title: Adding to the Circle
author: Bennett, Roseanne
description: “Adding to the Circle” is the sequel to “Soldiers”. While it is a stand-alone book, it would probably add the to depth of the story if you read “Soldiers” before you read this book. ~~~ Some wounds are just too big to completely fix, but sometimes our friends (both old and new) can make them smaller and provide us with the cement we need in order to rebuild and move forward. As former soldier turned rock star, Michael St. James, slowly gets to know his beautiful neighbor, while spending several months at his home on Kauai, he finds some of the joy that had left him when he lost his wife. He is now a single father who has been stuck in the memories of the life that he had wanted. He must struggle with the war that rages between his enjoyment and the painful guilt that he has because he survived. Leilani Drake is a soft spoken and very beautiful native of the island. She manages the family’s successful hotel and restaurant businesses, and she is healing from her own broken heart. Just like Michael, Leilani is not interested in anything more than a friendship that started when his little girl and her yellow lab met and fell in love with one another. Leilani is trying to cope with a family that has been fractured and broken for decades, a business that is leaking some serious money, and the terrible message that was imprinted on her brain and continued to make her unable to explore any romantic relationships. Lou has been Micheal’s best friend and his closest ally for over twenty years. He has devoted himself to managing not only Micheal’s two successful businesses, but he has kept both Michael and baby Mackenzie Lehua alive. Lou knows that it is past time to step back from his role as protector of Michael and Mackenzie. He has loved those two as much as any human could love another and he would never place them in harm's way...but he was aware that he’d allowed Michael to become a near recluse since the terrible tragedy. He’s met a nurse at VA outpatient clinic in Lihue and he is going out on a real date, the first one in years...and he has a new spring in his step when he thinks of the beautiful Desiree Kalani.