In less than six months now, I’ll be headed for my own coastal adventure aboard Prelude, our

38 foot catamaran sailboat as my husband and I sail to the Bahamas and spend the next few years as full-time cruisers. Perfect timing too, since my brand new series, Coastal Carolina, debuts September 17, 2019, just a few months before we leave.

I’ve always loved the water, but I’d never considered life aboard a sailboat (except maybe watching the end of “Romancing the Stone”) until my husband suggested it about ten years ago. We’ve been planning ever since, downsizing and saving every penny to make our dreams a reality.

During our summer trips aboard our boat, we’ve had the pleasure of exploring the North Carolina coast. From Elizabeth City south to Wilmington and beyond, we’ve gotten to know the waters well, especially the Cape Fear River, which empties into the ocean near Bald Head Island and Cape Fear itself. I’ve set at least one book there, Take Two, but I hadn’t explored what it might be like to live and work in the area until I started work last year on the Coastal Carolina stories.

Last weekend I visited my parents in New York City, and the flight home gave me some amazing views of the city and the enormous Port of New York, through which many of the goods sold on the East Coast come through. It’s a little hard to see from 10,000 feet, but each of those tiny spots you can see in the middle of New York Harbor are actually mammoth container ships! The first Coastal Carolina series book features a character whose job it is to meet those enormous ships out in the ocean in a small chase-boat, climb up a rope ladder, and pilot the huge boat into the harbor.

While the Port of Wilmington isn’t quite as busy as the one in my bird’s eye photo, it’s still pretty impressive to see those enormous ships sail past our boat and to realize that you could probably fit a hundred boats the size of Prelude inside a single container ship!

The Carolina coast is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been, and I’ve traveled a great deal. But every year, hurricanes threaten that part of the country, and sometimes they make landfall at the coast. Last year, Hurricane Florence devastated Wilmington and surrounding communities. Prelude survived Florence with minor damage, but many homes and boats were not as fortunate. Which got me thinking about what it might be like to live and work in the area and live through a storm like that.

The First Step is the story of Justin Vance, who puts his life on the line every day to pilot cargo ships into the Port of

Wilmington, and Reed Barfield, a reporter sent to the area to write a story about chemicals dumped into the Cape Fear River. It’s a romance between working men, trying to do their jobs under difficult conditions, braving a hurricane and doing their best to figure out how to work together to survive and help others do the same.

I can’t wait to share this new series and this part of the country with you! I hope my love of the area and of the people who live there shines through this book. – Shira