I loved writing about Pomegranate Key, a fictional island off the coast of Florida. A Northerner again now, I lived for five years within a mile of the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. Everything about the environment felt new and exotic. Instead of sparrows,  robins, and crows, we watched ibises, seagulls, and egrets pass  overhead. Panthers were occasionally sighted at the golf course where my husband  worked, and alligator removal from the ponds were a periodic necessity. When we took our children camping, the nuisance animal wasn’t the loveable, cuddly raccoon but the spiny, blind armadillo bumping into our feet, attracted by the light of the fire. Fire ants were a serious hazard–in our first month, a stranger pointed out with alarm the pile I’d stepped into. Seeing me shrug, she observed, “You’re not from  around here, are you?” a moment before a stinging army of tiny insects had me hopping crazily around the parking lot–and snakes, camouflaged by Spanish moss high above, sometimes dropped onto the shoulders of unsuspecting victims mowing our lawn beneath the huge oak trees.

I also loved writing the character of Lee Cooper. A  departure from the virtuous and well-intentioned Sophia of A Leap of Faith, Lee is impulsive, creative, generous, defensive, and hot-tempered. And the man who crosses her path, who seems like nothing more than a playboy, is equally complicated beneath the surface.

Here’s the official blurb from the book jacket:

Ever the black sheep of her adoptive family, Lee Cooper has finally buckled down to a responsible job as a social worker in Southwest Florida. Defending her client against charges of child abuse awakens buried memories of her own abandonment in a Korean orphanage. Can she remain objective for the sake of a child?

Bricker Kilbourn, the court-appointed guardian, doubts Lee’s judgments–and his opinion might determine the little boy’s fate. He’s got his own family issues and haunting secrets to keep. Falling for a woman is not part of his plan.

He’s running from his past. She’s searching for answers. Will their resolution to protect a child bind them together or wrench them apart?

Look for an announcement soon for a release date for Turning the Tides from The Wild Rose Press!