Research and details in a book can make a major difference in a reader’s pleasure.

That’s why in <em>Love in the Morning Calm </em>and <em>The Pendant’s Promise </em>I include details selected from my time in South Korea.

Lily’s apartment is where we lived in U.N. Village.

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/un-village4.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3312" alt="UN Village4" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/un-village4.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="100" /></a> I walked the same roads that she walked to catch the bus to Eighth Army Headquarters. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/un-village6.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3311" alt="UN Village6" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/un-village6.jpg?w=105" width="105" height="150" /></a>

We got so used to the train whistle we didn’t even hear it.

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/train-on-track2.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3309" alt="train on track2" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/train-on-track2.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="98" /></a>These pictures stir memories for me and I hope give you a good idea of where Lily lived. If you've read <em>Love in the Morning Calm,</em> is it like your mental picture?

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/gold-dress-2.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3314" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/gold-dress-2.jpg?w=58" width="58" height="150" /></a><a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/lilys-gold-dress.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-3315 alignright" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/lilys-gold-dress.jpg?w=41" width="41" height="150" /></a>A gold dress also plays an important role in both books. I got the idea for those scenes from my own experience having a gold dress made to wear to the reception President Park Chung Hee and his wife gave for President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson. Here’s what my dress looked like. Is it what you pictured Lily wearing?

There's a carved<em> Papasan</em> in both stories. I brought back several carvings from South Korea to remind us of our time in Han Nam Dong.<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/figurines.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3317" alt="???????????????????????????????" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/figurines.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="198" /></a>That's the <em>Papasan</em> third from the left. When we lived in Seoul, <em>Papasan</em> meant a title used to address elderly men. The term has come to be used for pimps or a  person who manages a bar or a brothel or a similar establishment. The kindly men in the white suits we met didn't do any of that!

You'll find I used others places we went during our time in South Korea and developed scenes around them. Places like Chungpyung Reservoir. I can still remember our picnic on the hood of the motor pool jeep with the sound of the roaring dam behind us. Ace and Lily picnicked there too.<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/409284034_chungpyung-dam.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3321" alt="409284034_Chungpyung Dam" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/409284034_chungpyung-dam.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="107" /></a>

I hope these glimpses of South Korea when I was there enhance your reading of Lily and Ace’s love story. Or make you want to read.

It should also demonstrate how writers use their personal experiences in creating their fictional stories.

<img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2181" alt="MorningCalm_6 for webpgs" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/morningcalm_6-for-webpgs.jpg?w=112" width="112" height="150" />

In 1966, while on temporary assignment to South Korea, Green Beret Major Ace Cabot meets Lily Reed, a Department of Army civilian at Eighth Army Headquarters. Ace is a high-potential career officer, who should resist the temptation of any woman, but he can’t ignore his interest in her.

Lily is a firm supporter of the budding women’s lib movement. She enjoys her freedom and new life away from her stifling hometown. Her plans leave no room for any man. No matter how captivating his smile.

In an uncertain time, in a temporary safe zone, yielding to temptation changes both their lives forever.

Available for <a href="http://amzn.to/186U8IG" target="_blank">Kindle</a>     <a href="http://bit.ly/10MYQJC" target="_blank">Nook</a>    <a href="http://bit.ly/188Ob1n" target="_blank">Apple iBook/iPad</a>  and   <a href="http://bit.ly/14ITsaW" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> for PDF, Diesel, or Kobo

<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-613 alignleft" alt="books_pendant" src="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/books_pendant.jpg?w=112" width="112" height="150" />

For twenty years, Lily Johnson’s life, albeit a life of lies, has been good. Then her daughter falls in love and trouble abounds.

The young man her daughter plans to marry is the godson of her daughter’s biological father. A Green Beret Lily thought died in Vietnam.

When they meet him face-to-face, the years melt away and old passion returns, but Lily’s convinced revealing the truth could mean losing her daughter and the only man she’s ever loved. He believes Lily betrayed her promise to wait.

Is the flame of love strong enough to be re-ignited, or, is it too late?

Available for <a href="http://amzn.to/KCnFRl" target="_blank">Kindle</a>  <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/love-in-the-morning-calm/id666511387?mt=11&amp;uo=4" target="_blank">Apple iBook/iPad</a>   <a href="http://bit.ly/Ko8ffC" target="_blank">Nook</a>     <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/157996" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> for PDF, Diesel, or Kobo and in <a href="http://amzn.to/JkRpSv" target="_blank">Paperback</a>