Don’t miss book one in this series, FREE through May 6th, 2018! Finding Love in Friday Harbor, Washington.
Finding Love on Bainbridge Island, Washington is the second book in my Washington Island Romance series. I love writing about the Puget Sound and the Salish Sea because the views are exquisite. Let me show you what I mean:
The first time I visited Bainbridge, I was inspired. The island is accessible via driving or via ferry from Seattle. My family had the opportunity to stay in a cute little cottage on the water in the spring of 2017 while I was working on this book. Behind the cabin was a beautiful lagoon, and the opposite view was Puget Sound. No matter where you looked, you had a view. I wanted to share that with my readers.
Some of the themes in the novel include PTSD and EMDR therapy, plus forgiveness and past regrets. With heavy topics like those, I wanted to balance the emotional scales. A trip to a park brought the inspiration.
My youngest and I once stopped by a playground where a grandfatherly-type visitor brought his parrot. The colorful bird rode on his shoulder, squawking and speaking English. He called her Baby, and all the children gathered around to hear the bird talk. Watching him, wondering about his thoughts that led him to bring the bird to the park, I became inspired. In book one (Finding Love in Friday Harbor), I included a mentor figure in Granny Belle. For book two, I wanted to include a mentor figure, but I wanted her to be a bit zany, I bit eccentric. Enter stage right (she’s a former theater actress), Aunt Matilda. She is the hero’s one-time guardian, and she’s a bit loopy, but she’s also wise. And she has a cockatiel named Pearl, who is a bit of a rascal.
Early readers say they love this character and wish they had an Auntie Mat in their own lives.
One behind-the-scenes fact I wanted to share that you may not see elsewhere is that these books are location based more than overlapping-character based. In that way, they stand alone. You could read them out of order, say, beginning with book two, not having read the first book and not feel lost. Rather than carry on with the same characters in a deeper way as some series do, I choose minor secondary characters from each novel to appear in the next. Some early readers have assumed that the third book will pick up where this novel left off, and I wanted to let you know that Burr’s story will have to wait for another series.
Currently, I’m writing book three in my Washington Island Series, centered on Liberty Winfield finding freedom. That novel is set at Whidbey Island, another getaway-worthy location in Puget Sound. I hope you’ll join me there!
If you’re looking for a getaway-type of read and you enjoy beaches, check out this series. These are layered love stories full of hope and second chances.
Questions for you: What are your favorite locations to escape to when reading? Do you like to read series that are made up of stand-alone novels, or those with deeply overlapping story lines and possible cliffhangers?
Happy reading, friends!
Great news: Now through May 6th, you can pick up a copy of the first novel in this series: Finding Love in Friday Harbor, Washington, for free on Kindle! Don’t miss it! Kindle Unlimited members can read both books in the Washington Island Romance series for free.
Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years when she sat pounding out stories on a vintage typewriter just for fun. Since then, she’s joined Christian writing groups and launched blogs so she could share the joy of writing. She likes to say she’s addicted to color as flowers and seascapes inspire her. She reads books for review and for her work as an editor. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, photography, and music. She lives with her husband and family in the Pacific Northwest.
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Marianne Evans