Richard I Levine is a native New Yorker raised in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. After dabbling in several occupations and a one-year coast-to-coast wanderlust trip, This one-time auxiliary police officer, volunteer fireman, bartender, and store manager returned to school to become a chiropractor.
A twenty-five-year cancer survivor, he’s a strong advocate for the natural healing arts. In 2006 he wrote, produced, and was on-air personality of The Dr. Rich Levine Show on Seattle’s KKNW 1150AM and after a twenty-five-year chiropractic practice in Bellevue, Washington, he closed up shop at the end of 2016 and moved to Oahu to pursue a dream of acting and being on Hawaii 5-O.
While briefly working as a ghostwriter/community liaison for a Honolulu City Councilmember, a Hawaii State Senator, and volunteering as an advisory board member of USVETS Barbers Point, he appeared as a background actor in over twenty-seven 5-Os, Magnum P.I.s, NCIS-Hawaii, and several Hallmark movies. In 2020, he had a co-star role in the third season episode of Magnum PI called “Easy Money.”
While he no longer lives in Hawaii, he says he will always cherish and be grateful for those seven years and all the wonderful people he’s met. His 5th novel, To Catch the Setting Sun, was inspired by his time in Hawaii.
Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea is Levine’s first foray into the romance genre.
Website & Social Media:
Website ➜ http://www.docrichlevine.com
X ➜ https://www.twitter.com/Your_In8_Power
Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/RichardLevineAuthor/
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/rilevinedc
I am so excited about your book, Like Driftwood on the Salish Sea. Why did you choose this particular story to write?
Can you give us a blurb so others will know what it’s about?
When they met in the fourth grade, it was love at first sight for Mitchell Brody and Jessica Ramirez. He was the freckle-faced kid who stood up for her honor and silenced the class bully who’d been teasing her because of her accent. She was the new kid whose family moved to San Juan Island, Washington, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and whom Mitch had thought was the most beautiful girl in the world.
She was his salvation from a strict upbringing. He was her knight in shining armor who had always looked out for her. Through the many years of porch-swinging, cotton-candied summer nights, autumn harvest festivals, and hand-in-hand walks planning for the ideal life together, they were inseparable...until 9/11, when the real world interrupted their Rockwell-esque small town life, and Mitch had joined the Marine Corps.
This is not just the story of a wounded warrior finally coming home to search for the love, and the world he abandoned twenty years before. It is also the story of a man who is seeking forgiveness and a way to ease the pain caused by every bad decision he’d ever made. It’s the story of a woman who rose with strength and determination from the ashes of a shattered dream; but who never gave up hope that her one true love would return to her. As she once told an old friend: “Even before we met all those years ago, we were destined to be together in this life, and we will be together again, because even today we’re connected in a way that’s very special, and he needs to know about it before one of us leaves this earth.”
Can you tell us a little about the main characters in your book?
The three main characters are Mitch Brody, Jess Ramirez, and the small town of Friday Harbor, Washington which is located on San Juan Island in north Puget Sound. So, let’s start off with San Juan Island which is a beautiful and quaint little village that could be any small town in America’s fly-over states except that it has the added beauty and allure of the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Friday Harbor is not just a background actor in this story but a main player because it is an integral part of who Mitch and Jess really are.
As far as these two soulmates, and they really are soulmates, the blurb provided up above tells readers a lot of who these two people are.
They say all books of fiction have at least one pivotal point where the reader just can’t put the book down. What is one of the pivotal points in your book?
Like Driftwood On The Salish Sea is not part of a series. It’s a one-and-done...for now at least. You never know. Anyway, I think there are a few pivotal points where the reader’s interests will be piqued to where they’ll want to continue turning pages. With that said, I know that if I mention any of them at this point, I’ll be giving away too much information, and I don’t want to take away the surprise factor...and there are surprises!
Does your book carry a message?
Yes, it definitely does. In fact, it carries several messages. All of them are very subtle. I personally don’t like it when an author has a message that they are very passionate about and she/he hits you over the head with it. So, the messages that I want to convey are just below the surface of the story and they come through by way of the characters’ thoughts, words, and actions. But keep in mind, that those messages can be uncovered only if the reader wants to look beyond the story for the deeper meaning.
Where can we pick up copies of Crown of Blooms?
The exact link is long, but it’s just as easy to go to Amazon and type in my name Richard I Levine or the book title. But here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Like-Driftwood-Salish-Sea-romance-ebook/dp/B0F6Q336FJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1IGJG15YRJT0K&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.juZQjKb0acNeawSTV7qyQmdkpoi5K8Z-CQ1AGHZNW64.Ce7ZINokx8AMdyfIxTENxQvCNSna13uRfm5-oN0UPf0&dib_tag=se&keywords=like+driftwood+on+the+salish+sea&qid=1751324713&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C364&sr=1-1
Is there anything you’d like to tell your readers and fans?
It is said that a good hearty belch after a meal is like music to the ears of a chef. It is the ultimate compliment. To an author, that belch is a good, but honest, review posted by a satisfied reader. If you’ve been entertained, introduced to new friends that you’d love to hang with, taken on a journey that you didn’t want to end, or if you were transported to world that made you forget the stresses of the day, then write a nice review to compliment the author who made you laugh, cry, imagine, or filled you with even the smallest amount of wonder.
