Wired Justice, Paradise Crime #6, is live today!
No matter how many times I do this, Launch Day is special and exciting. YAY! Another story is out in the world, and readers get to join me on the journey I’ve been on alone in my writing cave.
And what a wild ride it’s been!
Sophie is on a journey to heal herself and discover who is in the wake of a disastrous first marriage. The raw, rugged, primordial and stunning landscape of the Big Island of Hawaii is a metaphor and companion for Sophie’s quest. I love the Big Island and all it’s amazing topography and contrasts. Many of the hikes and activities she undertakes in the book, including the hike to see the lava flow into the sea that’s the opening scene, are ones I’ve done personally.
Sophie is drawn into the mystery of this story by Ginger, her yellow Labrador, who is the perfect sidekick in many ways: Ginger is friendly, impetuous, curious and instinct-driven, the opposite of Sophie’s cautious, thoughtful deliberation and physical bravery.
The story is fast-paced and shared between Sophie and Jake Dunn’s point of views. Jake is one of three contenders for Sophie’s heart, and he grows tremendously in this book. Readers get to see the heart behind the muscles of a character that’s plagued Sophie with a combination of irritation and attraction since the day he knocked loudly on her door and met her a full-body check-out and the opening line, “They didn’t tell me you were hot.”
The romance angle of the Paradise Crime Series is a major subplot. Sophie needs to figure out what kind of future she wants before she can choose a partner from the interesting choices she has. In this story, we really get to know Jake Dunn, why he is the way he is, and why he’s fallen so hard for Sophie.
Each man who loves Sophie (and there are three, yes, THREE) represents a different future path for her. Sophie is trying, through the events of the books, to discover which path is really right for her.
Aren’t we all trying to create a future we really want? Shouldn’t we all all spend some time really considering our hopes and dreams, and the current path we are on?
Many of us let our early lives dictate our life path. We react to the things that happen early on and set us on a course, and never pause to consider if that course is really congruent with our deepest longings.
If you are reading these books, and the Lei Crime Series too, you are getting a mini-course in the process of healing from a rough past and charting a positive future, through the vehicle of an entertaining read. Yep, I am a mental health therapist interested in growth and change, and that permeates my writing!
Ask yourself today: What do I really want?
You are never too old to change your life and reinvent yourself. This is a theme I explore over and over in my books, and it’s been true in my own life.
I wanted to be a writer making a living from my stories from the time I first learned to read at age four. But I spent a lot of years reacting to my early childhood, wanting a “normal” life, and in doing so, I set aside the passion and dream to write and built a life that seemed safer and met my need for conventional security.
At forty, with my children graduating from high school and having achieved all the milestones I thought would satisfy, I finally took a look at that flame of passion to tell my stories that had somehow survived all the years of college, childraising and full-time work.
I began writing and dreaming again, and holy smokes! It was like I’d tapped into the pent-up lava of the Big Island! Since 2006, I’ve written 35 books, and the 31st one is here today.
