Category: WriteWed

It’s hard to believe that this is the second summer since Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey Shore. We’re lucky in Monmouth County that things are almost back to normal, but there are still lots of people suffering the aftereffects of the storm.

When that storm hit, my daughter had only just re-opened her shop, OG Surf & Skate. Luckily her shop didn’t suffer direct damage from the storm, but she felt compelled to help her local citizens.

So she sold her One Direction tickets on StubHub and donated that money to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. After that, she donated a portion of the profits from her store to the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to help them rebuild and help local residents in need.

This picture is of her making the donation to Ocean Grove. I am so so proud of you!

It was my love of the Jersey Shore that had me setting a book in Atlantic City – THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE. The book was already written when Hurricane Sandy hit and we did quick edits to add the storm to the story and I decided that I would share a portion of the royalties to the Hurricane Sandy fund. I had to help just like my daughter had to help.

If you can’t see the video below, you can click here to see it.

Those of you who read THE CALLING IS REBORN vampire romance series know that for the most part the series is set in New York. The only departure from that was KISSED BY A VAMPIRE which was set in South Beach and only because I knew that the right man for vampiress Stacia was in Miami, namely sexy DEA Agent Alex Garcia.

Why New York City? Well, I love the place and I have the ability to actually visit some of the locations and get that extra something that you can bring into the story. In FIGHT FOR LOVE, which will be out in mid-summer, you’ll get to see scenes set in Grand Central Terminal.

I’ve also been toying with the idea of setting a scene – maybe a big climactic one – in another of my fav places: Bryant Park.

I haven’t had a scene there yet, maybe because it is such a fav place. I walk through the park almost every morning and love seeing how it changes through the different seasons.

Spring was definitely in the park this week as they were prepping to put out all the spring flowers. I’m sharing those photos with you today!

I grew up on Long Island and there wasn’t a spring/summer/fall we didn’t spend time at the beach. Whether it was fishing at Captree or swimming at Jones Beach, there was always a connection to the beach.

Whenever I went I felt energized, maybe because I’m a Pisces and water is my natural environment.

It’s no wonder that when we moved to Jersey, I eventually came to fall in love with the Jersey Shore. It’s not just the ocean to which I connected. It was all the small towns with their very different personalities and the sense of community in each of the unique towns.

It’s why I chose the Jersey Shore for quite a number of my latest books, from SINS OF THE FLESH to my upcoming release, JUST ONE NIGHT in the ONE NIGHT ONLY Erotic Romance anthology.

In JUST ONE NIGHT, the heroine’s family is wealthy and owns a large mansion along the Jersey Shore. The hero literally is from the wrong side of the tracks. I’ve found that the socioeconomic line drawn by the North Jersey Coast Line as it works its way along the Shore is quite pronounced in some towns.

In JUST ONE NIGHT, the hero has overcome those differences by attending college on a ROTC scholarship, but now it’s time for him to serve as a Marine to pay back that opportunity. The hero, Jason Hart, has just one night to prove to the woman of his dreams, his best friend’s slightly older sister, Nicole de Silva, that anything is possible.

So today, I’m sharing with you some pictures from my little neck of the woods along the Jersey Shore. I hope you’ll enjoy the photos!