A figure creeps out of the shadows. Chains rattle in a vacant attic. A man carrying a dagger outside in a storm charges toward a window. Nearby, a car teeters on the edge of a cliff. We’re on the edge of our seats, holding our breaths. And the person who put us there most often — Alfred Hitchcock.

Known as the master of suspense, he was born on August 13, 1899, and lost his father at the age of fourteen. By then, according to the Wikipedia, his father had sent him numerous times to the police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for ten minutes to punish him for behaving badly. His mother often asked him to address her from the foot of her bed, forcing him to stand there for hours. These experiences were used by Hitchcock later in the character of Norman Bates in his movie, “Psycho.” While “Psycho” and “The Birds” fall into the category of horror films, Hitchcock’s main objective was to create suspense. In a film directed by him the audience becomes anxious when they expect something bad to happen. While they either know or think they know about the impending disaster, they are powerless to do anything about it.

Also according to Wikipedia, in 1935, Hitchcock popularized the “MacGuffin” device when he used it in his movie, “The 39 Steps.” It’s an element to grab the attention of the audience in movies or to drive the plot in books. While the “MacGuffin” may be ambiguous, open to interpretation or generic, it’s something the characters want, such as money, victory or power. While it’s important in the beginning of the story as the characters’ struggles and motivations are revealed, it loses its relevance as the story progresses. Even though it usually comes into play again at the climax, it could be completely forgotten by the end of the movie or book. In a lecture at Columbia University in 1939, Hitchcock said, “In crook stories it is almost always the necklace and in spy stories it is most always the papers.”

Some quotes from Alfred Hitchcock included in “Alfred Hitchcock Wit & Wisdom” are as follows:
On why people were fond of his thrillers:
“They like to put their toe in the cold water of fear.”
On the relationship with his audiences:
“Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.”
On his movies and his method:
“We try to tell a good story and develop a hefty plot. Themes emerge as we go along.”
“Drama is life with the dull bits left out.”
On violence:
“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

In case anyone’s ever wondered why the actions of the birds never were explained in the movie by the same name, novelist Evan Hunter, whose pseudonym is Ed McBain, tells us. In “Writing for Hitchcock: An Interview with Ed McBain” by Charles L. P. Silet Hunter (McBain) explains that he worked on the script with Hitchcock. “We made, if you’ll forgive the expression, an “artistic” decision early on that we were never going to explain the bird attacks, never. Otherwise the film would become science fiction and we didn’t want to do that,” he says.

On working with Hitchcock, Hunter says, “He was like the father anyone wished he would have. He was intelligent, he was world-traveled. He knew everybody, he was famous, he was a star in his own right.” Alfred Hitchcock died in 1980. Twenty-seven years after his death, in a poll of film critics in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, he came in first in film name recognition.
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Since he was known to like the combination of romance and suspense, I can’t help but wonder what he would have done with my Christian romance with a bit of suspense. In Love Turns the Tide Cammie O’Shea faces a traumatic split-up with her fiancé and has to leave her friends and family to take a job in Destin, Florida. Heartbroken and alone, she needs God more now than she ever has. But for some reason she can’t explain she feels more estranged from him. A feature writer, she dreads meeting her boss, the editor of The Sun Dial, a new newspaper. But, her real source of angst turns out to be Vic Deleona, the influential real estate tycoon she must write about to generate interest in the paper. While she refuses to open herself to another painful relationship he attempts to court her. Trying to get over her heartache, she reads her Bible and says prayers. One day she reads Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” Afterward she ponders how living in Destin possibly could be good for her. Then, break-ins occur at her friend’s condo and her unit, making her doubt the wisdom of living in Destin even more. But Vic comes to their rescue. He even launches his own investigation into the crimes, and Cammie sees a different side of him. Then she gets an offer to return home to her old job. Will Vic solve the crimes and win her heart or will she leave Destin?

