Wednesday, February 26, 2014

All SEAL Romances Heating Up Winter

So excited for my new release, Cruisin' For A SEAL, which comes out this Saturday, March 1st. The book was written partially on a cruise my husband and I took between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, beginning in Italy and winding up with four glorious days in Brazil. Because it was a repositioning cruise, most the time was at sea, although we did visit Casablanca, Marrakesh, The Canary Islands, Cape Verde and several ports in Brazil.

I became interested a year ago in the "what if" scenario of a cruise ship being taken over by terrorists to extort cash or power over an American-owned ship. Although my story tells of American passengers being mistreated, on the cruise my husband and I took, we were the only Americans on board. Most the passengers and all the crew were either Brazilian, Italian or German. In fact, very little English was spoken during our month-long vacation.

Here's a little treat, a sample narration from my very talented narrator, J.D. Hart, who doesn't just read the story, but acts it for your listening pleasure. He becomes one of the characters, in a way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVeT8IbV6ZU&list=UUzNxtQuHsd8Lq0YtQeAGcjw&feature=share&index=3

It actually was rather nice to learn all sorts of cultural things at every meal, on every tour.

As I did my research, I discovered that it isn't a matter of if but a matter of when there will be a terrorist takeover of a large ship like in my story. There have been attempted takeovers in the Greek Islands and around Cypress and Turkey. In those cases, most the passengers at risk were Israeli.

In my story, the head security officer is Israeli, trained in the Israeli Special Forces. One of the Jr. Officers is a former Italian frogman, and named after a famous early frogman from WWII era, Teseo Tesci from Elba. Some of the equipment he invented, particularly the early rebreathers, were crude versions of equipment our current Navy SEALs use to this day. He became known as the human torpedo. Due to the technology he invented, he could swim under water virtually undetected. From what I understand, the Allies had tried for years to get their hands on this and only could do so after his death.


I also wrote in a Ukrainian officer with his counterpart, the Chief Engineer, who were part of the terrorist cell, and made strange bedfellows with others in the group, namely the Moroccans. Maksym is a very hunky, tall, handsome officer with a Czech girlfriend. The terrorists are thus an international group, with sometimes

conflicting reasons for wanting to ransom the ship and put the passengers in harm's way. This becomes part of the conflict.

All this is with the background of the ten Navy SEALs who are taking their wives on an excursion, a holiday, just precious weeks before their next deployment. Of course, it turned out to be a working vacation in more ways than one. One of the SEAL wives is ill with an early pregnancy.

I traced the routes we actually went on, through the souk at Marrakesh, sipping coffe at an open-air cafe that had previously, the year before, been blown up by an Al Quaeda-styled group. It was odd seeing Sharon Stone wandering the shopping areas and rug merchants, that an international film festival was going on, where a year before it had been chaos. And might be again some day, perhaps soon. Who knows? I could feel all the underlying tension in the crowds as we "mingled" with this unfamiliar culture.

On the ship, I spent time crawling up and down stairways, learning about the series of staff elevators that snaked everywhere away from passenger's eyes, and the lifeboats on board, where some of the love scenes take place.

I felt stories lurking behind every marble or mosaic column, every cobblestoned street. In these ancient lands, I felt the presence of stories carved out in the temple walls and shopping stalls outside. It was very inspiring, and the words flowed easily.

As with all my stories, I try to let the reader understand a little bit about the culture of the SEAL Brotherhood, which is really all I care about as a reader, personally. So I hope I've given readers a little slice of life into the "what if" scenario, because, even if it does happen some day, we are never going to know about it as up close and personal as readers will in my novels. I was delighted to discover this morning Amazon has selected several of these books as free reads with the purchase of the audio versions.

Part of the wonderful things about being a Military Romance writer is the community we have together, a sort of Writers' Brotherhood, if I can borrow a little something from the SEALs. I have teamed up with writers Marliss Melton, Stephanie Tyler, Teresa Reasor, Gennita Low, Elle James, J.M. Madden, and Delilah Devlin, some who have been writing about SEALs for more than two decades.

We created an anthology of ALL-SEAL stories, novellas, and all new material for the most part. Some of these stories will be full length books later on in the year. My contribution is SEAL My Destiny. I have never before worked with such a talented and cooperative group of women. It has truly been an honor. Right now, our anthology, SEALed With A Kiss, is only $.99, which is a bargain any way you slice it. But it's first class material from some of the best military romance writers on the planet. Won't you give it a try as well?


I'm feeling generous, as I have been doing lately. I'll give two people an audio book from one of my four SEAL Brotherhood series, to someone at random, if you leave a comment. We'll announce Sunday night who the winner is on this post. Here's the question: what do you love most about reading military romance?

Sharon Hamilton
Life is one fool thing after another.
Love is two fool things after each other.



13 comments:

  1. Nothing like doing research while on vacation, lol. Sounds like an awesome book, Sharon! Can't wait to read it! My fear of water and small spaces keeps me from going on a cruise so I settle for reading about them so this book is perfect!

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    1. LOL Jennifer, after reading how dangerous it could be, and that was after we got back, I'm not so sure I'll jump at it again either. Or at least from Africa to Brazil. But it was a wonderful way to spend my time writing!

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  2. Hi Sharon can't wait to read this one. I loved following your trip it was the bright spot in my day during my busy peak season at work

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    1. Thanks, Karen. I had a lot of people enjoy following along, in the middle of all the Christmas stuff that can get so zany. This year we didn't even get a tree up. Did I miss it? Not really...

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  3. I loved the pics and posts while you did the cruise cant wait to see what the SEALs are up to. Wish you all the best with it

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    1. Thanks, Julie. Yes, it was such a fun time. And I did an audio book as well. Chock full of wonderful sights - and sounds!!

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  4. I love the alphaness of the heroes the most and that the heroines give them a run foe their money

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    1. Yes, they do attract some pretty Alpha females, usually, don't they?

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  5. I lived vicariously thru the pics you posted on your cruise, that was an awesome trip. Loooove your SEAL books, especially listening to them. Can't wait for Saturday to get my hands on your new book :D

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm almost as excited for Saturday too. What a treat it was to post all those pictures, and weave the real-life story behind the fiction. So fun. Have to do it again. Maybe next time we can have an all-romance cruise with readers and writers together!

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  6. I love them because the way they are so Alpha and sexy.

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    1. You got that right, Christy! Alpha, Sexy, demanding, and so protective and caring. Thanks for stopping by today.

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  7. I love reading about Navy Seals because my whole family was in the Military. My Dad served in the Army for 42 years and would have stayed longer but the Military said "Pop's it is time for you to retire. My husband was in the Military. my three sons were in the Military and one was a PJ and served for 20 years. On my Dad's side of the family, there has been two brothers who have served in every was up to Viet Nam. I have read several books encluding "Lone Survivor" and all of Kaylea Cross's books. Loved them all and am looking forward to reading yours.

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