'Dragonfruit' is young adult fantasy inspired by memories of Guam

Former Guam resident Makiia Lucier is making waves in the literary scene, with her fifth book release, Dragonfruit. The young adult fantasy is inspired by Pacific Island mythology and fond memories of the island she misses so much.

Meet Makiia Lucier. The 1993 Simon Sanchez High School graduate, is making waves as an author. Her fifth book was published by Harper Collins the book, which was released recently, is one you can't miss, with a beautiful cover full of bold colors, an island girl, and a fruitbat.

She explains what makes this one different from the others, saying, "My previous books are historical fantasy and historical fiction but they were about the Spanish Flu, the Medieval Plague and mapmakers and about writing about home."

She remembered when she was growing up reading and there was no Pacific Islander kid in any of the stories. She wanted to change that, saying, "this story has been sitting in the back of my mind for about 10 years...so I started writing about sea dragons."

But the young adult fantasy was much more than a sea dragon. The story also allowed her to intertwine her recollections of growing up on Guam.

"With Dragonfruit, it started with memories. So I took a notebook and i wrote down all the things I could remember. I wrote down mangoes, and fruitbats, those gross snakes or eels on the beach, and I started to build a world around it and eventually it became a book," she described.

She admits although she's been homesick for a long time, writing the book just made the longing that much more real. "You look into the story and you can tell I wrote it...from the island kingdom of Tamarind, it was my favorite candy growing up. There was an island called Garapan, I was born in Garapan Village...it's pretty much my past," she said.

Dragonfruit was selected as book of the month, and has been well received with delightful reviews. But Lucier is cautious. "You really should not read your reviews. Because you'll get good reviews, which are awesome, but if you read too many good reviews your head starts to get big and you start to think youre bigger than you really are. And then you read too many bad reviews and you just feel bad, I read a couple, and then stay away from the reviews," she said.

You can grab a copy of Dragonfruit for your very own wherever books are sold.