Saipan is a tropical island with clear blue waters, sandy beaches, tropical flowers, swaying palm trees, gentle breezes and warm and friendly Micronesian South Pacific natives - plus the added bonus of being a U.S. territory with American goods in the stores and with American money as the local currency. What more could a girl ask for?!

All of the Japanese people on the tour were oooohing and ahhhhing over all the duty free shops and souvenirs. I was in the local version of Wal-Mart, oooohing and ahhhhing over shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, Pepto Bismol, Tylenol and Motrin - and generally running wild through the aisles like a crazy woman!

I got up before dawn each day and sat out on my balcony by myself whilemy husband slept. As I watched the sun come up, peace flooded my soul.

That old church song, "Precious Memories", kept playing itself in my mind like Daddy used to sing it in church.

I sat out there and watched the colors tint the clouds and the ocean waters while the refrain of "Precious memories, unseen angels, how they ever flood my soul, in the stillness of the midnight, precious memories scenes unfold" played over and over in my head.

I was reborn. I found myself again. I knew that I was on the edge but I had not realized how close I had come to losing myself till that moment.

Emails from the Edge is out now.

Kristie Leigh Maguire presents the ultimate in ultra-sensual modern day romance with the release of DESERT TRIANGLE, the first novel in the trilogy - The Marcie Series. Don’t expect the typical romance story with this novel. There are no shrinking violets or shy maiden virgins who long to be taken against their will in DESERT TRIANGLE. Marcie is a savvy businesswoman who knows what she wants and is willing to go against the odds to get it.

Marcie and Steve have a long-time and mutually satisfying marriage. However when career changes force them to move from a metropolitan city in Texas to a small crossroads town in the Mojave Desert in Southern California, a surprise is in store for them that neither Marcie nor Steve could have ever anticipated in a million years. Marcie commits the unthinkable. She falls in love with her handsome new boss, Jim. How would Marcie handle being in love with both Steve and Jim? Would this be the end of Marcie’s marriage to Steve, the guy who had stood by her through thick and thin?

Read DESERT TRIANGLE and get swept away to another world. Come visit the desert where it is always hot, hot, hot! Live with Marcie, Steve and Jim as they explore the shades of difference between love, sex and friendship. You may never view love or the desert through the same eyes again!

My husband and I have lived in all over the United States and many foreign countries while following his career. While we were living in Japan, I found it very difficult to find books to read that were written in English. This situation was intolerable as I was an avid reader and have been known to resort to reading cereal boxes if nothing else was available. Have you ever tried to read a cereal box written in Japanese? It is not a pretty picture. In desperation I began writing my own books just to have something to read. I discovered a new passion in writing; thus my career as a romance novelist was born.

I am originally from the South and still remain Southern at heart. However, during one of our many moves, I also discovered that I loved the desert Southwest. My husband and I now reside in a small town in the high desert of Southern Nevada.

I first started writing when I was living in Japan in 1997; my husband works international and I go along with him for the ride. I was lonely and bored, couldn’t find anything to read that was written in English, couldn’t communicate with the Japanese natives because I didn’t know the language – in short, I was going crazy. To save my sanity, I began writing my own books to read and to have something to do to occupy my time. I discovered that I loved writing and thus my new career as a writer was born.

I love to read romance books and time travel books. I read the romance books because I am a romantic at heart. I read the time travel books because I find the subject fascinating.

I can’t really say that I have a favorite author. My tastes keep changing.

The best advice that I could give was something a friend of mine shared with me when I had completed my first book, Desert Triangle. I am my own worst critic and was full of self-doubts. Why would anyone want to read something that I had written? Who did I think I was anyway? My book was nothing like anything that I had read and I was very hesitant about it.

I let my friend read it to see what she thought of it. She agreed that it was not like anything that she had ever read before; however, she loved it! She told me that if I wrote to please myself, odds were that it would please the readers too.

That is the best advise that I can give any beginning writer. Write to please yourself. Don’t worry about the market for your book while you are in the midst of writing it.

This may sound egotistical but I would love to meet the two main male characters in my novel, Desert Triangle. Men like Steve and Jim don’t come along everyday!

Read more on Desert Triangle

Kristie's Author Page