Bitter Over Sweet

Hawaiian native Tita works to escape a vicious cycle of poverty and abuse, only to realize along the way that life can not only be better, it can be whatever she wants it to be… Take a deep dive into the lives of real Hawaiians as we follow Tita and other native women living and struggling against abuse and despair in a world controlled by tourism’ s long tail. These stories of resilience offer readers a glimpse behind the bird-of-paradise curtains and a look at what’ s not in the travel magazines. What is it like to live day in and day out in a place that everyone else considers paradise? To live within America but not be considered American enough? Bitter Over Sweet gifts us a rare, authentic indigenous voice speaking about these often misunderstood islands. It’ s Night of the Living Rez meets Lilo and Stitch.

Melissa Llanes Brownlee, a native Hawai’ ian writer living in Japan, received her MFA in Fiction from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has been widely published in literary journals and magazines, including The Rumpus, Cincinnati Review miCRo, Indiana Review, Craft, swamp pink, Moon City Review, Wigleaf and others. She doodles @lumchanfa and plays her ukulele at @lumchanukulele on Instagram. She also tweets @lumchanmfa and talks story at melissallanesbrownlee.com.