I'm not sure about everyone else, but I know the reason I like to read and write love stories is for the romance. All those little moments that bring two characters together—the glances, the quippy dialogue, the thoughtful gestures that melt my heart. You know, the ones that make you sigh out loud.

You probably know by now Fly has some personal elements for me. I married a Marine fighter pilot who was living in San Diego and stationed at Miramar. I was incredibly lucky to have my own private consultant while I was writing.

The romance problem I had with the main character, Ben, was that he was a love 'em and leave ‘em type, so finding a way to make him romantic was a challenge. For that, I drew on some personal experience.

Some of my absolute favorite dates in San Diego with my then-fiance where in the Gaslamp district, at the Hotel del Coronado, and walking the beaches of Coronado. By sneaking some of those ideas in I was able to work romance into a storyline that started out as a very physical connection between two unlikely people. I can't give it all away, but there are ways that romance develops between these two that I think will surprise you, make you smile, and hopefully make you sigh out loud.

As I started writing Fly, I knew instantly what part of the country I wanted to portray in the story: San Diego. When I first met my husband I was living in College Station, TX and he was a fighter pilot at Miramar in San Diego, CA. On trips to visit him I was able to experience all of the fun and touristy parts of the city such as the San Diego Zoo, Mission Bay, Balboa Park, and my all-time favorite, the Hotel del Coronado. The city was gorgeous. Every view was filled with tropical flowers, the ocean, and terrain I never had back home. It was hard not to feel the romance the city offered. Eventually, we were engaged and I moved to San Diego. Living in the city gave me a new perspective on the place I had fallen in love with. While Fly isn't the story of our romance, it does hold some personal insight into the seaside town.

Fly was the perfect way to incorporate the single and wild life of a pilot with the beauty and fun of the city.

Bolt needed to live somewhere near a fighter pilot base. I thought of some of the East Coast military bases, but they didn't offer the nightlife and corporate world I needed for Skye. San Diego was the perfect blend of professional, military, and recreational outlets I needed to work into the story. Where else could they catch a professional baseball game, walk on the beach, and hit the hottest clubs all in the same week? I think Bolt and Skye could fall for each other no matter where they met, but having the story in San Diego added romance I couldn't capture anywhere else.