Monday 30 March 2015

Return to paradise….

Early in the morning, on the last day of February, my husband Trav and I flew out of cold and icy Edinburgh heading back to our island paradise in the Caribbean Sea.

Utila is the smallest of the three Bay Islands situated just off the coast of Honduras, Central America. After spending three amazing months on the island last year, we were keen to escape from the Scottish winter and get back to tropical sunshine and the lovely friends we have on the island. Our plan this time is to stay for four months.


It’s a long haul journey from the UK to Utila as there is no direct route. Our flights this time were with Lufthansa and United Airlines, a much better experience than last year when we flew with American Airlines. I was particularly excited to fly into Newark International airport in New York. I’ve never been to this iconic city before and it was a thrill to see a close up aerial view of the Manhattan skyline and the Empire State building souring into the grey February skies. In the bay, the Statue of Liberty was clearly visible. As it was the end of NY fashion week, the airport was very busy and departing flights were being delayed due to the weather. It was even colder in NY than it had been in Scotland and heaps of snow lay all around the aircraft waiting at the gates. We hung around the airport, ate a burger (when in NY!) and had a couple of drinks and where shocked to be set back by the extortionate sum of $100! Seven hours later, we were glad to be able to board our flight to Houston Texas.

At George Bush Int Airport Houston Texas - headed for Roatan

Last year we flew from Glasgow to Miami then onto San Pedro Sula in Honduras, where we had an over night before catching two small planes to the island. This time we had an over night stop in Houston before flying on to Roatan early on the morning of the first day of March. Roatan is the larger of the Bay islands and we had planned a two night stop over here at a beach resort hotel. There are no such resorts on Utila, so it was a treat (I had a birthday just a few days away). After experiencing a Scottish winter, I had to pinch myself that I wasn't just dreaming of tropical sunshine and white sand beaches.

The Paradise Beach Hotel, Roatan. Tropical sunshine and white sand beaches...

Then on the third of March, refreshed and relaxed and with the sea calm and the sun shining down, we took a small boat from Roatan to Utila. The boat journey took around two hours and what a thrill it was to look out for and to spot the familiar shape of the island getting closer and closer.

We had arranged to rent a house in the Sand Bay area, very close to the dive centre and shops and bars and local amenities. Last year we stayed in a lovely but quite isolated little yellow painted house at The Point, which is a couple of miles out of town. It was a quieter spot but a bit of an inconvenience socially. So this time we are in a neighbourhood. Our house, which could be more accurately described as a shack, like all the others close around us, is a traditional Caribbean design. It is made of wood, elevated on stilts, and has an open balcony both at the front and the back. It has a tin roof which is watertight but very noisy when it rains and particularly so when a coconut falls onto it from one of the many towering palm trees outside - which often happens at night and wakes you up with a shock! The windows have wooden shutters and a mesh to stop the bugs flying in but there is no glass. This is to encourage a draft into the house. The downside is that you can hear everything that goes on around you by day and night – people shouting, children playing, babies screaming, dogs barking, cats howling, chickens and roosters calling, loud music blasting and motor bikes revving (there are no cars on the island and so motorbikes and scooters and quad bikes and tuk-tuk taxis the main ways to get about). Personally I’m a great fan of walking or cycling or taking a boat - the island is not that big and most of it is mangrove swamp! The upside of us living a little more inland is that, unlike last year when we were close to the beach, there are no sandflies around to torture us, which means that we can have the doors open and make full use of our balcony and outdoor space without being eaten alive. You win some and you lose some and compromise is king!

In the house, we have two bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower, an open plan sitting room and a fitted kitchen with a large fridge freezer and a gas cooker. It’s very nice. We have electric included in our rent and, although there’s no air conditioning, we have ceiling fans – which are a blessing when the heat and humidity is really high and they are whizzing around distributing the occasional waft of air coming through the mesh windows. It has taken us a few weeks to get used to living so close to other people and to cope with all the social noise – but that is entirely our issue not theirs due to us being used to living in a remote and almost silent part of the Scottish countryside for over 25 years. Now that we are getting used to it all - we love it. Okay, the place might look a little rustic and rough around the edges but that is part of its charm. It is the Caribbean as it should be and the people we live among here are always friendly, helpful and welcoming. I’m sure we are a bit of a novelty to them actually – the white skinned English speaking couple who live in the blue house under the trees - although Trav and I are working on the first two issues by getting our skins darkly tanned and practicing our Spanish!

