Coincidence: A Novel

Seventeen-year-old Melissa is having her best year ever.

She's traveling the world on the tall ship Inspiration , and, along with more than thirty other students, getting credit for a full year of high school in the bargain.

And, after her boyless years at a private school, it doesn't hurt that one of the students on the ship is tall, dark, and handsome Pierre. (She's most impressed with his height, being close to six feet tall herself.)

Melissa is excited to be learning the ropes of crewing the ship as the Inspiration completes the first part of its voyage, from San Diego to Mexico and then on to the Galapagos.

But then things turn decidedly sour.

Before the ship can reach Easter Island, it is taken over by the Coincidence , a large yacht manned by a ruthless band of smugglers. The band needs the services of the Inspiration's doctor for one of their members, who was shot during a heist in Colombia that netted them more than $100 million worth of cocaine.

The future of the Inspiration and its passengers -- and of Melissa and Pierre's romance -- hangs in the balance. Will the RCMP, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and the teachers and crew be able to save Melissa's perfect year?