morning, and he befriends her.

A relationship is the last thing she wants, but will it light the way to finding herself again?

But some things don’t make sense…

Who did Mandy catch a fleeting glimpse of in an SUV?

Will anyone believe her when she tells them who it was?

And can she prove she isn’t crazy by following leads to reveal the truth?

She’s determined to find out what happened all those years ago—and no one will stop her.


Readers Are Loving OHANA! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I thoroughly enjoyed Ohana. The plot caught my interest from the very beginning. I never saw the ending coming. I recommend it!” — Casey Allyn, The Rich and Casey Show I105-WIOV FM

“An emotional, compelling suspense. Gripping.” — Emmy Ellis, author of The Barrington Patch Series

“I couldn’t put this book down!” — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazon Review

“This book is a page turner!” — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads Review

“It’s a great read and I would recommend it to anyone!” — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazon Review

“Sally Royer-Derr did an amazing job on this page-turner.” — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Amazon review.

Genres: Mystery, Romance

202 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2021

About the author

Sally Royer-Derr is an award-winning, Amazon Charts bestselling American author. Known for emotionally complex stories with hidden secrets and dual timelines, her relatable characters balance gripping tension with emotional introspection. Her background in psychology and education is often helpful when plotting these page-turners. Sally lives in Pennsylvania with her family and is probably working on a new twisty thriller for her readers to enjoy.

Reviews

[Meghan Buchman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sat in my TBR pile for a long time. I forgot what it was about. I just dove on in without reading the description. It starts off pleasant enough then the train derails & you are just along for the ride. Is it a mystery? No. It is it a suspense? Don't think so. Is it a thriller? Maybe.
Kept my interest. Super duper easy read. I read it in less than 24 hours. It is believable? I mean, it's a story, is it supposed to be?
You decide.

[Alisha Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

How does this book have almost five stars? The story was so unbelievable and poorly written…no flow. The last 15% or so of the book was rushed and all these new characters came in to play that had no explanation? I wouldn’t bother picking this book up…time reading you won’t get back and truly regret.

[Donna Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick summer read

The build-up was too long, leaving little room for suspense. The premise was good, but the characters were shallow and the development of the story oddly paced. Disappointing.

[Chuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thin Plot

Thank goodness it was short. Cannot recommend. Seems to be written for a much younger audience. Also glad it was free. Now if I could just get the time wasted reading it back…

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was this?

Chunky writing. Really slow start. Skipped ahead to find where the mystery and suspense was. It was fabricated out of thin air. Really quite unbelievable and silly.

[Leah McCall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not For Me

I just did not like this one. I skimmed the whole thing during the course of a day, so I “kinda sorta read” it. My biggest problem was that nothing interesting happens until the (very short) book is more than halfway to the end. Up until somewhere in the 60-ish page range of a 126 page book, it reads like a cheesy soap opera, more an unrealistic romance story rather than a mystery / psych thriller. So, I danced over the first half of the book and just caught the sentences that would tell me enough of what was going on. Not until the black Escalade did I start paying attention, but it still just didn’t do it for me.

I can see why some people would enjoy the book. I see the elements there that would be appealing. However, although I stand by my opinion that the author has great, fresh ideas and is very talented, I thought this one was a bit weak on substance. But I despise romance stories, and this was largely a romance novel until there was almost no book left, at which point it turned a bit graphically violent, which was….interesting.

*Side note: This is kind of silly, but I got annoyed by how every damn time someone ate something, they “popped” it into their mouth. That is annoying ONE time. It’s annoying to read, imagine, and see with my own eyes. It was a frequent statement, causing my cringe-o-meter to spin all the way up to “please make it stop.” End rant on my irrationally intense pet peeve about that.*

So, if you like romance (and gratuitous sex scenes, which I was constantly dodging), just a smidge of mystery, bloodthirsty rage-fueled revenge, and people always popping pieces of food into their mouths during conversations, you may like it. I did not.

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!!! This story completely blew my mind! The twist is so shocking. I still can't believe it. Believe me, you won't see it coming!

There's so much I loved about this book. The majority of the book takes place in Hawaii, and it's vividly described. I felt like I was on the island. I also thought Mandy's character developed well throughout the story. In the beginning she's very depressed without hope, but slowly finds her strength and in the end is a strong woman who can handle anything that life throws at her. I rooted for her throughout the whole story and the ending was perfect and so unexpected from how the book started out.

There are unrealistic parts to this story, but it's so entertaining it doesn't matter. I don't read wild stories to be realistic. This is a short novel, but a well-crafted story.

