Anyone Up For A Vicarious Vacation? Let Christi Barth Be Your Cruise Director!

As a writer, I find that the creative side of my brain never turns off completely, even on vacation. Or should I say especially on vacation. Something about travel fires up my neurons into overdrive. I guess it’s the sense of newness and possibility about someplace unfamiliar. This creative spurt is actually what started my writing career. Years ago I was on vacation with my husband in Charleston, walking down a cobblestone street lined with magnolias and oozing history. All of a sudden it hit me what a great setting the city would be for a novel. At the time I was on a romantic suspense kick, so I decided to write one (as with most things, the idea was far simpler than the actualization).

Fast forward two completed books and a few years, and I started to think about setting a book on a cruise ship (chalk it up to watching The Love Boat during my formative years). A cruise ship hits so many romantic stereotypes. You’ve got brilliant starlight, a balmy breeze, the gentle lap of the waves…and a feeling of absolute freedom from your everyday life. The setting makes it so easy to throw caution to the wind, give in to lust, and fall in love.

Coincidentally, my husband and I went on a cruise when I was only a few chapters into my new manuscript. Yes, I spent time lazing on a deck chair reading and hiking through a rain forest, but I also thought about my story constantly. Every deck, every shore excursion, every peek over the railing was another visual I wanted to cram into the manuscript. While the cruise ship itself was spectacular, I also fell in love with every stop we made. The Caribbean is a treasure trove of beautiful spots.

In my books, setting is very important, and often acts as another character. My goal is to transport my readers, and drown them in sensations and experiences. I want you to finish a chapter, look up, and be genuinely surprised that you’re in your living room, instead of walking along the walled city of San Juan, or snorkeling in St. Maartens. I mean, look at these pictures - how on earth could I choose a single location for my story? Well, I couldn’t. Instead I added an island-hopping scavenger hunt to the story, to give me an excuse to share with readers every single island I visited. It turned the story in a completely different direction, not to mention making it much harder to write, but I had to do it.

So my latest book, Cruising Toward Love, is meant to be a vicarious vacation for everyone who reads it. Enjoy the brilliant sun without getting burned, and the endless buffets without gaining a pound. Pour yourself a piña colada and dive into this blurb to get you started:

When her sister is left at the altar, small town librarian Zoe Balis jumps at the chance to take the bride’s unused ticket for the honeymoon cruise. But she didn't count on sharing a cabin with the man who broke her heart ten years ago!

Army medic Nate Hyatt never told Zoe goodbye when he enlisted - or the real reason why he dumped her on prom night after a year as high school sweethearts. And he never stopped dreaming about the girl he left behind. Could this voyage be his chance to fix the worst mistake he ever made? After all, a Caribbean cruise should be romantic… if he can convince her to move past ten years of bitterness and hurt.

Once aboard the luxury liner, Zoe befriends a bored Internet mogul with more heart than tact. Nate vents his problems to a ship’s photographer battling PTSD. The four team up on an island hopping treasure hunt. The stakes grow higher with each of Zoe’s mysterious brushes with death. They race to discover why she's a target and who's behind it, while still competing in the treasure hunt. Zoe’s never gotten over her first love, and is tempted to let Nate back into her life. But she already lost him once. She’s not willing to risk loving a man whose career keeps him in a combat zone. Can Nate breach her defenses and suture her broken heart? Grab a deck chair and see if they survive the stormy relationship seas as they cruise toward love!

For more information, visit www.christibarth.com
 

Guaranteed Happiness...For At Least 285 Pages!

I used to be an actress in musical theatre and opera, much of which can feel far from relevant to everyday life. Casting a realistic eye upon an average production, a cynical soul might reduce it to a bunch of people who run around in tights and petticoats, bursting into song at the drop of a hat. Now I don't know about your city, but that sure never happens in Baltimore where I live! My first professional opera was Wagner's Die Meistersinger, so long at over 5 hours that they actually stop and give the audience a dinner break. And yet (yup, I really do have a point) that show sold out every single night. As a matter of fact, it probably fills the seats every time it is performed, whether in New York, Chicago, Milan or Berlin. Why? Because it offers an escape from everyday life for those five hours.

I love the 'mission statement' of this blog; where women can go to escape their everyday lives. Each time I stood on stage in a wonderfully floofy costume and sang, I knew that for those two hours, my performance offered an escape to the audience. Made them forget their troubles, eased their stress, and lifted their spirits. Now I (hopefully) provide the same service with my books. When a reader dives into any romance book (but preferably one of mine!), they pause their real life to immerse themselves into a different world. A world where happily ever after is guaranteed, a promise which is often not fulfilled in reality.

My latest romantic comedy Act Like We're In Love combines both my passions, in that it offers a backstage peek at love in a theatre. So dim the lights, settle into your seat, and let me give you the program notes:

When two people make beautiful music onstage, can their love survive once the curtain falls? Linnea Larson is willing to do anything to keep her family's Minneapolis dinner theatre from going under. Anything, that is, besides accepting a date from the Hollywood hunk her father hired to inject a dose of star power into their production of Guys & Dolls. It's a toss up whether his greatest claim to fame is playing a superhero on screen, or a super stud off screen. Neither fact convinces her he's got what it takes to share her stage. And thanks to a life long pact with her best friend, she never dates actors.

Luke Powell has fame, fortune and an endless string of women, but also a lingering dissatisfaction with his picture perfect life. Looking for a change, he escapes to his theatrical roots. What he finds are wary cast mates, a nervous best friend convinced the show will ruin Luke's career, and an adorable costar who stubbornly refuses to go out with him. Suddenly singing and dancing aren't the only challenges he'll tackle over the summer. Far from the spotlights of Hollywood, can he find happiness in the footlights of a tiny theatre?

Despite Luke dragging her into his daily papparazzi nightmare, Linnea can't deny her mounting attraction to his irresistable charm. And even if she's crazy enough to get involved, their fling has a guaranteed expiration date. He's leaving at the end of the run, and she's tied to her family's theatre. Why risk the inevitable heartbreak? Their job is to act like they're in love, but will they decide it's worth the leap to fall in love for real?

If this blurb intrigues you, be sure to visit www.christibarth.com for more information. Act Like We're In Love releases on October 7 - and it just might be your next Desert Island Keeper!