Emma Munroe, a Juilliard senior, snags a plum role on Broadway a few weeks before her twenty-first birthday. She travels to Hawaii with her best friends to celebrate. When she gets lost in a jungle during an impromptu hike, she happens upon a waterfall—and a naked hunk bathing underneath it.
When she finds out his name is Avery Bell, she’s dumbstruck. She believes she’s meant to love someone named Avery. It all goes back to a message in a bottle she found when she was nine, a letter written by a soldier called Avery to his sweetheart named Emma. He’d written it in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack during World War II. Since then, Emma has been searching (and saving her virginity) for her own Avery.
But Avery Bell is as mysterious as he is irresistible. Emma learns about his family secrets and bitterness. In the course of this vacation, an accident and a tragic death will shake both of them to the core. Her singular faith in him—her unwavering belief in love and destiny—proves to be his saving grace.
Ready to find out more about Finder Keeper of My Heart?
Q&A with Vina Arno: Why Hawaii and Romance Go Together
Q: What is Finder Keeper of My Heart about?
Vina Arno: The novel is a contemporary, new adult romance. It’s a classic soul mate/fate trope. The heroine, Emma Munroe, is a budding Broadway actress who persists against all odds in finding her soul mate. The hero, Avery Bell, is an MIT-educated techie who spurns destiny. When they are thrown together in a jungle in Hawaii, their beliefs are tested.
Q: Describe Emma in one sentence.
Vina Arno: Avery describes Emma best—she’s “a complete package,” with her tempestuous beauty, effervescent charm, and Juilliard-worthy talent.
Q: Describe Avery in one sentence.
Vina Arno: I’ll quote Emma, who says, “Avery was male in the best sense, without touting it or taking advantage of it—solid, reliable, efficient, intelligent, and too damn hot.”
Q: What inspired you to write this book?
Vina Arno: This novel is my love letter to Hawaii, which is a perfect setting for romance. You have to be pretty jaded to not feel romantic when you’re in Hawaii. Whenever I visit Hawaii, particularly the Big Island, I’m transformed the minute I get off the airplane. The first thing I do is remove my wristwatch, because I don’t care about time when I’m there. I feel a big release of frantic energy and everything slows down for me in a very good way. I’m lucky because I always go to Hawaii with my family and I associate the Hawaiian experience with requited love itself—unhurried, calm, rich, and joyful.
Q: What’s your favorite scene in the book and why?
Vina Arno: Emma meets Avery when she gets terribly lost in a jungle on the Big Island. He lets her stay at his campsite overnight and takes her back to civilization the following day. My favorite scene is when they hike to Waipio Valley and there’s a lot of sexual tension between them. A sudden rainstorm forces them to stop in a makeshift hunter’s shack. Inside, there’s a wall dividing the space into two rooms. They are literally divided by this wall and they don’t even touch each other, but the air is charged with intense desire.
Q: Some people say that every novel is autobiographical. Are you like your hero or heroine?
Vina Arno: Just like Emma, I believe in destiny. I grew up in the Philippines, where I kept looking for my soul mate without success. I immigrated to the United States quite unexpectedly, where my future husband was all along. Manila, where I came from, is halfway around the world from New York City, where my husband was born and raised. But, somehow we found each other. That’s destiny!
Q: What’s next for you?
Vina Arno: My next book, a literary historical novel titled, My MacArthur, will be published by the Sand Hill Review Press later this year. It’s a fictional account of General Douglas MacArthur’s romantic obsession with Isabel Rosario Cooper, a young Filipino actress, in the 1930s. Their interracial, May-December relationship broke many taboos. In many ways, their story fits the #MeToo narrative because of the huge power imbalance between MacArthur and Isabel.
Vina Arno is the pen name of Cindy Fazzi, a Filipino-American writer and former Associated Press reporter. Finder Keeper of My Heart, published by Painted Hearts Publishing, is her second romance book. Her romance debut, In His Corner, was published by Lyrical Press in 2015. Her first literary novel, My MacArthur, will be published by the Sand Hill Review Press in 2018.
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Thanks so much, Lisa! I’m very grateful for your support. True Story Book Blog rocks!
Cheers,
Cindy Fazzi (Vina Arno)
Paradise for me is anywhere there is a beach!
When I find paradise – you’ll be the first to know for now it’s small spaces in time alone with Hubby!