This is the second book I've read from this author. Both very fast paced, smartly written and very addictive. I mean I read this in one day! I'll binge on this author like I've binged on Freida McFadden books since I see she has a few more out. I can't stop reading because I'm so hooked into these wild stories.

Fast paced and I loved it!

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the concept. But this feels like a first draft. It jumps around quite a lot, and the pace goes from stagnant to a huge rush. There were a couple of twists but they were so obvious that it became boring. I'm not huge on luck being such a biughg factor either. Like she just got lucky to see her daughter in the car, and magically was rescued from drowning, and luckily met the old lady who's ex CIA with contacts. Also, the dreams, unless you were leading down a road where she had premonitions, and there was something paranormal at play, what was the point of them? I could see one, but over and over again? And that ending... we all know the only poetic justice would have been Dane trying to run her over and her having drained his brake lines just enough that they failed as he went for her, she jumps out the way, he drives over the cliff. I.e. the way he faked his death, he truly died. I also felt like she couldn't decide if her bad guys ( every guy obviously) was truly bad, or not. The inner turmoil of each of them, to then go on and do the worst. And this has an over 4 star rating! Ugh.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandy is living on a beach in Hawaii where she goes after a tragedy. She spends her days getting drunk. One day Chase, a surfer, comes up to her and befriends her helping her to find her feet again. She falls in love with him. His band's big break comes with a producer seeing their act and offering them a record and tour deal which takes them to California. Things don't pan out well for Chase and Mandy and she returns to Hawaii. She writes a novel which becomes a screen play. While working on revisions, she is back in California where she sees something that makes people question her sanity. What did she see? Is she right?

Wow! What a rollercoaster of a read! I could not put this one down. About halfway through I figured out the major part of it but I never saw this ending. I loved it! They got what they deserved. She did it well. I liked her Airbnb landlord. She did have lousy taste in men, but they had no business doing what they did. What cretins!

I liked Ms. Royer-Derr's writing. I look forward to more of her.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following Mandy’s life throughout this book is a journey through despair to love, from hopelessness to redemption. Or is the reason for despair real? Is the love real? This book is a page turner that keeps you turning the pages to find answers until you have reached the last page! Grab this book and follow Mandy’s journey, you won’t regret it! Looking forward to more books by Sally Royer-Derr.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohana, Hawaiian for family. Always remember, through all the plot twists, that nothing trumps family. With the deaths of her husband and children, she returned to Maui to drink herself to death and rejoin her family. Saved by a surfer dude,she returns to a life. This is her story. It is a stand alone story with her HEA ending. I liked the book, especially the use of the physical descriptions of the areas the story encompassed.

[George Stenger · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very short book that I won on Goodreads. There could have been a story there but the book races through each section. Also, seemed completely unbelievable that Mandy had a devastating tragedy in her life and she moved on to a surfer in Maui so quickly. There were so many similar actions that made little or no sense.

[Karen Rangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sally Royer-Derr Ohana

Excellent story of unappreciated wife survives a tumultuous journey. Every curve ball thrown at her is returned tenfold. Use her, abuse her, break her heart, but don't mess with this mama bears cubs.

[Tammy Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing page turner!! I could not put it down and the ending - WOW! Never saw that coming! I can’t wait to read more from Sally Royer Derr

[Lynne Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this

The book was so interesting, did not see some of the things that happens. How much can you trust anyone?

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost unbelievable but such a good read

[Sruthi Priya G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really a good read with a good amount of unexpected twists and the story was good too. I loved it. I just hope I had completed the story before without this much delay but it's worth it

[Bonnye Reed]

BookAdrenaline complimentary copy

[Patty Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohana

Started out interesting from the beginning and didn't let up . Guessed from the start the girls were alive but was surprised about the rest good ending.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good

This is such a fantastic read. More fun than I thought it would have been. It's a new style of book for me

[Ashley Fricchione · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book… but it left me unsatisfied. Plot was kind of all over the place and fathomable. Then the ending was super abrupt.

[Krystal Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

so-so

It wasn’t that believable. I think it was very far fetched. It did have me wondering what was happening next.

[Mt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book depended a lot on coincidence, the events seemed unbelievable. I put a three because I enjoyed the setting.

[Lauren Lyons · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so bad but I couldn't stop listening to it. Just horrible. Surface level characters, basic/obvious storyline. Horrible.

[Abby Rigdon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super short read. Not a bad book and an entertaining afternoon.