I recently sailed on the inaugural Love Lit Cruise, aboard Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady, sailing on a five-day cruise from the port of Miami, FL with stops at Grand Turk, and Bimini.
From Feb 23 to Feb 28th, 2025 I joined nine other authors, spending five days in more intimate settings getting to know readers, influencers, members of the Love Lit Book Club, organizer Erin Burgess, and her team.
It was one of the best reader/author events I have ever attended and I also highly recommend it as a five-star ADA book event experience.
I sailed with my husband and on the last day, we spent the evening just the two of us, celebrating his birthday and our 44th wedding anniversary, with dinner for two and a show. We fit a lot into five days!
Travel is one thing I love, and like Erin, I used to work as a travel agent, stepping away in 2007 right before my first book came out. This was our fourteenth cruise and will certainly not be our last. Sailing whether on a sailboat or an ocean liner is something I love to do. I’ve also written about it!
Aboard the Wishing Star was the second novel I wrote and this story was originally published in 2012 during the days of more formal, elegant cruises which you will find glimpses of in the novel. Virgin Voyages are a more modern, less formal way of cruising. Both have their pluses.
Cruising by its very nature is romantic. The popular American television show The Love Boat aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986 and was watched around the world. The show was based on a 1976 made-for-TV movie based on the nonfiction book The Love Boats by Jeraldine Saunders, who was a cruise director. The sitcom was usually set aboard the Pacific Princess, a Princess Cruises cruise liner.
It might seem unlikely aboard a ship filled with hundreds, even thousands of people, to find together time for two. But it’s possible to make that time. A table for two at dinner, lounge chairs side by side by the pool, dancing together in the evening followed by a walk around the outer deck, private cabins with balconies. For couples spending a honeymoon or anniversary onboard a cruise, magical moments can happen. So it is also a great setting for a romance novel.
My work as a travel agent gave me the chance to sail on many different cruise lines. Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Costa, Celebrity, Holland America, and Norwegian. Now we add Virgin Voyages to that list.
I love being at sea, so it didn’t surprise any of my friends when I set a book Aboard the Wishing Star.
Currently, I am writing a new story set on a cruise ship inspired by our time on the Love Lit Cruise! I even wrote the first page onboard in the middle of my busy schedule. And that, while sailing on my fourteenth cruise, is a first. I’m more excited than I can say about this! I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about it this year.
The first scene I got down on paper is set on the island of Grand Turk which is where the story began in my imagination. The heroine is in danger and it’s the first time the hero sees her. You will find this occurs in many of my books as it’s how the heroine often first appears to me. The hero is a SEAL, and this will be the fourth book in my Green Brotherhood SEAL Team XII series. Currently untitled as it is that new!
I’ll let you know when I have a title and a new cover to share. In the meantime, you might want to check out the first three books in my SEAL series or read Aboard the Wishing Star.
For more about the Love Lit Cruise visit: https://www.lovelitcruise.com/
For more of my travel writing, I have a travel blog here: https://beautifuldaytraveler.wordpress.com/
As well as a YouTube Channel where I have some videos I’ve taken while cruising on different ships: https://www.youtube.com/@DebraParmleyBeautifulDay
I also write a monthly article Tales From the Trailer for Fresh Fiction: https://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=14453 is the first article. Here is the second: https://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=14557
You can find Aboard the Wishing Star here on my website under books.
