Men of the sea and their ships hold their own special place in my heart because I grew up in Navy country, had sailors as friends and dated officers.
My high school boyfriend's father was a naval commander, and one night, when his dad's ship was in port, we sat in silence on the bluffs watching its lights dance on the black water below. The poignancy of those moments are clear to me now that I'm older. In a way I didn't then, I realize how proud he was of his father, but, unlike mine, who was always home, his was away too much. The lights may have evoked feelings of pride, but the dark vastness of the waters reflected a hurtful longing to see more of his dad.
As news of the exploits of SEALs began to hit the news in recent years, I became enthralled with these superheroes, the elite of the elite Special Forces warriors. They make perfect heroes for a romance. As I thought about writing Awaking the Alpha, my January ARe and Amber Allure best seller, I happened on a TV interview of a highly decorated SEAL who for his twenty years in the service hid the fact his brain told him he was really female. I drew partly on this idea of hiding your real identity in creating a retired SEAL whose teammates never guessed he was gay, much less a werewolf.
As I began Amen To Love, I wasn't interested in doing another shifter story, but I was not quite through with the SEALs. This new release is part of a medical AmberPax, and since I have bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing, it was fun to step back into the medical field and create Bond Bergstrom, closeted and retired Navy SEAL, the new chief of surgery at Weatherton Mountain Hospital. I hope you enjoy him and his retired Delta Force counterpart, Rory O'Shea.
The murder mystery in the plot springs out of my interest in the crime genres. I'm a member of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime. I once read that people who read crime fiction pretty much ignore other genres, while romance readers tend to enjoy a broad and diverse range of books. I hope combining genres adds to your reading pleasure.
Love you all!
Carolina Valdez
http://www.CarolinaValdez.com
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