In Love Turns the Tide I imagine Alfred Hitchcock would have created a scary scene on the beach one night when Cammie and Vic walked by the shore. “A man with his head down appeared in the beam of Cammie’s flashlight, his blue shirt caught in the wind. As he trudged closer and closer, he quickened his pace until finally he brushed past them.” Afterward Cammie says, “He seemed to come out of nowhere. He must have been hiding behind a dune.”

Author of Love Turns the Tide
available at www.awe-struck.net
Web site: http://www.gailpallotta.com
Blog: http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com

Author of Love Turns the Tide
available at www.awe-struck.net
Web site: http://www.gailpallotta.com
Blog: http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com

In Destin, Florida on May 25th the sea gulls cooed and the sandpipers pecked in crystal, clear emerald water. That morning a dolphin arched its sleek body across the rolling waves. Before the graceful mammal disappeared it stopped right in front of me and a group of other people clustered on the beach watching it and slapped the sea with its tail.
The day before a three-foot tall heron stood perfectly still six feet from a bucket of live bait. A fisherman in a brown hat with his blue jeans rolled up waded barefoot into the white foamy waves and cast his line. The blue heron slowly lifted his pencil thin legs, moving forward ever so precisely, ever so carefully. As soon as the fisherman gazed backward the bird straightened its slender body. But when the man faced forward again, the heron tentatively stepped with its long, wiry feet positioning himself even closer to his goal. The moment the man glanced at the pretty light blue creature the bird assumed his statuesque pose. Over and over he and the man in the brown hat repeated the action until the bird stood right beside the bucket. When the fisherman cast his line again, the spindly heron lowered its long elastic neck until its beak touched the top of the container. Suddenly, the fisherman swung around and clapped his hands loudly, shooing away the hungry heron. I was disappointed. I thought the bird had earned a fish. But I also was grateful I could watch such a scene.
Earlier that week I sat on the porch at the Crab Trap and ate fresh fish caught in local water. From the window I watched the white fishing boats with sailors atop their perches circling where the cobia swam. Destin’s fishing fleet stayed close to home or headed toward Panama City instead of going out to sea. Until I learned that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Florida Department of Agriculture tests the fish every day I didn’t eat them, but when I was there, they were untainted, and they were delicious. I spoke with one resident who said, “I feel blessed that we haven’t been affected by the oil spill yet, and my heart goes out to those who have. We all should pray for this disaster to be solved soon.”
He echoed the sentiments of another resident who said, “Oh man, I’m so sorry for those who have been hurt by this.”
Once dubbed the “World’s Luckiest Fishing Village,” Destin is a tourist area. Activities include fishing, golfing, boating, snorkeling, kite boarding, and scuba diving. As of June fifteenth it remains a stretch of white sand with emerald green water lapping its shore. The characters in Love Turns the Tide, my book that’s set in Destin, could still walk in the ocean and watch the sunsets.
The inspirational romance tells the story of Cammie O’Shea. Shattered by a failed engagement, she also must leave friends and family to take a job in Destin. While she dreads meeting her boss, the editor of a new newspaper, The Sun Dial, her real source of angst turns out to be Vic Deleona, the real estate developer she must interview to help get the paper off to a good start. While she refuses to open herself to another painful relationship Vic tries to court her. But, after she and a friend have break-ins at their condos Vic comes to their rescue. He even launches an investigation into the crimes. Will he solve the mystery and win Cammie’s heart or will she leave Destin?
About Love Turns the Tide Miss Lynn’s Books-N-More says, “When I started reading this newest book of Gail Pallotta’s I didn’t stop till I had it finished.”
Goddess Minx at Literary Nymphs says, “This is quite a surprisingly different type of story with a Christian aspect, and I want to express my appreciation to Gail Pallotta for creating such a fabulous book.”
Learn more about Love Turns the Tide at http://www.gailpallotta.com and visit Gail’s blog at http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com. Love Turns the Tide is available from www.awe-struck.net.

