The Razor's Edge

Well, why not I ask you?  Eve’s a pretty successful business woman and celebrity in her own right.  She’s looking for an escape from her life, she needs to go somewhere where she can relax and be free.  Anyplace in America is off limits – they will find her.  The major cities in Europe? She’s “been there, done that.”

In my draft query letter I describe it as such: “She’s traveled to Finland on a three month vacation – a place so remote, she is positive that no one will be able to find her; not even the paparazzi.”

And Eve’s description of “Why Finland?” can be answered as:

I sighed into his green-hazel eyes. “I own my own company.  I am quite successful.  I’m over worked, over stressed, and suddenly had a skin crawling itch to ‘go’.  I’ve traveled the world, but I’ve never been here, its unexplored territory.  It’s cold, and dark, and moody.  It fits how I feel at the moment.”

As for myself, I happen to love Finland.  I fell in love with the culture, the people, the food, the language, the music and most of all the architecture.  I even traveled to Finland after I completed this novel to make sure I had captured the right “feeling”.  In this excerpt, you see my view – how I saw Finland as I walked through the streets.

“I was fascinated by Helsinki; the buildings appeared to be out of an old time movie.  Some of the structures were heavily influenced with Art Deco accents, while others were obviously built during Russian rule. The seaside town was so quaint that it felt as if I stepped back in time, into a simpler era.  As I stared down a cobblestone road I could almost envision horse drawn carriages and Victorian era romance.”

The cobblestone path I was speaking of was somewhere past the Presidential Palace, I think it was Sofiankatu (or maybe the block before or after) I was heading toward Hotel Kämp and looking up toward the Senate Square. It gave me chills, this is where I wanted to be.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of it.  Instead I have a picture of this street which also  struck me.  I should write down the names of streets that I visit, looking at google maps this could be either Luotsikatu or Kronbergsgatan.  Speaking of streets, that’s the one thing I also enjoyed – trying to decipher the street names in both Finnish and Swedish while looking at a map.  I hate looking like a tourist.  (Like they couldn’t tell by my NY accent and my poor pronunciation of kiitos (thank you))

But I digress.  Why not Finland?  How many romances take place in Paris, London, Venice, New York City?  Certainly, if I fell in love with Finland, my readers would too.   It is unexplored romantic territory. Besides, who doesn’t love a sexy European accent?

I really could go on and on about Finland. Just thinking about it, makes me long to go again.  Next year, I think I’m going to take a few weeks off in the summer and visit again.  There are so many places I still need to see and so many cities I still need to visit. After all, there is a seaquel being worked on!

And just as a note, the building in the header of the blog is a picture I took in Tampere, Finland.  Not sure where I was or what it is of.  If someone knows, clue me in ~ kiitos!