Interview with Virginia Kantra on Dare Island, Selkies & Romance

Virginia Kantra writes the kind of stories we love around here: strong women, messy families, big feelings, and a deep sense of place. In this interview with Virginia Kantra, we talk about covers, research, and what a writing day really looks like. Plus, her Dare Island world and her Children of the Sea romantic fantasy series rooted in selkie lore. She’s quickly becoming one of our must read authors.

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In This Interview

• Five surprising facts about Virginia Kantra (including a truly legendary skit moment)
• Selkies, elementals, and what inspired Children of the Sea
• Why the Outer Banks setting mattered for Dare Island
• Cover art collaboration and behind-the-scenes publishing details
• How she works, what she reads, and what fuels her at the end of a deadline

Interview with Virginia Kantra

We are happy to have here with us today NY Times Best Selling Author Virginia Kantra. With many successful books and series behind her already, she’s releasing the first book in a new series, CAROLINA HOME. Lets give her a warm welcome to UTC!

Five Things You Might Not Know About Virginia

Who is Virginia Kantra? Tell us five things about you that may surprise us.

Well, you already know I love fairy tales. But you might be surprised to learn that my first stories were fairy tales I made up to bribe my younger cousins to go to bed.

I wrote my honors thesis on the role of passion after the fall in William Blake’s mythology.

I got my first job after college by getting the dean of students drunk at a Greek restaurant and dancing with her on the table.

At one of Suz Brockmann’s reader events, I was given the part of voluptuous Jane (from Suz’s Hot Target) in a skit. This was a surprise to me, since the other writer/actresses (Suz, Alyssa Day, and Cathy Mann) are all gorgeous and actually have chests. So during the sketch, I stuffed my bra with gym socks. This was a surprise to them, particularly the first time I turned around on stage and almost put someone’s eye out.

There, that’s two surprises in one.

On the Children of the Sea Series (Selkies + Elementals)

Your series Children of the Sea is an adult take on mermen. What can you tell us about it for readers who haven’t read it yet?

The Children of the Sea are based on Orkney folk tales about the selkie, shape-shifters who take the form of seals in the ocean and cast off their pelts—get naked—to come ashore as beautiful men and women who have sex with humans. The stories were created out of very human needs: the lonely sailor, the woman who loses her love to the sea, the farmer searching for a wife beyond the local girls he knows, the unmarried village girl who can’t or won’t name her baby’s father. Even in the original ballads, you can feel the poignant conflict between the characters’ longings and their day-to-day experience. I think that’s what grabbed me.

Well, that and the “beautiful naked men in the surf” bit.

In my series, the “elementals”—children of earth, air, sea, and fire—co-exist in uneasy peace with each other and humankind. That balance is shifting, so in addition to the romance, the stories involve the elementals’ struggle for power and even survival.

On Dare Island + Carolina Home

Congrats on the release of CAROLINA HOME! This is a bit different from what you’ve been writing lately. Where did you get the idea for this series?

When I pitched my new Dare Island series to my editor, I told her I just wanted to write a book without a demon in it. Of course, there was more to it than that. But these are tough times for people all over. These are stories about the ways we help each other through, neighbor to neighbor, families pulling together.

I’ve been in love with the North Carolina coast since my husband took me there on vacation years and years ago. His dad was stationed at Camp Lejeune, like Matt’s dad in Carolina Home.

Part of the appeal of the small-town island setting, I think, is our longing for a place to belong. For roots. For family. Dare Island is home to three generations of the Fletcher family. So I not only get to focus on the romances of Matt, Meg, and Luke (the three Fletcher siblings), I get to include the rest of the family, too, parents, kids, pets, the whole warm, messy crew.

Carolina Home is the story of Matt, the son who stayed, the sexy single dad, the man who’s put his own dreams on hold in support of his parents and his son. He’s no saint, but he’s done a good job so far of compartmentalizing his love life and his home life. Of course, all that changes when pretty young schoolteacher Allison Carter comes to the island and challenges his notions of what his life can be.

On Amherst’s Angels + Writing Across Series

I’ve asked you this before… Do you have plans to continue writing the Children of the Air series anytime soon?

Oh, thank you! I loved writing that story. I’ve always been a sucker for The Scarlet Pimpernel, for Regency Christmas stories…and for angels. I wish I was fast enough to work on two series at once, because I would love to write more Amherst’s Angels. Right now, though, I’m happily focused on Dare Island.

