Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen--a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her. She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by the spoonful.
Jonathan Harrow left a career in Hollywood to pursue his dream of writing novels. He has an author crush on Charlotte Bronte, and a real crush on his author wife, YA bestseller Kelly Oram.
They live in Phoenix with their four kids and their cat, Mr. Darcy.
Nineteen year old Joni is loving life as an adult—living on her own, dealing with grown-up things like jobs, hook-ups, and doing her own laundry. Best of all: after finishing her first year at ASU, she will never again be called a freshman.
But when her brother is suddenly killed in a car accident, Joni’s adult life is turned upside down. Struggling to cope with loss, guilt, and anger—not to mention the meddling of friends and family trying to “fix” her—Joni is relieved to be presented with an escape in the form of a sailing trip her brother had been planning for months before he died.
With her first step onto the sailing vessel Lady Marguerite, Joni plunges into an adventure that will mark the beginning of her real adult life—a journey across the ominous dark blue of the Atlantic Ocean with a small, eccentric crew, and the young Captain Reid, whose gorgeous looks are only outmatched by his talent for care and kindness. Unfolding through the ups and downs of life at sea is an unforgettable story reminding us that love will always be a work-in-progress and coming of age never gets old.
In Joni, Underway
we are taken on a sailboat cruise from Maine, USA, across the Atlantic to
Norway. For Joni’s brother, this trip was #1 on his bucket list.
What are your
top 10 destinations around the world?
Jonathan: since there are two of us, we’ll each give five,
and if some of them don’t match (they won’t!) then I guess we’ll have to go on
separate vacations!
Kelly: Fair enough. You go ahead and start.
#1 (Jonathan):
The next FIFA World Cup! That would be Russia, 2018. Russia
might not have made my top five on its own, but since the World Cup is there,
then it makes the list. I’m a recent convert to watching pro soccer, so I’m not
the biggest fan ever (like I probably won’t paint my face or cry or anything),
but the overall experience would be a huge draw for me. All the other people
visiting from the USA, supporting our team; watching soccer; experiencing a
foreign country; and just soaking up the amazing festive vibe that a World Cup
brings. Awesome.
#1 (Kelly): Okay, I can agree with Jonathan on this one.
When Jonathan fell in love with soccer, he brought me along for the ride. We
may support different clubs, but we could wear red, white, and blue together
for the World Cup. Russia would be fun to see, and the World Cup would be an
amazing experience, so this hits my top destinations list as well as my bucket
list!
#2 (Jonathan):
The second stop on my tour of top 5 destinations would be
England.
Now, that’s pretty broad—you could have all kinds of experiences in
England. The specific type of experience I would like to have is to immerse
myself in 19th century England. Not the history (don’t care!), but
the lifestyle. I want to live there for a month or whatever, and try to
recreate life from the regency era, or even later victorian. I mean, it doesn’t
have to go so far as dressing up (like that movie “Austenland”, although I
wouldn’t be opposed), but I would prefer to not stay in any modern hotel or
anything. I want to just live in some secluded country manor and feel like a
local (a rich one). And I would definitely have to visit all the Charlotte
Bronte sites.
#2 (Kelly):
I suppose that could be a fun trip, but if I only get five,
I think this is where our vacation together would come to an end. I’d stop in
England long enough to watch a soccer game (football match!) in a local pub
with the rowdy supporters and then I’d be off to my real #2 destination…
I want to take a road trip across the United States. I want
to hit all the continental states, every major city, and all the fun
attractions in between. I’ve done mini versions of this and driven
coast-to-coast and back again, but I wasn’t able to go everywhere and really
take the time I wanted in each place. Give me two or three months, a smooth ride,
an iPod full of my favorite tunes and the open road baby! I’d be in heaven.
(Also, I vow right now, that I will
do this before I die, so I guess this is on my bucket list too, lol)
#3 (Jonathan):
Okay, here’s a dream vacation I call “The James Bond
Experience.”
No, I don’t pretend to be a secret spy (but if there were such a
vacation package, I’d totally do it). What I do is basically experience the
ultimate in luxury and sophistication (like Bond). This includes cruising the
Mediterranean in a private megayacht, and making stops along the coast to eat
at private homes of cool people (no restaurants). Of course, we would have to
stop in Montenegro, which is the location of the casino in “Casino Royale.”
Although I don’t know what I’d do there, since I don’t gamble or drink or
seduce women or thwart international terrorists. But I would wear a tuxedo.
