When we purchased our motorhome, we had a wish list of items it had to have. This would be our fulltime residence, so we would be spending a lot of time inside of it. When my husband found this one, a 43-foot 2010 Tiffin Allegra which checked everything on our list, I knew it was the one.
Stepping inside this motorhome felt like home. The wooden cabinets and carpentry with cherry finish throughout, the classic style and cream colors to lighten and brighten the rooms were perfect. I admire the craftsmanship that goes into wooden creations. Back in high school when I met my husband, he made beautiful furniture in wood shop. We both enjoy things well made from wood.
One day I was showing our new home off to one of my best friends, and she said, “Debra, it’s beautiful. It’s like a yacht.”
“A yacht?” I asked, looking around.
“Yes,” she nodded. “A land yacht.”
I liked that description and have thought of her this way ever since. Yes, like a ship, I think of our motorhome as her.
Cruising by land or by sea, can be romantic. This February we will be cruising aboard the inaugural Love Lit Cruise for readers and authors, a five-day Caribbean cruise aboard the Valiant Lady. While aboard we will also celebrate our wedding anniversary. We’ve always loved to cruise, and this will be our 14th and the first time with Virgin Voyages.
Sea travel can be romantic. Feeling the wind in your hair, the endless ocean views, stars twinkling above a darkened sea, the setting sun, and exotic ports of call, all can set the mood for love. Yes, this is cliche, but onboard it’s also real, not just a daydream.
Cruising by its very nature is romantic. The popular American television show The Love Boat aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986 and was watched around the world. The show was based on a 1976 made for TV movie based on the nonfiction book THE LOVE BOATS by Jeraldine Saunders, who was a cruise director. The sitcom was usually set aboard the Pacific Princess, a Princess Cruises cruise liner.
It might seem unlikely aboard a ship filled with hundreds, even thousands of people, to find together time for two. But it’s possible to make that time. A table for two at dinner, lounge chairs side by side by the pool, dancing together in the evening followed by a walk around the outer deck, private cabins with balconies. For couples spending a honeymoon or anniversary onboard a cruise, magical moments can happen.
I’ve worked as a travel agent and my job gave me the chance to sail on Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Costa, Celebrity, Holland America, and Norwegian cruise lines. I love being at sea, so it's no surprise I set the second novel I wrote onboard a ship which was sailing the Caribbean.
ABOARD THE WISHING STAR, is the story of Kara, a widow who sails away thinking she has escaped her problems only to find they have followed her.
One of the problems Kara has is a phobia of deep water, a fear of drowning. You might ask why she goes on a cruise if she has this fear. The answer is, she wins a cruise for two. You might be thinking even that wouldn't be enough of an incentive and while it’s true that some people with water phobia would never cruise no matter how great the incentive, there are people who would. How do I know this? Because I am one.
I have a water phobia which I’ve had since I was a small child. I didn't learn to swim until it was a requirement for graduation at the private women's college I attended. I took the "timid non-swimmers" class. The instructor told me I was the first truly phobic student she'd ever had and the fastest she’d seen anyone swim across that pool in the final test. I don’t remember a minute of it other than it was fueled by panic and the adrenalin that went with it.
Today I’ll swim in a lake or ocean with a life vest on and I’ll swim in a swimming pool usually with a noodle. Without flotation, if the phobia kicks in I can panic. Then I won’t hear anyone yell at me. Anyone wanting to save me had best get behind me, so I don't hurt them. Intelligent coherent thought flees when the phobia strikes. And yet, I love the sea and sailing, the ocean and the beach. Nothing feeds my soul quite like it, so I’m drawn back no matter how far away I live from the ocean. I love to snorkel and went tubing once. I walked the plank of a pirate ship off the coast of Grand Cayman. With flotation I am brave.
So, I relate to Kara when she’s in the ocean and this is the one part of this story which contains a part of me. The scene where Nate teaches her to snorkel is my favorite. I went out on that limb to write that scene. And that's what I do with this phobia. I go out on a limb with my floatation on.
That's what Kara must do to have a happy ever. She will have to step out on that limb.
For more about the Love Lit Cruise: https://www.lovelitcruise.com/
And check out my beautiful newly designed website.
When Kara's, husband is shot and killed in front of her in what she's told is a random act of violence, she becomes convinced the world is unsafe. Her life is quiet and predictable, until she wins a Caribbean cruise for two and takes along her best friend.
On her trip she meets Nate, a scuba dive instructor and marine. He'll teach her to face her fear of deep water and teach her to snorkel. Will Kara learn to trust him with her heart, when she fears this shipboard romance will reach an end and she'll never see him again, leaving her broken hearted?
When Kara's boss shows up at their first port of call unexpectedly, Nate's protective nature comes out.
Her creepy boss becomes more aggressive after she returns to Ohio and when she calls Nate he gets on the first plane. Can Nate rescue her?
Romance Suspense [Belo Dia Publishing Inc., On Sale: September 21, 2015, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780692531600 / eISBN: 1230006976880]
Debra Parmley is a multi-genre author who after living for 23 years just outside Memphis, TN, sold everything to live full-time in a 43-foot motorhome with her Air Force veteran husband. She writes as they travel the U.S.
She has written military romantic suspense, contemporary romance, historical romance, dystopian romance, holiday romance, fairy tale romance, urban fantasy romance, poetry and nonfiction.
Debra travels widely, reads widely and writes widely. You will find danger, action and adventure, and romance in her stories. In her Tales from the Trailer articles, she shares the RV lifestyle and travel adventures in the U.S.
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