Welcome to Shelter Bay

Two of my favorite hobbies are photography and scrapbooking. Although I'm one of those scrappers who still prints out actual photos and puts them in albums, partly because I love an excuse to play with paper and paste, I decided to make a digital album of Shelter Bay to share with readers.

I've always preferred creating my own worlds, because it allows me to put buildings and parks where I choose and populate them with my own characters. For instance, Castlelough, from my Irish trilogy, was located on the coast in north County Clare. Somersett, South Carolina, where several of my books -- including my High Risk series -- are set, is part Charleston, South Carolina, and part Savannah, Georgia. Since I enjoy visiting both cities, it was impossible to choose which to use, so I "borrowed" Savannah's marvelous squares and sense of isolation, then gave it Charleston's churches and wonderful harbor.

Shelter Bay proved an even more difficult decision because I doubt there's a place on the Oregon coast I don't love. Including Depoe Bay, where my high school sweetheart once bought me a bag of salt water taffy, then proposed. (Yes, the girl could be had for taffy, lol)

So, the coastal photos you'll be viewing have been taken in various small towns from Astoria at the far north of the state, to Bandon in the south. The small fishing/tourism town of Shelter Bay, itself, is located -- in my mind -- on the north central coast.

I hope you enjoy these sneak preview scenes from my little corner of paradise and will visit Shelter Bay again when The Homecoming, first in the series (which Sue Grimshaw, romance buyer for Borders just finished reading and says readers will love!) comes out July 6th.

Former Navy Seal Sax Douchett has returned home to Shelter Bay, determined to put war behind him and get on with his life -- which is easier said than done when everyone is hailing the former bad boy as a local hero. Adjusting to a new beginning becomes even more difficult when he unearths a long-buried secret that in turn reunites him with a cherished part of his past that he's never forgotten. . .

Oh, readers of The Homecoming may wonder whether I actually found two of the restaurants pictured: Sea Mist and Grateful Bread. A confession -- I photoshopped out the actual names and replaced them with the ones from my Shelter Bay stories. As I said, there's a definite advantage in creating my own world! Still, you might notice that the photo of Sax's house, which is actually a former lighthouse keeper's house, provided the inspiration for the cover of The Homecoming.