Porch Swing Girl - (Tradewinds) by Taylor Bennett (Paperback)

About the Book

16 year old Olive Galloway is desperate to get home before her dad sells their house. She's stuck in Hawaii with her grandmother--and now she must help Jazz, a new friend, get through a crisis in her life. Can Brander, the boy who also befriended Olive, help Olive and Jazz work through their separate issues or will Olive choose to run?

Book Synopsis

What if friendship cost you everything?

Stranded in Hawaii after the death of her mother, sixteen-year-old
Olive Galloway is desperate to escape. She has to get back to Boston
before her dad loses all common sense and sells the family house. But
plane tickets cost money--something Olive gravely lacks.

With the help of Brander, the fussy youth group worship leader, and
Jazz, a mysterious girl with a passion for all things Hawaiian, Olive
lands a summer job at the Shave Ice Shack and launches a scheme to buy
a plane ticket home before the end of the summer.

But when Jazz reveals a painful secret, Olive's plans are challenged.
Jazz needs money. A lot of it. Olive and Brander are determined to
help their friend but, when their fundraising efforts are thwarted,
Olive is caught in the middle. To help Jazz means giving up her ticket
home. And time is running out.

Review Quotes

A touching story of grief with an important lesson. It's not all about you. No matter how hard things may get, God is right there waiting. In Porch Swing Girl, Taylor Bennett reminds her readers what matters most in life--faith, family, and loving others. The beautiful way the story unfolded in the end will cause readers to reflect upon God's amazing grace.

Jill Williamson, Christy Award-winning author of By Darkness Hid

Fans of Melody Carlson will love this powerful story about a teenage girl learning to trust God in the most heartbreaking of times. Bennett has a beautiful, fresh voice that will keep readers turning pages late into the night.

Stephanie Morrill, author of The Lost Girl of Astor Street

Taylor Bennett knows how to tell a great story! Readers will fall in love with her characters and the beautiful setting. I closed the book with a satisfied smile and an itch to go find some shave ice.

In a world where so many stories point away from truth, Taylor Bennett weaves a tale full of Truth, beauty, and goodness. Her characters feel like friends, and the setting feels like home. What a great debut novel!

Porch Swing Girl by Taylor Bennett is a refreshingly pleasant story that I enjoyed from the first paragraph. Set in beautiful Hawaii, this young adult story is a good read for all ages because it is a story of wanting one goal and finding out God has another one in mind for you. When confused teen Olive and her little sister Macie are left in Hawaii with their grandmother, Olive has to deal with her grief over her mother's death, Macie's quirkiness and her dad leaving them to return to Boston to "sell the house." Olive's one goal is to get home and stop her father from throwing away her mother's precious things. But when she meets outgoing, bright Jazz and handsome Brander, Olive's goal shifts. Once mad at God, she begins to see that she needs him in her life again. But not just for herself. She has a friend in need and that is the beginning of Olive's healing summer. This story came to me at a time when I also needed to hear that message. And ... from a seventeen-year-old author at that. I loved this sweet, gentle book and I can't wait to read the next installment of the Trade Winds series--On Shifting Sands. Taylor Bennett has a great future as an author!

Lenora Worth--Author of Their Amish Reunion