Sixteen-year-old Becky Shea has spent a lifetime following her mother’s bad example and appeasing the opposite sex. But when her mother organizes a seniors’ tour to Hawaii against her husband’s wishes, Becky also begins to take a stand toward self-definition.

In Cherylyn Stacey’s Gone To Maui, Becky is a well-drawn principal character. But her mother and the six seniors are vague. We never find out what triggered Becky’s mother’s decision to go to Hawaii without her husband. It’s also difficult to keep track of the seniors and their various personality quirks. Becky’s interior world, however, is well documented. She is plagued by the conflicting emotions that dominate the teen years. Quick to judge others, Becky realizes in Maui that people are never what they appear to be, and the six seniors in the tour group are not the doddering old-timers she expected. They too grapple with self-empowerment, feminism, and sexual attraction.

She also discovers that she can be herself with 18-year-old Japanese-American Grant Takahashi. Grant gives Becky her first kiss and shows her the importance of risk-taking. While exploring the island together, Becky learns that freedom can be frightening, but also exhilarating.

By the novel’s end, Becky makes the realization that she’s spent her life acquiescing to her family’s wishes. For this reason, Gone To Maui may appeal to teenage girls struggling to keep pace with their own rollercoaster feelings. However, when all is said and done, the novel lacks tension and a well-developed story.