TODAY I welcome SHELLEY FREYDONT to PUSHINGTIME.COM. Shelley is a former professional dancer and choreographer. She most recently worked on the films, Mona Lisa’s Smile and The Game Plan. She lives near the New Jersey shore where she loves to discover new beaches and indulge her passion for lighthouses and vintage carousels.

Under the name of  SHELLEY NOBLE she is the NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author of the women’s fiction novel BEACH COLORS, a #1 Nook bestseller, STARGAZEY POINT, BREAKWATER BAY and several tie-in novellas, Holidays at Crescent Cove, Stargazey Nights, and Newport Dreams.

As SHELLEY FREYDONT she is the author of the CELEBRATION BAY FESTIVAL MYSTERIES (Berkley Prime Crime). And the upcoming Gilded Age Newport mystery series beginning with A Gilded Grave.                                                    SHINY THINGS  by   Shelley Freydont

In a study released last week, scientists at the University of Exeter debunked the myth that magpies steal shiny things. That in actuality unfamiliar items repel them. I could have told them it isn’t the much-maligned magpies stealing shiny things, its authors. Our literary trove is made up of found objects, situations, and characters—all manner of shiny things. See a sunset, store it away, that kid on the beach hitting his friend on the head with a plastic shovel; I could use that somewhere. The girl that just walked by with fishnets tattooed on her legs, hmm, that might come in handy. Or, the balloon drifting across the sky, I think I remember a book about a red balloon.

Authors are notorious for people watching, weather watching, listening in on conversations, smelling odors that repel others, or aromas to fall in love with . . . and write about. They are those people staring off into space or at something no one else sees, while their friends have gone into the restaurant without them or have completely lost them in a crowd.

Authors are the ultimate hoarders with files of old newspaper clippings or digital links to something interesting.

A door with the doorknob missing, there’s a story there.

The little lady dressed for winter as though it’s summer, feeding the seagulls from a paper bag. Now there’s a character.

A whistle warns drivers and pedestrians that the drawbridge is lifting, is that a fishing boat? Did they catch anything?

Really it could drive you a little . . . you know. But one day, you’re staring at that computer screen thinking—oh wait a minute, you’re not thinking; you don’t have an idea in your head. And suddenly that little boy with the shovel jumps out and starts telling you his side of what happened. And you place your fingers on the keyboard and listen.

Ah, those shiny things. Breakwater Bay by Shelley Noble,  William Morrow Paperbacks Summer 2014

An abandoned baby, a glorious old Newport mansion, and awakening romance combine in Breakwater Bay, an engaging story that echoes the flair, humor, and emotional depth of Kristin Hannah’s popular novels.

Preservationist Meri Hollis loves her latest project, restoring one of Newport’s forgotten Gilded Age mansions. And with summer approaching, she’ll be able to spend more time with her Gran on the Rhode Island shore. She has a great job, a loving family and she’s pretty sure her boyfriend is going to propose on her thirtieth birthday.

But everything Meri believes about family, happiness, truth and love is shattered when her family’s darkest secret is exposed.

Thirty years before, Meri’s neighbor and friend, Alden Corrigan, took his father’s dinghy out to fish. In a sudden storm, he rushed to help a woman stranded on the breakwater. She was just a girl . . . a very pregnant girl who disappeared soon after they reached safety—But not before she left behind a very special gift.

Now that the truth it out, life will change for everyone in Breakwater Bay, and Meri and Alden will have to make decisions that could insure their future together . . . or separate them for good.

For more about Shelley, please visit her websites www.shelleynoble.com www.shelleyfreydont.com.