Guest Author: Elizabeth Devlin and Home Waters

When Elizabeth Devlin announced on one of my author support groups that she was looking for a place to promote her new mildly spicy release, I offered to host her. Then, when I learned that her new romance highlighted environmental issues, I was intrigued. I asked her to come to our blog and tell us about Home Waters and the story-behind-the-story. Please welcome Elizabeth!

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Can you have fun and do some good simultaneously? I think so.

When I first got the idea for my romance novel HOME WATERS, I was looking out at Narragansett Bay and wondering “what if something threatened to ruin these beautiful waters?” So immediately I’m envisioning romance with an environmental twist.

In typical fashion (I’m known to my friends as the “Research Queen”), my next step was to investigate what would constitute a realistic threat. Since I’m not a scientist, however, at first that proved daunting – WAY too many possibilities! Fortunately, one of the premier oceanographic centers in the world is the URI/GSO (Univ. of Rhode Island/Graduate School of Oceanography) which is located not far from where I live. I reached out to Prof. Steven D’Hondt and he agreed to talk over lunch at an on-campus café frequented by the GSO faculty. That’s when I got really lucky. After a few minutes of Steve and I brainstorming possible threats, other oceanographers at surrounding tables began to chime in. By the end of an hour, at least ten oceanographers were tossing out ideas, fast and furious. Our biggest challenge was finding a threat with a potential (even if problematic) solution.

What the oceanographers and I settled on was this: What if invasive toxic algae (I named it Black Tide) threatened to decimate the entire bay and its surrounding shoreline?

While that question suggests a dark suspense novel—and HOME WATERS contains some elements of that—at heart it’s a family story. It’s about reclusive oceanographer Becket Fallon trying to stop the toxic algae threat while simultaneously dealing with an urgent family crisis. He needs help from non-profit expert Lainey Carmichael, but she comes at a price. She’ll help get the funding critical to stopping Black Tide, but only if he lets her and 3-year-old twins stay with him for the summer. The twin granddaughters he’s felt duty-bound to avoid.

Home Waters explores the conflicting demands of work to save the bay’s future and a family who needs Becket now. While the characters drive the action, the Narragansett Bay setting permeates every aspect of the story. Anyone who loves the ocean will identify with the feeling the characters get as they live and work on the water.

Instead of telling readers why they should care about the environment, the novel puts readers into the minds and hearts of two people as they wrestle with how to prevent invasive toxic algae from overwhelming the bay. The simultaneous family drama keeps us grounded.

BayWatch, a Save-the-Bay-style organization, plays a key role in the story, but telling exactly how that happens would be a plot spoiler. Suffice is to say that enlisting their help forces the main characters to face some difficult choices. The real-life Save the Bay receives 25% of all royalties from the book, so here’s a way to have fun and do some good at the same time.

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Blurb:
He has a deep hole in his heart …can his fight to protect the ocean fill it?

Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island: World-famous oceanographer Becket Fallon plunged himself into work after his son’s death. But just when he discovers toxic algae threatens the entire East Coast, his sharp tongue costs him his research funding. And as he struggles to find a solution, the three-year-old grandchildren he’s felt duty-bound to avoid show up on his doorstep… in the arms of their attractive step-aunt Lainey Carmichael.

When he refuses to take in the orphaned twins, Lainey makes him an irresistible offer: Let them stay for the summer, and she’ll secure fresh sponsors. Stunned when she succeeds, he loses himself in the environmental battle. He’s terrified he’ll only repeat past mistakes if he lets his new houseguests wriggle their way into his life and heart.

Can Becket save the ocean he loves … and the family he never felt he deserved?

You can purchase Home Waters at Amazon:        https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MHGWFCG

Find Elizabeth at

Author Website:         https://elizabethdevlin.com/

TV Interview:              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldrfiXL7wI4

Facebook Profile:        https://www.facebook.com/Elizabeth.Devlin.writer

Facebook Fan Page:    https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethDevlinAuthor/

Instagram:                   https://www.instagram.com/waterviewstories/

Twitter:                       https://twitter.com/Elizabe70474292

Goodreads:                 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55845483-home-waters

BookBub:                    https://www.bookbub.com/books/home-waters-by-elizabeth-devlin

Awesome Gang:          Interview

Email:                          Waterview@ElizabethDevlin.com