Jet and I are taking a minute to share the creation of our new romance series. The One I Want. I want to introduce you to Hurricane Julian…a key character in Aiden & Ariel's story.

In Part I, we introduced you to the first book in The One I Want series, which is Aiden & Ariel's story. We mentioned how Ariel is a kick-ass woman, ex-Army Warrant Officer, combat helicopter pilot, and flies helicopter aeromedical evacuation missions out to oil rigs peppered throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

In the opening scene, Ariel prepares to fly out to a fixed platform oil rig. Two injured men need to be evacuated. And OH BY THE WAY….there's a Category 5 monster hurricane on the way. All the oil rigs in the Gulf are under evacuation.

I like to keep things as real as possible in my stories. Not that I don't stretch the truth here and there, or ask for a little plausible suspension of disbelief when required, but in naming what becomes a major character in Aiden & Ariel's story, I wanted to get it right. Julian is the name of the 10th hurricane for the 2021 season.

Fun fact: Hurricanes are named by in alphabetical order. There are six lists of names for Atlantic storms for use in six subsequent years, and every seventh year the names are reused. They alternate female and male names as they go through the alphabet within each year. In addition, in odd years the A-name begins with a female name, and in even years, the A-name is male.

Sometimes a storm is so deadly that the name is taken off the list and replaced with another name “for reasons of sensitivity. The decision is made by the WMO Tropical Cyclone Committees.

For example, Andrew was taken off the list in 1992, Katrina and Rita in 2005 and Sandy in 2012.

Since 1954, 78 Atlantic tropical storm names have been retired, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Now you KNOW!

Julian is the name of the storm barreling down on them. Ariel, kickass pilot that she is, flies INTO the storm to save the wounded who are one of the few last people needing evacuation off the rig. The rest of the rig's crew have been evacuated in advance of the storm, but two unlucky men were injured and require her services.

I love the power and fury of a hurricane. Jet and I spent six years in Okinawa where we experienced 5-13 typhoons a year, with 2-4 per year being Category 5 typhoons. (On that side of the world, hurricanes are called typhoons. I personally prefer ‘typhoon' over ‘hurricane.')

“On average 10.3 typhoons a year approach within 300 kilometers of the coast of Japan. Years in which 12 or more strike this area are known as years with many typhoons. Years with eight or less are known as having “few” typhoons. Most make land fall in Okinawa or south Kyushu, particularly Miyazaki and Kagoshima Prefectures.”

Okinawa lies right in the heart of Typhoon Alley. It gets hit by an average of seven storms a year that have hurricane strength winds, sometimes up to 190 miles per hour.

During our time overseas, we had the unique experience of having the eye of a Cat-5 typhoon pass over our home. It was one of the most surreal experiences in my lifetime thus far.

As with all my writing, I try to incorporate pieces of my life. In Aiden & Ariel's story, I wrote scenes about aeromedical evacuation and what it's like to live through a true monster of a storm from first-person experience.

I know you'll enjoy these tiny tidbits. They make it REAL!