JK Beck Gets Lost in a Story...or Two

I'm thrilled to bring you JK Beck to the blog today! JK, also known as Julie Kenner, is a member of my local writers' group. She's been such a prolific writer in the time I've known her, but she has always found time to be a great help to so many of us over the years. Please help me welcome her.

 J. K. Beck spent more than ten years as a litigator in Southern California and Central Texas, using her rare free time to indulge in her passion for writing. Now she uses her legal background as inspiration for her paranormal romantic suspense series, The Shadow Keepers, set in and around a secret judicial system hidden within and mirroring our own. J.K. Beck is one of the secret identities of USA Today bestselling author Julie Kenner.  Julie and her alter egos live in Texas with a husband, two daughters, two cats, and far too much imagination.  Visit her

Website, Twitter as Julie Kenner and as JK Beck,

Facebook, Whine Sisters Blog, and Julie's Blog. 

THE STORY BLURB:

When Passion Lies

Tiberius is a vampire dedicated to protecting his kind—and the secrets of the shadow world. Now, as his quest to become head of the Alliance draws within reach, a shattering new threat puts him to the ultimate test. It’s a nightmare of grim proportions: a dark plot to bring about the mass extermination of human and shadow alike. And it forces Tiberius to turn to the woman he loved and lost, the lover he still desires but doesn’t trust.

Caris was Tiberius’s mate for centuries—until a fateful mission changed her forever. Her tortured secrets drove her into the arms of his rival, but desperation has brought her back. As a horrifying new weapon of mass destruction is about to be unleashed, Tiberius and Caris harness the power of their immortal and passionate love. But will it be enough to battle devastating odds and a ruthless enemy with the ambition to destroy them all?

To read an excerpt, visit here.

And now for the dirt....

ALEXA: How often to you get lost in a story?

JK: Oh my gosh. All. The. Time. Like, all the time. Did I mention all the time?

Seriously, I get lost in my stories, other people’s stories, stories that aren’t actually my stories yet, but just snippets. Stories that form the underpinnings of sappy commercials.  You name it, I get lost in it.

ALEXA:  Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

JK: You just knew that question was relevant to my author-y life right at this very moment, didn’t you?

ALEXA: (chuckling) Of course!

JK: Is it cheating if I say both?  How about if I say “both, but that’s only because I’m really two people?  Or maybe just one person, but with different facets?  Let’s just say I’m indecisive and leave it at that, shall we?

The hard part, of course, is that my life is beyond crazy (homeschooling mom, full-time writer (ha! I wish! See that homeschooling thing)), and so sit-down-and-read time is tough to find. But I manage.  I steal moments whenever I can (I love my Kindle iPhone app!).  And I am probably Audible.com’s best customer.  I have no idea what’s going on in the world because I never listen to the radio anymore.  No politics, no pop culture music.  Just me and The Book Thief or Game of Thrones or Fallen or The Killing Floor or Tsar or The Help or The Hunger Games or … well, the list goes on an on.

Seriously, I love action-adventure stuff, and the Shadow Keepers series is filled with action, adventure, fights, chases, bad guys, edgy good guys, and heroines who know how to kick butt.  Caris from WHEN PASSION LIES is a primo example.  She’s definitely a woman who can take care of herself, and she’s as comfortable on the battlefield as she is in a ballroom.

But while I love, love, love action, I also love a fairy tale tone, especially if it has a bit of a twist.  (I’m a huge fan of Sondheim’s Into the Woods musical, if that gives you any indication of what I love.)  My recently re-issued novel, THE CAT’S FANCY, explores fairy tale themes.  In that story, the heroine, Maggie, is head-over-heels in love with Nick.  The only hitch – she’s his cat.  But through the power of magic (and with a little inspiration from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid) Maggie’s given the chance to be human…and to stay that way.  If she can make Nick fall in love with her before her time is up.

THE CAT’S FANCY was my first published single title novel, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.  I hope folks check it out! 

ALEXA: Whats the first book you remember reading? 

JK: Considering how central books are to my life, you’d think I’d have a good answer for that.  I don’t.  I remember a mish-mash of books from Dick and Jane on up.  The two that were the first to really impact me, though, were A Wrinkle In Time (though even before that, I was addicted to Half Magic and the other books by the same author) and the Nancy Drew series.