Covers, Research, and the Writing Life

You have beautiful covers! Do you have any input on what goes on your cover? Can you tell us who the artist is?

My editor and I always talk over ideas before she goes into cover conference. For Carolina Home, I also sent along photos my husband had taken of the Outer Banks. But I really rely on the team at Berkley to get it right: on my editor, on Rita Frangie, the cover designer, and on Tony Mauro, the artist (he did the stunning landscape for Carolina Home as well as the lovely fantasy art on the Children of the Sea books). They do an amazing job!

What’s the best part of the research you have to do for your books?

Going to the beach! And I love talking to people, strangers, about their lives: the girl behind the counter in the gift shop, the couple running their own bed and breakfast, the teacher in the parking lot, the fisherman coming in with his catch at the end of the day.

Can you give us a peek into the day of a writer? Do you write every day? If so, for how long?

I’m very lucky because writing is my day job. Of course, that officially makes it “work,” which is something I’m good at avoiding. At the beginning of a book, I walk around the house a lot, talking to myself and jotting things down. Once I know the characters and have a general direction for the story, I try to write at least a couple of pages a day. At the end, when I’m fueled by caffeine and panic, it’s much more than that. And I don’t go to bed until I meet that day’s page goal.

What She’s Reading and What’s Next

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love to read. I like to walk. I really love to read and walk on the beach!

What is the last book you read?

The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain, set in Raleigh and Beaufort, NC. She does such wonderful, rich characters. Next up is Julia Quinn’s A Night Like This.

What’s next for Virginia Kantra? 

Right now, I’m working on Carolina Girl, scheduled for June 2013, about ambitious New York insurance executive Meg and sexy hometown builder Sam Grady. There’s a teaser (which I’ve since rewritten) in the back of Carolina Home, but the first line is the same: “At thirty-four, Megan Fletcher was determined not to turn into her mother.”

Which I think is a sentiment every woman can relate to!

I’m also in the process of updating and self-publishing some of my early Silhouette Intimate Moments titles: The Reforming of Matthew Dunn, The Passion of Patrick MacNeill, and The Comeback of Conn MacNeill, which just came out. I’m really proud of these early books. Three of the five were my Golden Heart finalists; three finaled in Romance Writers of America’s RITA Awards. They are similar in tone to my new Dare Island series, with deeply emotional storylines and a strong family at the center, so it seemed like a good time to make them available again.

Where to Start with Virginia Kantra

If you’re new to Virginia’s books, here are a few easy entry points depending on your mood:

• Small town, family and community romance: Start with Dare Island (Book 1: Carolina Home)
• Romantic fantasy with selkie mythology: Start with Children of the Sea (Book 1: Sea Witch)

Come to Dare Island: Carolina Home by Virginia Kantra

If you love small-town coastal settings, family ties, and tender, emotionally grounded romance, Carolina Home kicks off Virginia Kantra’s Dare Island series with a single dad hero, an outsider heroine looking for belonging, and a community that feels like home.

Tropes & vibes: small-town island, single dad, newcomer heroine, found family / community, family obligations, heartfelt slow-burn

Read this if you want…

• A warm, small town romance with Outer Banks energy and a tight-knit community
• A steady, responsible hero who’s put everyone else first for years
• A heroine starting over and building a life that finally feels like her own

On storm-battered Dare Island, single dad fishing captain Matt Fletcher has built a careful, commitment-free life-until newcomer teacher Allison Carter arrives looking for a fresh start. When Matt’s brother returns with a child and an impossible request, Matt and Allison are pulled into a choice that could reshape their futures…and turn “safe” into something real.

Grab Carolina Home on Amazon or read my Coming Home book review.

Ready to settle in on Dare Island for a while? Carolina Home is just the beginning. Each book expands the Fletcher family, the community, and the kind of heartfelt, small town drama we eat up. Start with the complete Dare Island series guide + recommended reading order.

Final Thoughts

If you have a favorite fictional island town (or seaside community) you love to escape to, tell me in the comments what book, series, or even a single setting you wish you could move into for a week.

And if this interview reminded you how much you love Virginia Kantra’s storytelling, you can dive deeper into the Dare Island world here in our Dare Island series guide / reading order. You can also check out Virginia’s guest post where she shared her favorite contemporary heroines to read if you love Anne of Green Gables. It’s basically instant TBR fuel. Finally, if you’re looking for more author deep-dives, don’t miss our Must Read Authors Hub.

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