Our casa - by night and by day - with a flowering banana tree just outside the front door...

Next time here on the blog I’ll be chatting about our first month spent on the island – about life in our Caribbean house and all the action happening down at the dive centre where Trav is working as an instructor. The local night life. Parties on the dock – including my fabulous birthday party - with photos! Weekend picnics at the Cays – tiny tropical islands just off Utila. And I’ll be charting progress on my own personal venture this time around on the island - which is to learn and practice Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in order to remedy my poor aching writer’s shoulders, the repetitive keyboard strain in my wrists and fingers and strengthen my stiff and weak lower back – all caused by a long winter spent sitting down at the laptop.

Yoga Utila

Come back soon and please do feel free to leave a comment. I promise to reply!

Love, Janice xx

Friday 27 March 2015

Castaway in the Caribbean - 99p/$1.48 this weekend only!

Thank you to everyone who has bought and downloaded a copy of Castaway in the Caribbean in the past 24 hrs and to those who have messaged and shared my launch day posts!

Castaway is currently sitting at #3 in the Amazon Bestseller Charts for Travel Adventure Fiction - and I'm thrilled. To celebrate this chart success and to hope for a #2 or even a #1 position - the book will remain at the launch price of 99p or $1.48 for this weekend only - so if you fancy a Caribbean adventure of your own - download soon and please tell your friends!

Love, Janice xx






Thursday 26 March 2015

It's Sail Away Day for Castaway in the Caribbean...!

I'm excited to announce my new novel is now available worldwide on Amazon for Kindle!

Castaway in the Caribbean


Today is Launch Day - or as I prefer to call it - Sail Away Day!

The first book blogger review is in - you can read it at The Book Maven Book Blog

Loveahappyending.com has a launch feature page here

The Author's Cafe has a special launch feature here


Links:

Browse Castaway in the Caribbean on Amazon UK

Browse Castaway in the Caribbean on Amazon Dotcom




Castaway in the Caribbean

Vacationing on the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua, Janey Sinclair is persuaded by her magazine editor boss to do a quick island hop in order to supervise an impromptu photo-shoot for the front cover. With no flights immediately available, Janey is directed to the harbour.
Captain Travis Mathews hates tourists, although he’s not above making a bit of money off a prissy and sharp tongued young British girl when she’s desperate to get to the neighbouring island of Tortola.
After striking a deal, they set off together in Travis’s weather-beaten old boat. When the vessel comes to a sudden full stop in the sea, the mismatched pair end up as castaways on an uninhabited island.
In this fast moving romantic adventure about a vacation that turns into a tropical nightmare there’s more fun than you’ll find in any travel brochure.




A message from Janice:

I was incredibly fortunate to spend most of last summer in the Caribbean, writing and researching my latest novel Castaway in the Caribbean. I found it challenging only in the respect of being continually distracted from the manuscript by the tropical sunshine, the white sand beaches, the warm aquamarine sea, rum cocktails, and the fabulous social scene on offer. Many of these distractions are well documented on my website, blog and Facebook page, if you are interested in reading the details and seeing the photos!
For the purposes of proper research for Castaway in the Caribbean, I travelled to and explored many Caribbean islands and, despite my tendency for sea sickness, I also spent a lot of time in boats. I even got to sail around Tortola, the larger of the British Virgin Islands, in a restored schooner that had been used in the filming of the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
The Virgin Islands inspired me with the modern day setting for this romantic adventure novel because, of this chain of around ninety small islands, islets, cays and rocks in the Caribbean Sea, many are uninhabited.
I eventually settled down to write this romantic adventure story on the Caribbean island of Utila, the smaller of the Bay Islands, just off the coast of Honduras. Likened to the Key West of long ago, Utila is a quaint, unspoilt and laid-back little island. Sitting on the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere, it is also a paradise for scuba diving, which is exactly what my husband was doing every day while I was busy writing this story. Research is a valuable tool for a writer, so I do hope all the fun and adventure I had in the Caribbean has found its way into the pages of Castaway in the Caribbean.