I think Nancy is the reason I love series books so much.  I got the first one for my tenth birthday.  I read the whole series, checking off books from the list printed in the back.  I’d glom stores and make my dad go out of his way so I could search for one I needed in random bookstores.  Kids have it so easy now!  My daughter needs the fourth Fablehaven book?  No prob.  Poof! It’s on her Kindle!

ALEXA: What's your favorite movie of all time?

JK: I used to say Star Wars, and it’s still true, but I’m not quite as intense about that anymore.  Now I’d have to add Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gone with the Wind, Singing in the Rain, and a number of other movies into the queue.  But Star Wars will always have a special place in my heart.

ALEXA: Which of your characters would you most like to invite to dinner, and why?

JK: Either Kate from the Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series (because I don’t actually want to be her, but at the same time think it would be fun to be her) and Maggie from THE CAT’S FANCY, because who wouldn’t want to chat with someone about how the world looks from a cat’s point of view?

ALEXA: What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

JK: I’m fortunate to get to work at home and I love it, particularly as it gives me the freedom to homeschool my kids, which is absolutely priceless to me.
ALEXA: What's next for you,JK?
JK: Book 6 of Julie's popular demon-hunting soccer mom series, PAX DEMONICA, and Book 5 of the Shadow Keepers series, WHEN DARKNESS HUNGERS.

ALEXA: Lastly, JK, got a question you'd like to ask your fans?

JK: If you could be any supernatural creatures, what would you pick, and why?

(Folks, JK is offering a signed copy of WHEN PASSION HUNGERS AND CARPE DEMON to one lucky commenter!)

ALEXA: JK, thanks for joining us today.

JK: Thanks so much for having me!!!

Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author   may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address. 

Her real name is Clover

Charity Greves has the gift of healing. So when a wounded bleeding Highlander materializes out of the air into her kitchen, she does what any rational free-thinking herbalist under the same circumstances would do--she heals him. She didn’t expect to be drawn back to the 13^th Century where a dangerous whacked-out witch holds the handsome Highlander captive.

Nor is she prepared to be drawn so strongly to him that she’ll do whatever it takes to save him. 

~ ~ ~
Yes, her real name is Clover and she happens to be my good bud from my writer's group (NTRWA). We volunteer together and chat and encourage. She always has a smile on her face and she's an awesome author.

HIGHLAND SORCERER

Red Rover Books

ISBN:  147008827

CURIOUS ABOUT THE MAGIC?

She came to him—in his dreams—all creamy skin and lustrous dark hair. He'd wanted to feel the softness of it when he'd first seen her, but coming as a beggar in search of a Healer Enchantress's aid, he had refrained. 

He walked in the dreamworld now and she a manifestation conjured by his mind. 

She ran to him, across the moor, mist curling at her hips, teasing cloudy swirls around her breech-covered legs until she stood before him, slender hands upon his crisp white shirt. 

"Toren," she breathed.  

He smiled at the unusual inflection she gave to his name and since she was but a dream, he indulgently dragged his fingers into her hair, sighing at the silkiness. 

"Toren, I need you to tell me where you are. I'm going to help you." 

What's this? Toren grazed the back of his knuckles along her cheek. His dream conjured sorceress shouldn't look so troubled. 

He wanted her to be pleasant, pliant, a lovely peaceful image to hold on to, to focus his mind on during the worst of what Aldreth would surely bring. He didn't know how long he'd be given uninterrupted sleep and he intended to make the most of it. Toren willed his dream to fall into order, arranging his thoughts so that the focused lines above Charity's pert little nose would smooth. 

Her lips tightened in exasperation. "Toren, focus please. Tell me where you are. Where is the dungeon? Within a castle? Tell me how to free you." 

Toren pulled back, holding her at arm's length to really get a good look at her. Impatience and sharp intelligence stared back through disarming violet eyes, filled with far too much life to be a dream-induced manifestation.

"Are ye dream-trailing?" 

CURIOUS ABOUT CLOVER?

Inspired by her love of Louis L'Amour heroes, Clover (yeah, that's her real name), packed up and moved to Texas where she found a real live Texan of her own. She's been there ever since where she and Pat (who else would a Clover marry but a Patrick?) have one beautiful daughter and four not-so-beautiful, but extremely handsome and always busy boys.

