I've been an author for over thirty years with more than a hundred books published. It's hardly what I expected when I studied journalism at Ohio State and certainly not what I was thinking in second grade when my report card criticized my skills at making up stories. I divide my year between my home in Key Biscayne, Florida and a house in Virginia, the same summer house that's been in my family for over sixty years.

What inspired you to write the Ocean Breeze Series?

In recent years I've been spending a week every summer in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my large extended family. The Ocean Breeze trilogy was inspired by those visits, though the setting in the books is fictional. And, because I love to write about families, Sand Castle Bay (in stores now), Wind Chime Point (out April 30) and Sea Glass Island (available May 26), focus on three sisters who are all struggling to find a new direction and to put some balance into their busy lives. I think this is something many women today face.

If you could pick a song to encapsulate the mood of your book what would it be and why?

I often think of the Rascall Flatts song, "I Won't Let Go," when I write any of my books. I want all of my heroes to be the kind of men who show that sort of strength, love and devotion to their women.

Can you recommend a few books that mean the most to you.

Of my own books, I'm especially partial to Amazing Gracie because of the hero and the setting. In terms of other books, I still love Little Women and all the Little House on the Prairie books, because I read them with my mom years and years ago. There are lots of contemporary authors whose books I enjoy -- Carla Neggers, Robyn Carr, Debbie Macomber, Maeve Binchy, just way too many to mention. They all write about the sort of women I'd like to have as friends.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Thanks to reader requests, I have another Chesapeake Shores Christmas book coming out later this year. A Seaside Christmas will be out in October. And I've written a sequel to another fan favorite, Seaview Inn. Home to Seaview Key will be in stores in February 2014.

Author of more than 100 romance and mystery novels, Sherryl Woods grew up in Virginia. Over the years she had lived in Ohio and Florida, as well as California. Currently she divides her time between Key Biscayne, Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia, the small, river-front town where she spent her childhood summers.

Her first book, RESTORING LOVE, was published in 1982 by Dell Candlelight Ecstasy under the pseudonym of Suzanne Sherrill. Her second book, SAND CASTLES, under the pseudonym of Alexandra Kirk, was published later that same year by Bantam. She began using her own name when she moved to the Second Chance at Love line at Berkley Publishing. In 1986, she began writing full-time and also began her long career at Silhouette Books with the Desire title NOT AT EIGHT, DARLING, set in the world of television which she covered for so many years.
When she's not writing or reading, Sherryl loves to garden, though she's not at her best on a riding lawn mower. She also loves tennis, theater, and ballet, even though her top spin has long since vanished, she's never set foot on a stage, and she's way too uncoordinated to dance. She also loves baseball and claims anyone who's ever seen Kevin Costner in "Bull Durham" can understand.