Janice xx

Tuesday 10 March 2015

NEWS: Castaway in the Caribbean available for pre-order!

I'm really excited to announce that my new novel is now up on Amazon for Pre-Order! 

Castaway in the Caribbean

At a special pre-order price of 99p or $1.48
Launch day is 26th March 2015

Links:
Browse Castaway in the Caribbean on Amazon UK
Browse Castaway in the Caribbean on Amazon Dotcom

Other Amazon sites are available


Castaway in the Caribbean

Vacationing on the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua, Janey Sinclair is persuaded by her magazine editor boss to do a quick island hop in order to supervise an impromptu photo-shoot for the front cover. With no flights immediately available, Janey is directed to the harbour.
Captain Travis Mathews hates tourists, although he’s not above making a bit of money off a prissy and sharp tongued young British girl when she’s desperate to get to the neighbouring island of Tortola.
After striking a deal, they set off together in Travis’s weather-beaten old boat. When the vessel comes to a sudden full stop in the sea, the mismatched pair end up as castaways on an uninhabited island.
In this fast moving romantic adventure about a vacation that turns into a tropical nightmare there’s more fun than you’ll find in any travel brochure.




A message from Janice:

I was incredibly fortunate to spend most of last summer in the Caribbean, writing and researching my latest novel Castaway in the Caribbean. I found it challenging only in the respect of being continually distracted from the manuscript by the tropical sunshine, the white sand beaches, the warm aquamarine sea, rum cocktails, and the fabulous social scene on offer. Many of these distractions are well documented on my website, blog and Facebook page, if you are interested in reading the details and seeing the photos!
For the purposes of proper research for Castaway in the Caribbean, I travelled to and explored many Caribbean islands and, despite my tendency for sea sickness, I also spent a lot of time in boats. I even got to sail around Tortola, the larger of the British Virgin Islands, in a restored schooner that had been used in the filming of the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
The Virgin Islands inspired me with the modern day setting for this romantic adventure novel because, of this chain of around ninety small islands, islets, cays and rocks in the Caribbean Sea, many are uninhabited.
I eventually settled down to write this romantic adventure story on the Caribbean island of Utila, the smaller of the Bay Islands, just off the coast of Honduras. Likened to the Key West of long ago, Utila is a quaint, unspoilt and laid-back little island. Sitting on the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere, it is also a paradise for scuba diving, which is exactly what my husband was doing every day while I was busy writing this story.
Research is a valuable tool for a writer, so I do hope all the fun and adventure I had in the Caribbean has found its way into the pages of Castaway in the Caribbean.



The Virgin Islands inspired me with the modern day setting for this romantic adventure novel
  
I even got to sail around Tortola, the larger of the British Virgin Islands, in a restored schooner that had been used in the filming of the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Do you recognise the above rock formation from the opening scene in the movie?

Researching Tortola – The British Virgin Islands


Janice Horton writes contemporary romantic fiction with a dash of humour and a sense of adventure. Look out for Janice’s new release for 2015 Castaway in the Caribbean and her Amazon Kindle bestselling books Bagpipes and Bullshot and Reaching for the Stars and her fun Voodoo Romance series of novellas. Her nonfiction guide to online promotion How To Party Online is recommended reading by publishers. Janice is a senior editor at the award-winning Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine (LLm)

No Kindle? No problem. Amazon provides a free to download Kindle App for all devices.



Pre-order today at the special price of just 99p or $1.48 and read on launch day when the ebook of Castaway in the Caribbean will automatically download to your device.