#3 (Kelly): While Jonathan’s pulling out his tux and living
the life of luxury in the Mediterranean, I’ll be busting out the hiking boots
and backpack and heading to Mount Kilauea, Hawaii. Why? Because volcanoes are
awesome. Duh.
I would love to get up close and personal with a live
fire-spewing mountain. (Well, not too
close, I guess…) And the fact that this particular volcano happens to be in the
Hawaiian Islands, where I can enjoy a pig-roasting feast, learn to hula, and
have a local hottie give me surfing lessons? (While I watch him from shore of
course because getting in the ocean scares me.) Sign me up!
#4 (Jonathan):
Since Jurassic Park isn’t real, then I would have to fall
back on the next best amusement park, Disneyland. The original Disneyland in
LA, not any of the other parks in the world (don’t care!). Kelly, I already
know what you’ll say: “But we live six hours from there, we go all the time.”
That’s true, but I’m talking about doing Disneyland the RIGHT way, not the way
we’re forced to do it because money is limited and we have four kids who would
scratch their eyes out if we did it my way. MY way would be to take a full
week, and we stay at the Grand Californian Hotel, of course. And we have a
representative from Disney—like a Disney historian guru—who takes us all over
the park, a little bit each day, explaining the history, pointing out
little-known facts and quirks, giving us the whole VIP experience. We try all
the different places to eat, and we get screenings at their theatre of various
Disney animated films that inspired the rides. So basically, it becomes a
nostalgic celebration of all things Disney, rather than just a mad rush to wait
in lines for roller coasters.
#4 (Kelly): Jonathan is going to divorce me for saying this,
but Disneyland isn’t my favorite amusement park. Give me rollercoasters, and
lots of them! (Yeah, I’d definitely hit a few Six Flags on my cross-country
road trip.) So, maybe I’d meet up with him in LA for lunch as I fly from Hawaii
to my number 4 destination:
I would love to visit Rio de Janeiro! Well, I’d love to
visit a lot of South America, but if I had to pick just one place, point me to
Rio! Especially if it’s Carnival. It sounds intimidating and exciting all at
the same time. This city is so rich in culture but it’s also surrounded by the
Amazon rainforest, which is the main draw for me. I want to tour the Amazon and
zipline through the jungle. (I‘ll just have to bring a bunch of valium with me
because I have a serious phobia of bugs and, well, I hear the jungle is full of
giant ones. But after my day excursions exploring the jungle I can come back to
my nice cushy hotel, read a book on the beach for a while, eat some authentic
Brazilian food, (YUM!), and scope out the local soccer team. (Also yum!)
#5 (Jonathan):
The circumlunar flight by Space Adventures.
This is a real
thing—Space Adventures is offering private flights around the moon, passing
within 100 kms of the moon’s “dark side” and then watching the earth rise as
you come out from behind the moon. They also offer programs for private
citizens to train as an astronaut and live on the ISS (International Space
Station), which would be an amazing package. This is all still a few years off
and would cost millions, but I’m just sayin’…if I could, I would. In fact, if
space travel were more practical and available, it would be my #1.
#5 (Kelly): Wow. The moon? That might be a little too
adventurous for me. Though the idea of liftoff sounds like a hell of a ride,
the thought of being in deep space gives me the creeps. (Much like scuba diving
and being under the water.) Have fun with that one Jonathan, and make sure to
take a selfie with the Earth in the background. While he’s off jet setting
(rocket setting?) to the MOON, I think I’ll settle for South Africa.
Maybe it was my obsession with The Lion King when I was
younger, or my love of animals, but I would LOVE to see Africa. I want to go on
a guided safari. It’s like the zoo without all the cages! But don’t worry, I’d
follow the rules and keep my windows rolled up so I don’t get eaten by Simba.
Better yet, I want to hot air balloon over the savannah. That would be AMAZING.
Hey Jonathan, our fifteenth anniversary is coming up next year. What do you
think? Can we? I promise I’ll let you stay in the hotel that Adam Sandler and
Drew Barrymore stayed in in the movie Blended.
(I’ll just get some ruggedly handsome safari guide with a five o’clock shadow
and an elephant gun to take me out while you stay poolside.)
Jonathan: So there you go, our top ten destinations, which
reveals a lot about ourselves. Most of Kelly’s are way too adventurous for me,
and most of mine don’t involve hot male tour guides, so I guess we’re both on
our own, lol. But hey, we’ll always have the World Cup!
