The Bungalow

September 19, 2011
Jio’s second novel (after The Violets of March) is a saccharine romance framed around WWII and the Tahitian island of Bora-Bora. A letter found by her grandchild in the trash spurs Anne Calloway Godfrey of Seattle to recount a wartime romance and the dissolution of a childhood friendship. Conflicted about her impending nuptials to Gerard Godfrey, the young Anne and her best friend Kitty enlist as nurses for the war effort. But once Anne reaches the beautiful island of Bora-Bora, she finds the other nurses, including Kitty, disappointingly man hungry. While Kitty becomes entangled in a dangerous romance with one soldier, Anne is drawn to another, Westry Green, an officer, due to a shared interest in a nearby deserted bungalow, considered cursed by the native Tahitians. Though the bungalow becomes the site of Anne and Westry’s romantic rendezvous, Anne’s cloying, self-righteous attitude, obnoxious behavior, and naïve mistakes in dealing with Westry make it hard for readers to buy their relationship. Meanwhile Kitty’s romantic entanglements harden her and ruin her relationship with Anne. Jio attempts to deepen her story with the addition of a murder mystery but an overwhelming profusion of deadening wartime clichés makes for a dull, frustrating read.

October 1, 2011

It's 1942, and best friends Kitty and Anne, questioning their staid suburban lives, decide to join the Army Nurse Corps for a nine-month tour in the South Pacific. Anne leaves behind a mystified fiance, she but feels a strong need to taste adventure before settling down. Free spirit Kitty finds that flirting with soldiers is much more fun than nursing the wounded, while Anne falls in love with Westry, a serious-minded soldier. Anne and Westry happily meet in secret in an abandoned beach bungalow, until the night they witness a murder. Before they can decide whether to report the crime, Westry is deployed, and Anne fears she'll never see him again. When she receives a letter more than 50 years later postmarked from Tahiti, Anne and her young niece decide it's time to find out what really happened all those years ago. VERDICT This unabashedly romantic novel just narrowly avoids being sappy, thanks to Jio's (The Violets of March) deft handling of her plot and characters. Fans of Nicholas Sparks will enjoy this gentle historical love story.--Rebecca Vnuk, Forest Park, IL

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2011
Set in the lush yet dangerous tropics of the South Seas during WWII, Jio's second novel (after The Violets of March, 2011) follows the story of a young, sheltered nurse who slowly realizes the enigma that is the human heart. Anne Calloway is a mere 21 yet already engaged and planning a sedate life in Seattle when her best friend, the impetuous Kitty, convinces Anne to join her in the nursing corps on Bora-Bora, a place that has a way of revealing the truth about people, uncovering the layers we carry and exposing our real selves. Anne leaves behind her fianc' to embark on an eye-opening, ideal-shattering journey. Unfortunately, Anne's navet' is also mirrored in the narrative itself, which sometimes displays a one-dimensional quality. Power plays, backstabbing, an old art mystery, and a very intriguing young soldier mesh together in an ultimately captivating tale. The sensuous bungalow of the title occupies a dreamy, escapist place in the plot. Fans of Samantha Sotto, Camille Noe Pagan, and Bridget Asher may enjoy this title.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)