Welcome the Morning

Charlie Cossini comes to Haleiwa, Hawaii, with her construction crew of women to work on renovations to the run-down Reveille Reef Club. It's located in a remote area by the beach and they will be living on-site during the renovations. Ben Gilmour is supervising the renovation project for his Aunt Stella. He expects Charlie to be a man, and when he meets her he almost fires her and her female team, thinking they aren't capable for the job. Charlie convinces Ben that her crew can do the work, so he decides to keep Cossini Construction on the job. There is one condition, though. Since the Reef has been targeted by vandals of late, he insists they can only stay if he and his friend can remain on-site, too, in case there is any trouble.

This show more was a fun and enjoyable story set in beautiful Hawaii and included a large cast of characters. Charlie was a great heroine. She was very outspoken and dedicated to her work. I liked her fellow co-workers and friends, Eliza and Carol. The female construction crew was a nice change of pace. Ben was very likable, too. He was the complete opposite of Charlie. While she believed in hard work, he was living the free and easy life at the moment as a surfer, traveling anywhere his mood took him. Other characters I liked who stayed at the Reef during the construction were Ben's surfer friend, Pogey, who came along with Ben as protection for the women; local cop Kimo, who had a thing for Charlie's friend Carol (and provided a sweet secondary romance); and Auntie Lani, a local woman who was hired on to cook and do the housekeeping for everyone.

The story didn't totally grab me at first, but then it kept getting better as it went. The romance sometimes tended to get lost in the background because of the many characters and the continuing mystery behind the vandalism. And then there was the mysterious bugle sounds that could be heard out in the fog on the beach in the early mornings. I enjoyed the exciting big storm/hurricane near the end and I liked the team effort on the part of everyone to save what they could of the Reef. A very entertaining story set in a lovely location. show less