Friday, January 25, 2013

Island Pleasures


By KT Grant
When I finished writing A Bid for Love, my first story in the 1Night Stand series, I planned on giving one of the secondary characters her own story. Carly, the main character of Island Pleasures, has a short interaction with Reece (one of the heroes in a Bid for Love). During that scene, Carly made such an impression, that she had to be the star of her own story. Carly Kimball is a reporter for a news tabloid magazine who wants the real scoop on the Castillo brothers and their association with the 1Night Stand online dating service. And since Jagger Castillo runs the Castillo Hotel and Resort on Grand Turk, it gave me the perfect opportunity to write Carly’s story on Grand Turk Island and showcase the beauty and wonder of the Caribbean.

I’ve been to the Caribbean many times thanks to a few cruises I’ve been on. I’ve visited the Turks and Caicos Islands before, and visiting such a place is much recommended if you ever end up cruising or want to go away for a few days for surf, sand and just to relax. Nothing says romance like an island paradise, and Grand Turk is the perfect destination for that.

I also took time to research Grand Turk and learned the history, people and various hotels and resorts there. Grand Turk is always a comfortable eighty degrees and there’s sunshine 350 days out of the 365 days of the year. It’s been said that Columbus discovered the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1492, but there has been many arguments that Ponce de Leon discovered the islands first, landing on the place that is now known as Cockburn Town.

Ah yes, Cockburn Town gave me a good laugh (blame my gutter mind) so much so that I had to make mention of it in Island Pleasures.
This is where Carly is enjoying a paddleboard lesson from Woody, the social events coordinator of the resort and a former college classmate of Carly’s:

“After we’re done here, I may take a trip into town later and visit, Burn…Town? Damn, I can’t think of the name.”
“Cockburn Town,” he announced in a deadpan voice.
“Cockburn? You’re teasing me!” She burst out laughing.
“Not at all. It’s our capital city. A few other islands have their own Cockburn as well. I guess the name is popular. Lots of cocks here in the Turks.” His lips twitched.
“And the biggest one is next to me.” She paddled toward shore and attempted to stand.

Just my way of giving a shot out to Cockburn Town, the most popular place to visit while on Grand Turk.

Have you been to Grand Turk? If so, did you visit Cockburn Town? What made your Grand Turk stay special?

For more about KT Grant, you can find her at these fine places:
Website: ktgrant.com
Blog: http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @katiebabs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kt.grant.9






3 comments:

  1. Congrats on your new release! I've never been there, but sounds like fun. I enjoyed the excerpt. :)

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  2. I've never been to the Caribbean. Sounds lovely though. Congrats on your release.

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