My real-life connection to fictional Raven’s Cove began when my Auntie Honey, my mom’s sister, showed me photos from her visit to the tiny village called Shearwater on remote Denny Island. It’s situated in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia’s central coast and her son, my cousin Lorne, worked there for over twenty years.
There was something very nostalgic for me in Auntie Honey’s photos. My father and both grandfathers had been commercial salmon fishermen who had stopped there as they sailed north to fish. I immediately smelled the salty breeze and the evergreens and the specific earthy-damp that permeates the air from constant rain. I was hooked (pun intended). I had to set a book there.
My husband and I decided to visit. Getting there involved flying to nearby Bella Bella, taking a shuttle to the wharf, then climbing on a water taxi to cross the strait to Denny Island. After that, you rattled your luggage up the ramp, across the graveled frontage road, and into the beautiful, rustic lodge.
The village itself had everything you need, but only one of everything: a grocery store that doubles as liquor store and post office, a pub/restaurant, a hardware store, a laundromat and a gift shop that sold housewares. There was even a mill and an airstrip, but the dominant feature was the full-service marina, since there was nowhere else to get your boat repaired within a day’s sail.
It was perfect.
I had been noodling a Three Men and a Baby take-off, one with three half-brothers who are estranged and must collectively take custody of their infant half-sister. This fly-in location where the brothers must rely on each other while they rescue the resort was a great way to add pressure.
I called it Raven’s Cove and started working on their back stories, which included a complicated relationship with their profligate father and his recent making of yet another baby with yet another woman. Reid, the eldest, had a particularly sticky relationship with his father and swore to never go back to Raven’s Cove again. Good luck with that, Reid!
When it came to his heroine, I reached for another memory from my youth, when our neighbor hired a nanny from New Zealand. Back then, I didn’t know much about the country except that they called gumboots ‘wellies,’ (but I became intrigued enough that I’ve since visited NZ twice.)
I made Emma a Kiwi. She’s escaping her painful divorce and takes the first job she can get—nanny to a May-December couple in Raven’s Cove. She’s caring for their baby, Storm, when the couple’s small plane goes down.
Enter the three bears—Reid, Logan and Trystan. They’re willing to work together on repairing Raven’s Cove so it can be sold and provide Storm an inheritance, but they treat their baby sister like a hot potato. Emma loves Storm and wishes she could keep her, but how?
Practical-minded Reid sees the ideal solution in Marrying the Nanny, but Emma promised herself she would only marry for love next time. Is her love for Storm enough? Or could they turn a marriage of convenience into something more?
Book your trip to Raven’s Cove today with Marrying the Nanny. Then look for:
Book Two: Forgiving Her First Love, July 16, 2024
Book Three: Wanting a Family Man, Oct 1, 2024 (Coming to the Tule site soon!)
About the Author.
Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author Dani Collins thrives on giving readers emotional, compelling, heart-soaring romance with laughter and heat thrown in, just like real life. While she is best known for writing contemporary romance for Harlequin Presents and Tule Publishing, she also writes historical and erotic romance. When she’s not writing—just kidding, she’s always writing. Dani lives in Southern BC, Canada with her high school sweetheart husband.
Author links: Website | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | BookBub | Amazon | Goodreads | Linktr.ee
By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.