Happy Release Day and Guest Post by Elizabeth Seckman!

These past few weeks, I've been able to share several new book releases for friends of mine, and today, I'm especially excited to share with you one release in particular. Elizabeth Seckman is a dear friend and an incredibly talented romance author. Her latest release, Swept Away, has a special place in my heart because I was one of her beta readers for it, and I fell in love with the story right from the start. And do you want to know the coolest part? While I was beta reading her story, I was vacationing in the Outer Banks, which is where the story takes place! Pretty awesome, right?

Elizabeth is here today to share a wonderful guest post about some of the fabulous lighthouses in that area. Take it away, Elizabeth! :)

Isn't the cover gorgeous?!! I'm in love.

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Hi Kristin! Thanks for having me over.

Swept Away takes place on the tiny island of Ocracoke, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It’s a beautiful place with a rich history and breath-taking vistas. There are so many wonderful spots to visit on the island, but one place I always make sure to visit is the Ocracoke light.

I love lighthouses. They remind me of a time when aesthetics was as important as function. While serving a life-saving purpose, these towers were also picturesque additions to the landscape. Just imagine if today’s cell phone towers were built with such care!

I’ve always wanted to be a lighthouse explorer, since being a keeper is pretty much out of the question thanks to electric. In my travels, I’ve been able to see four of the five lighthouses on the Outer Banks.

At the top of the island at Corolla Village is the Currituck Lighthouse. Built in 1875, it’s the newest light on the island and was intentionally left unpainted to stand out from its southern peers.

A way south, below the city of Nags Head, is the Bodie Island Lighthouse. The light that stands there today is actually the third structure. The first was built by a guy who knew nothing about lighthouses and it was tipping over within a few years. The second light was destroyed by retreating Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War.

At Buxton, on Hatteras island, is the most famous of the OBX lights, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The Queen of the Diamond Shoals with her candy striped pattern is the tallest brick light on the American coastline, standing at 208 feet tall. Finished in 1875, this light stood sentinel along one of the most treacherous waterways until she had to be moved inland in 1999 due to beach erosion.

A short ferry ride from Hatteras to the island of Ocracoke is the Ocracoke Lighthouse.  This light only measures 65 feet tall. It was built on two acres of land, purchased for $50.00 during its construction in 1823. The entire set-up, from light to keeper station, only cost about $11,000 to build. 

There are other lights on the barrier islands that make up the Outer Banks, but I haven't made it to them yet. One day, I will. Maybe when life is slow, I may get bored, and I'll travel around and mark them all off my list. 

Book Synopsis:

He came looking for a ghost. Instead, he found a girl.

Tucker Boone is a war-hardened Marine on a ghost hunt. Fresh out of the corps, Tucker learns he has a missing half-sister, Maddy. The only clue to her whereabouts is a cryptic note…I’ve gone Mad, Mags. Tucker agrees to search for her and heads to Ocracoke, North Carolina where a ghost named Mad Mags is said to haunt the ancient graveyards dotting the island.

The note doesn’t bring him any closer to finding Maddy, but it does offer him a diversion to the doldrums of civilian life— his new island neighbor, Josie McCoy. Tucker is drawn to her quiet spirit. There’s something special about Josie…a connection he can’t quite explain.

By summer’s end, he’s mixed up in deception, murder, and the love of a lifetime. Logic tells him to head home and forget the truths he found on the island. But can he walk away? Josie offers him more than love; she offers him hope. When the clues pile up and it looks like she can never be the girl for him, he has to make a choice- play it safe and break her heart, or risk everything for a chance at being swept away.

About the Author:

Elizabeth is a multi-published author and family laundry wench. She is the mother of four boys, who are quickly all becoming men! Her life is filled with stinky size-twelve shoes and beard clippings in the sink. Is it any wonder she enjoys days spent writing women's fiction of stories of romance and happily ever after? 

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Congrats to Elizabeth! Have you ordered your copy of Swept Away yet?