Author of Love Turns the Tide
available at www.awe-struck.net
Web site: http://www.gailpallotta.com
Blog: http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com

     Romance lives in Destin, where the tranquil, crystal clear water laps white powdery sand and sea oats that dot the dunes sway in the wind. It’s twilight in May, and the sun burns red, sinking into the ocean, painting the sky with its golden-reddish streaks while a barefoot bride, who wears a long, white, cotton gauze dress, strolls slowly toward her groom.  Dressed in a white suit with gold trim, he stands beside the minister who’s holding a Bible underneath an arbor of magnolias. With the sea gulls cooing and the waves washing ashore the young man and woman meet to say their vows, the breeze blowing her dress around her ankles. The wind pushes her long, blonde hair, topped with a crown of white roses, across her face.

     I gaze on the scene from the second story balcony of my hotel room, and my heart’s swept away. I hope the couple recaptures the love that surrounds them right now many more times. I want the words they say to last through the trials of life. I wish a future for them that holds a night like the one this past April, at The Shed, a rustic, wooden barbecue restaurant in Destin.

     Standing on the covered, upper deck, overlooking the emerald, green, misty sea, its white-capped waves surging, listening to Percy Sledge sing “When a Man Loves a Woman,” I had watched people from their twenties to their sixties and possibly beyond dance downstairs in the pouring rain. Percy, well protected on an enclosed stage, wore a black tuxedo with a red handkerchief in his pocket and a white shirt with a black bow tie. Off and on he got on his knees and serenaded his wife, who was on the platform too. Soon the men and women upstairs slow danced and sang along with Percy. When he took a break, many of those upstairs reminisced with stories of when they first met thirty to forty years ago. The popular rock and roll performer returned to the stage, and his smooth voice filled the air with “My Girl.” The lady next to me said, “We heard this song on our first date.” No sooner had she gotten the words out of her mouth than her husband, who had been no where to be seen, suddenly made a bee line from out of the crowd, grabbed her and started dancing. She had peered back at me and had said, “He remembered.”

     I look back at the newlyweds on the beach. If they had been at the concert would they have asked some of those dancing and singing how to make the romance last? If they had, many of the older romantics probably would have said they worked at their marriages. I imagine plenty of them out-love one another, each putting the other first. More than likely at least some of them started their married journeys with people they thought they knew only to discover new things about their partners year to year. They possibly would have said they had been flexible and had clung to each other during life’s ups and downs. 

     But how do we get such love? Scientists can’t produce it, or they already would be mass marketing it. One person can’t force it on another, because no one can dictate what’s in another person’s heart. It’s a gift from our creator, and for me that is God. I know some people who dated one person, fell in love and walked down the aisles at early ages. But others have their hearts broken before they find the right person.

     That is the case with Cammie O’Shea, the heroine of my inspirational romance, Love Turns the Tide. After she faces a traumatic split-up with her fiancé she has to leave her family and friends to take a new job in Destin, Florida. Heartbroken and alone in a place where she knows no one, she dreads meeting her new boss, the editor of The Sun Dial newspaper. But her real source of angst turns out to be Vic Deleona, the influential real estate tycoon she must write about to generate interest in the paper. While she refuses to open herself to another painful relationship he attempts to court her. Even though she sees him as pompous she goes out of her way to maintain a good business association. Trying to get over her heartache, she reads her Bible and says prayers. One day she reads Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” Afterward she ponders how living in Destin possibly could be good for her. Then, break-ins occur at her friend’s condo and her unit, making her doubt the wisdom of living in Destin even more. However, Vic comes to their rescue. He even launches his own investigation into the crimes, and Cammie sees a different side of him. But finally she gets an offer to return home to her old job. Will Cammie leave Destin, or will she stay and end up in a white gauze dress walking toward a handsome groom standing under a magnolia arbor on the beach?

Author of Love Turns the Tide
available at www.awe-struck.net
Web site: http://www.gailpallotta.com
Blog: http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com