Come visit Dolphin Bay! - Kandy Shepherd

One thing I really love about being an author is creating settings for my books. The most fun are settings that spring from my imagination but are heavily influenced by real life places I have visited.

The beautiful south coast New South Wales, Australia, is the setting for The Summer They Never Forgot

 For my fictional small coastal town of Dolphin Bay, the setting of my February 04 release, The Summer They Never Forgot, I was influenced by the beautiful south coast of New South Wales, Australia, about four hours south of Sydney.

I wish I was there right now!

 I have spent many happy vacations there and plundered memories of quaint towns, pristine beaches and unspoiled bushland to create Dolphin Bay. One early review of the book says the setting “is described so beautifully, readers will almost feel the sand between their toes”.

The town of Penguin has penguins everywhere, my fictional Dolphin Bay has dolphins

 The people of my fictional Dolphin Bay celebrate the dolphins that come to frolic in their waters in images and representations of dolphins all over town, from decals to trash cans.

On a recent visit to Penguin the penguins were dressed for Christmas!

 Here, I was influenced by the delightful small, beachside town of Penguin in the southern Australian island state of Tasmania. There are penguins everywhere in Penguin! I personally love dolphins so did for my Dolphin Bay what the good folk of Penguin do for their town.

I loved the dolphin outdoor shower at the Blue Dolphin Inn

 When eighteen months ago I stayed at the wonderful Blue Dolphin Inn in Cambria, California, and saw how cleverly they used dolphins in their décor, I knew I was on the right track!

More beautiful  dolphins at the Blue Dolphin Inn

 Of course in The Summer They Never Forgot the dolphins aren’t what have stayed in my heroine Sandy Adam’s memories of Dolphin Bay—her thoughts center around handsome surfer Ben Morgan, the first love she’d never been able to forget. When Sandy and Ben are reunited after twelve years will they get a second chance at a forever love?

The Summer They Never Forgot, will be released on February 04, 2014 in the US, the UK and Australia. (Yes, I'm counting the days!)

Do you have a special vacation place that lingers in your memory?  Anything quirky about a place that you particularly like? Please leave a comment—I’d love to hear about it!

I have two signed copies of The Summer They Never Forgot to give away. Please include your email address in your comment if you want to be included in the draw.

"Will you please unpack the books and give me the box," my kitty Ivy seems to say.

 Kandy Shepherd writes fun, feel-good fiction.

Kandy’s contemporary women's fiction e-book, Reinventing Rose, is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and other e-book retailers. 

Her romances include the Amazon bestseller The Castaway Bride, Something About Joe, and the award-winners Love is a Four-Legged Word and Home Is Where the Bark Is.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com