Mona Ingram

Historical Romance and Modern Love

Book Three has just gone live!

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MarriagebyMistakeMarriage by Mistake is Book Three in my Gold Rush Romances series. Like the others, it is a stand-alone story, featuring Nalani Hoapili, a Hawaiian girl who’s being forced into marriage. As with my other series (The Women of Independence), the characters overlap, which offers continuity in the reading experience. These stories contain historical references, but are at heart romances.

If you haven’t read a historical romance before, I encourage you to try Book One – Restless Hearts. It’s free at B&N, iTunes, Kobo and Scribd, and hopefully will soon be free at Amazon as well. Enjoy!

Links for Marriage by Mistake:


Links for Restless Hearts:

Here I Go Again…

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… getting ready to start writing a new book. It’s an exciting, if daunting time. A time when I won’t get to have coffee with my friends nearly as often as I should. When I write, I put my head down and lose myself in the story. I “see’ the setting and the characters, and I hear their words.
   This next one is Book Three in the Gold Rush Romances series. Until I started researching this series, I hadn’t realized that Hawaiians played a part in the Gold Rush. The explosion of San Francisco’s population created a demand for everything, and the entrepreneurs in Hawaii were only too happy to supply food, especially sugar. The sandalwood trade had just died down, so sugar filled the void nicely. Another thing I learned was that many young Hawaiian men served as seamen on ships sailing all over the world. It makes sense when you think about it… they virtually grew up in and on the water.
   Marriage by Mistake is the story of Nalani Hoapili, a young Hawaiian woman raised by missionaries, and Aidan Edwards, a friend of Jamie’s from New York. We met Jamie in Restless Hearts; he’s the one with the ranch near Sacramento.
   I won’t spoil it for you by telling more of the storyline, but I’ve really enjoyed plotting it out, and look forward to letting the words come. I expect it will be released some time in November, but I’ll keep you informed.

They Say You Can’t Go Back – repeat blog from 2012

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They Say You Can’t Go Back,
and in my case, it was true. Last year, in 2011, I went back to Waikiki after 40 years. I don’t know what kept me away…or perhaps I do. I think I was afraid to be an outsider again. Somewhere along the line it finally dawned on me – I am an outsider.  What was I thinking?
  By some stroke of serendipitousness, I’d booked a beachfront house on the North Shore. I needed to relax, having undergone some dramatic changes in my personal life, and it sounded ideal for my purposes. Haleiwa was a perfect choice, and I’d go back again in a heartbeat.
  But Waikiki called to me. I worked in travel back in the 60s, and those of us in the business knew each other by sight, if not by name. Bellhops, bartenders, tour drivers, taxi drivers and office workers –we were one big happy family as the saying goes.
  I lived in central Waikiki – on Lewers, just off Kalakaua. Up the street from me was a small drug store and around the corner, a fabric store. Further along Kalakaua you’d find Henry Yim’s Tours, a large open lot with Henry’s yellow stretch limos jockeying for space on the pavement, his tour drivers talking stories while they waited to be dispatched by Carole or Cynthia.
  On the corner of Kalakaua and Lewers was Stewart’s Pharmacy. I remember it fondly, because it had a lunch counter. One of the tour escorts who worked for Trade Wind Tours encouraged me to try my first Monte Cristo sandwich at Stewarts. They served it with delicate guava jelly and I’ve never forgotten the taste.
  Nothing remains of the shops and restaurants that lined Kalakaua in those days. Even many of the hotels have disappeared, replaced by sleek new buildings. That’s as it should be, I suppose. At least the Moana/Surfrider is still there, and I imagine that there are still employees who recall when Hawaii Calls was broadcast from the Moana on Saturdays.
  The International Market Place was there in the 60s, looking much as it does now. When I first moved there, Duke Kahanamoku’s night club sprawled over a large percentage of the space. Don Ho had a little corner in Dukes that he called Honey’s at Waikiki…a reference to Honey’s in Kaneohe, where he performed songs by Kui Lee, many of which solidified his fame.
  My most poignant memory of my years in Waikiki was hearing Kui Lee sing at Queen’s Surf. To the best of my knowledge, it was the last time he sang in public.
  Under the best of conditions Kui was a slight figure. The man who appeared that night was frail, but his voice held all the passion for which he was famous. He sang “Beyond The Reef” by Jack Pitman, a heartbreaking reminder that his ashes were to be scattered in the ocean off Waikiki. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and the silence when he finished was profound. I consider it a gift to have been there that night.
  Has Waikiki changed? More than I can say. Can I go back? No. But no matter how many changes there are, Kui’s haunting voice remains with me, reminding me that life is fleeting, life is good.

About Mona Ingram

Romance author Mona Ingram has written dozens of novels, including the Forever Series, the Gold Rush Series, and the Women of Independence Series. She lives in British Columbia, Canada.

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Email me at mona@monaingram.com.

All text copyright Mona Ingram.