Lisa ~
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Haley knew that carrying her twin sister's baby would be a sacrifice.
She just didn't know how great.
Overachieving attorney Haley Olson has always done the responsible thing. So when her twin sister Micah needs a surrogate mother, Haley willingly volunteers. Like most feats the capable workaholic attempts, her pregnancy goes perfectly… until the results of prenatal testing threaten to tear Micah's marriage apart.
Pregnant, overworked, and driven to the end of her rope by the neediness of the sister and widowed mother who depend on her, Haley seeks refuge with a week's vacation on the Alaskan coast. As she soaks up the serenity of the unexpectedly vast and beautiful wilderness, Haley finds something else she doesn't expect -- deep feelings for the wildlife-loving boat captain who reminds her how to laugh.
With her unborn niece or nephew on the way and thousands of miles of ocean between their lives and careers, Haley and Ben settle for a friendship. But back home in California, the emptiness in her heart refuses to heal, and when her pregnancy takes a frightening turn Haley must examine what really matters -- and rediscover the childhood dream she never realized she had lost.
VACATION DREAMING WITH PACIFIC HORIZONS by Edie Claire
Have you ever gone to new place, a new area of the country, and suddenly felt like you were home? Have you ever fallen so deeply in love with a vacation spot that no matter how much dirty laundry you had piling up in your suitcase, when it was time to leave you felt like kicking and screaming? Well, that happened to me in Hawaii. And Alaska. And pretty much anywhere I’ve ever been on the Pacific Coast where the beaches were wild and untamed, the breeze was brisk, and the landscape was awash in soothing blues and greens. Despite the kicking and screaming, I did always have to leave, at least physically. But being a novelist has its perks. And writing books set in the places I want to be, letting my imagination live there for months at a time, is one of the best perks ever!
The idea for this series was born a few summers ago as I rode on a whale-watching boat through the frigid waters of Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska on a relatively warm, sunny day in August. We had just been treated to an amazing show of bald eagles, Steller sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, puffins, orcas, and several humpback whales, and someone asked the naturalist on board if he lived in Alaska year round. “Oh, no,” he answered. “I spend my winters on Maui. I follow the whales.”
Um… friggin’ YEAH! What he said! The whales have it right. I began to imagine such a life – summers in Alaska and winters in Hawaii, and the character of my whale-watching boat captain, Ben Parker, came alive. This video, which is made up almost entirely of my family’s own footage that we shot on vacation with iPhones, was designed to “capture the mood” of the series, particularly the first book, Alaskan Dawn. Each book has its own central characters and can stand alone, but we also get to revisit old friends as the actors move between the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska, with the drama of their lives unfolding against an ever-changing backdrop of natural splendor.
In terms of genre, the Pacific Horizons series is what I call “Romantic Women’s Fiction,” where falling in love is only a part of the heroine’s story. In Alaskan Dawn, we meet a woman struggling with unexpected challenges after she agrees to serve as a surrogate for her twin sister’s baby. In Leaving Lana’i, a woman who was taken away from that tiny island abruptly as a child finally makes her way back – for better or worse. And in Maui Winds, a biracial adoptee from a Soviet orphanage arrives on Maui for a marine biology internship and uncovers a biological link to the islands. All of these women face complex journeys that testify to the healing power of love.
I’m pretty sure the next book will take place back up in Alaska. It’s hot at my desk right now, so the thought of those snow-capped mountains really appeals. (I’d love to write a story set in Australia or New Zealand someday, but that will have to wait until my youngest is in college.) The beauty of the series is… I really don’t know where my characters will turn up in the future. I’ll just close my eyes here in my landlocked middle-American state, imagine a humpback whale silently gliding through the deep blue water… and see where my imagination takes me. I hope you’ll come along for the ride!
Have you ever gone to new place, a new area of the country, and suddenly felt like you were home? Have you ever fallen so deeply in love with a vacation spot that no matter how much dirty laundry you had piling up in your suitcase, when it was time to leave you felt like kicking and screaming? Well, that happened to me in Hawaii. And Alaska. And pretty much anywhere I’ve ever been on the Pacific Coast where the beaches were wild and untamed, the breeze was brisk, and the landscape was awash in soothing blues and greens. Despite the kicking and screaming, I did always have to leave, at least physically. But being a novelist has its perks. And writing books set in the places I want to be, letting my imagination live there for months at a time, is one of the best perks ever!
The idea for this series was born a few summers ago as I rode on a whale-watching boat through the frigid waters of Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska on a relatively warm, sunny day in August. We had just been treated to an amazing show of bald eagles, Steller sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, puffins, orcas, and several humpback whales, and someone asked the naturalist on board if he lived in Alaska year round. “Oh, no,” he answered. “I spend my winters on Maui. I follow the whales.”
Um… friggin’ YEAH! What he said! The whales have it right. I began to imagine such a life – summers in Alaska and winters in Hawaii, and the character of my whale-watching boat captain, Ben Parker, came alive. This video, which is made up almost entirely of my family’s own footage that we shot on vacation with iPhones, was designed to “capture the mood” of the series, particularly the first book, Alaskan Dawn. Each book has its own central characters and can stand alone, but we also get to revisit old friends as the actors move between the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska, with the drama of their lives unfolding against an ever-changing backdrop of natural splendor.
In terms of genre, the Pacific Horizons series is what I call “Romantic Women’s Fiction,” where falling in love is only a part of the heroine’s story. In Alaskan Dawn, we meet a woman struggling with unexpected challenges after she agrees to serve as a surrogate for her twin sister’s baby. In Leaving Lana’i, a woman who was taken away from that tiny island abruptly as a child finally makes her way back – for better or worse. And in Maui Winds, a biracial adoptee from a Soviet orphanage arrives on Maui for a marine biology internship and uncovers a biological link to the islands. All of these women face complex journeys that testify to the healing power of love.
I’m pretty sure the next book will take place back up in Alaska. It’s hot at my desk right now, so the thought of those snow-capped mountains really appeals. (I’d love to write a story set in Australia or New Zealand someday, but that will have to wait until my youngest is in college.) The beauty of the series is… I really don’t know where my characters will turn up in the future. I’ll just close my eyes here in my landlocked middle-American state, imagine a humpback whale silently gliding through the deep blue water… and see where my imagination takes me. I hope you’ll come along for the ride!
I have lived in various states in the South and Midwest and have worked at more jobs (paid and unpaid) than I can count, including veterinarian, childbirth educator, medical/technical writer, corporate communications writer, freelance copyeditor, camp counselor, CASA (court-appointed special advocate for abused/neglected children), church administrative council leader, community theater diva, birthparent mentor, hospital volunteer, mother of three, wife, laundress, housekeeper (although I stink at that one), pet collector, coordinator of child sponsorship for a Christian mission in Kenya, choir member (I was pretty marginal at that, too), and last but not least--I once spent an entire summer cleaning toilets at a ranch in New Mexico. I am also pretty much obsessed with professional surfing (See at left. This is bliss. Really.)When I'm not doing the above, I write novels and plays. And I really hope that you enjoy them!
