The sealed box Teal finds in the street contains more than just a mystery...
What if to be with the man of your dreams…you had to give up your life? On the verge of losing her job, side-lined journalist Teal is forced to travel to the South Pacific to profile a powerful businessman. But with her almost-but-not-quite fiancé Bear discouraging her every step of the way, she may not be able to save her career or her relationship.
When corporate criminals invade paradise, Teal teams up with a former boxer turned marine-biologist to investigate. As she discovers the true intentions behind their new canning operations, she must either accept the plum promotion that will save her career or—with Perry—defend the island with more than her life.
Something in the Water, An Ocean Romance is available on Amazon.
Review:
This is book two in the Ocean romance series. I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than the first, Something in the Air. The first was a good story but I felt it was rushed. This book goes into more of a story, touching a few different topics within the story. I loved learning more about Firefly Bob (I knew it! can't tell you what I knew though), the whales (I've always loved whales), and the Island.
The author did a great job with his characters, you either liked them or you don't. Dan Dragan is one of those characters that I didn't like at all in book two. Perry, what can I say about this man, he is an amazing catch. Teal is likeable right from the beginning, she has had a rough like and finally was starting to have things fall into place. Edward, ouch, I couldn't stand him, nothing nice to say about this man. Right from the beginning he got on my nerves with his better than thou attitude and his haw, haw's. I loved the couple at the resort, Frank and Nancy. Grandma Lizzie is also another amazing character. If you care a lot of about the ocean and the whales this is a great story about love, determination, doing right for the planet. I will admit to shedding a few tears near the end. There are a few sad times.
You could read this book as a stand alone but if you are like me, you will want to start the series at the beginning. There isn't a huge tie in with the first book but you will see how over the years Daniel Dragan has changed his attitude.
I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
Interview with Ben Starling:
I had a beautiful and brilliant Great Dane named Edington once. She learned every game in a flash, retrieved things I didn’t know I wanted and danced with me with her paws on my shoulders. I lost her many years ago, but I’ll never forget her. I’m sure she’s my guardian angel watching over me. I’ve had a few close calls and I credit my continued existence entirely to Edington.
What have you been working on recently? Can you tell us about your new release?
Something in the Water is fundamentally a love story—with a bit of adventure in the tropics thrown in too. Here’s the blurb: The sealed box Teal finds in the street contains more than just a mystery… What if to be with the man of your dreams…you had to give up your life? On the verge of losing her job, side-lined journalist Teal is forced to travel to the South Pacific to profile a powerful businessman. But with her almost-but-not-quite fiancé Bear discouraging her every step of the way, she may not be able to save her career or her relationship. When corporate criminals invade paradise, Teal teams up with a former boxer turned marine-biologist to investigate. As she discovers the true intentions behind their new canning operations, she must either accept the plum promotion that will save her career or—with Perry—defend the island with more than her life.
Do you ever take quirks or nuances from close friends or family when developing your characters?
Not consciously. But we are really the sum of everything we see around us. I’m pretty sure that all my characters are complex combinations of every person I’ve ever met in life. And once you have that many disparate ingredients in the recipe, a little magic happens, and the character takes on a life of her or his own.
How did you get started writing?
I’m a freelance editor, working on business plans, articles published in specialist magazines and some fiction. After so many years of working on other people’s stories, it felt like the right time to create an original one of my own. My upcoming novel, Something in the Water, was inspired by the loss of my partner at forty-five years of age to ovarian cancer in 2012, just thirteen weeks after her diagnosis. In the aftermath, an old friend challenged me to turn that grief into something positive.
Remembering a conversation with a charismatic Polynesian fisherman (I visited there once) about his people’s vision of death and the afterlife, I began to write. Through the written word, I hoped to explore and capture several extraordinary events that happened around the time of my girlfriend’s death. The novel and the series kind of took off from there…
Do you believe in Destiny?
We are given a hand of cards at birth and the free will to choose how to play them. However, sometimes the Universe delivers the perfect someone at just the right time. And that’s the luckiest moment in a life.
Do you have any other hobbies?
I draw to unwind. Magical realism in black and white is my favorite. Recently, I’ve been exploring marine themes too. I’m always promising myself to branch out and explore color. But I keep coming back to pen and ink. I’ve posted some on my site.
What can we look forward to next from you?
Something in the Water will be supported by a series of short stories that reveal the backstories of the major characters in this world.
The first in the series, Something in the Air, is available now free at my website and on Kobo (and also Amazon) and the second short story in the series, Something on the Fly, will be released in the Spring!
Something in the Water - available on Amazon
Something in the Air – Available for FREE at www.ben-starling.com and at Kobo & Amazon
Something on the Fly – coming soon!
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Excerpt from Something in the Water – Chapter 1 begins…
New York, September
He didn’t look like the hotel guests, the business people, or the tourists. He didn’t move like them either.
He brushed past me as I climbed off my Vespa, stilettos in hand, outside the entrance of the Waldorf Astoria. Had he smiled at the radiance of my scarlet ball gown? Or was he amused by my battered Converse sneakers?
As a valet approached to take my scooter and helmet, I spotted my boss, Malcolm, waving hello from the lobby. He was approaching the glass doors that separated us when I noticed a small wooden box on the ground. Two steps later, I had picked it up. Who could have dropped it?
No one was close by, so I turned. The only man who’d passed me was already a half block away, gliding beside the cars that waited for the lights to change at the end of the block. Was it his?
What I knew for sure was that now wasn’t the time to be tracking down the little box’s owner. I should hand it in to reception and concentrate on the evening ahead. For a few seconds, I relaxed as I studied the hotel’s confident, soaring opulence—a world unknown to me before my arrival from Nantucket four years ago. The smooth texture of the box, however, drew my thoughts back to it. Was there something valuable inside? What if it did belong to that man, and he never returned to collect it? I turned the box over—and caught my breath.
“How on earth…?”
Malcolm emerged in front of me. “Hello, darling, you look absolutely—are you okay?”
I thrust my sparkly evening shoes into his hands, and hitched up my shawl. I was about to give chase when a convertible Ferrari lurched to a stop beside me.
“Going my way, babe?” its driver shouted, over the thrum of the engine.
But my dress was redder, and I got the better start.
You can find the rest of Something in the Water, Chapter 1 at http://ben-starling.com/chapter-one/
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About the Author:
Ben Starling is passionate about marine conservation and boxing, both central themes in his upcoming novel. His interest in marine life has taken him across three continents over the past three decades. He is Oxford’s only ever Quintuple Blue (varsity champion five years running), was Captain of the university boxing team, and coached and boxed competitively until about five years ago. He is 6’3”and 185 lbs. Ben graduated from Oxford University with a Master of Arts and an M Phil. He was born in the USA but has lived in the UK since childhood.
Connect with Ben at www.ben-starling.com
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Genuine Jenn. All opinions are honest and my own.*~
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