I WAS CURIOUS SO I ASKED…

ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?
CLOVER: When a good story grabs me, I will get lost in it well after I’ve finished it. I think about a character and continue worrying over him for a long time. Like a valued friend, I don’t let go of strong characters easily. And when an author brings something to that level of hanging on, I’ll read everything she’s written.  

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading? 

CLOVER: Wow. Gonna have to go way back for that. I was reading at a very young age and I do remember reading a book about a porpoise not having toes, though it does have a nose.  I must have read that silly book at least a thousand times. But it was Andre Norton’s short story “Sand Sister” that got me hooked on fantasy, and yeah, I’ve read and loved a good portion of everything she has out there. (That woman is really prolific.) I get lost in her characters and books every time. Her books are categorized as fantasy, but to me, she’s the pioneer for “paranormal romance” before that was labeled as a genre. 

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?

CLOVER: Acceptance. When you truly love someone, you accept everything about them…all the quirks, drama, even things that annoy you. And when you feel accepted in turn, barriers come down and you let yourself be truly open and loved.  

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

CLOVER: Sleeping Beauty. I’m not sure why because she isn’t exactly the kick-butt heroine I’m usually drawn to. It must go back to childhood memories of watching the Disney version and wanting to be a princess dancing with birds in the woods. I really have no idea. Time for some self –reflection maybe.   

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?

CLOVER: Toren is a powerful sorcerer who during the course of most of the story, can’t access his magic; yet even though he is at the most vulnerable he’s ever been in his life, he is still willing to endure whatever he has to in order to protect his family and clan.  

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?

CLOVER: I read every day with several books going at a time stuffed in different locations like my car, one on the treadmill, and yes, okay, there’s always one in the bathroom. 

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

CLOVER: My family used to houseboat a lot and I loved napping in the bow’s hull during a long excursion to the sound of the engine and bounce and slap of water.  

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

CLOVER: I love a good fairy tale, but if I had to choose, it’s action adventure hand’s down.  

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

CLOVER: Whenever a fantasy-based character says “Okay”. I know it shouldn’t, but that drives me insane. Unless that hero was born after 1840 when Martin Van Buren (Old Kinderhook) used it in his presidential campaign, “okay” is off-limits. Time-travelers may use it of course. 

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: Clover, can you explain where any of your fantasy ideas come from? Or are the characters just there?

CLOVER’S GOTTA ANSWER: It’s usually a fantastical creature in a weird situation that pops into my head. I’ll want to write about a merman who has to be raised far from the ocean…or have a hero figure out how to get rid of a Banshee after he’s heard her scream…or have a heroine travel through time without just happening to know when the next eclipse will happen or or or… with fantasy, the only limitation is your imagination.  

SATISFY YOUR CURIOSITY

Email   Website   Facebook    Twitter @CloverAutrey   Goodreads    Blogs     

UP NEXT:

The Vampire and The Highland Empath

The second book in the Highland Sorcery novels. Great title, right? *laughing* I never thought I’d write about a vampire. This story focuses on Toren’s sister, an empath who got caught in a sleeping enchantment for almost a thousand years. (Huh, there’s that Sleeping Beauty fixation creeping in.) The venom of a vampire is the only thing that can wake her, but turns out there are worse evils than vampires when she awakens in 1941 Scotland with a supernatural Nazi on her tail.

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?  I would love to give three commenters an Advanced Reader’s pdf version of The Vampire and The Highland Empath being released in June. They’d be the first to get it.

Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be emailed to international participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

Don’t forget to FOLLOW us on Twitter (#GetLostStories) or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join me next Wednesday when I host Tina Beckett. And come back tomorrow when Alexa hosts Julie Kenner or is that JK Beck?  ~Angi  

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?

Now that you have me self-analyzing why I like Sleeping Beauty and how she’s nothing like the heroines I gravitate toward (gee thanks, Angi)-- I’d like to know if y’all’s favorite fairy tale heroine resembles the heroines you like to read about or are they very different. 

Get Lost in A Heart that Dares with Jill Limber

A Heart That Dares

Jill Limber 
Boroughs Publishing Group


Amanda Giles, an unconventional and free-spirited young artist, has to fulfill a deathbed promise to her brother before she can take up her life as a Bohemian in New York. She finds herself swept up in the perilous life of an undercover espionage agent for the Army of the North with handsome young Army Captain. Daniel McGrath. Daniel knows his preoccupation with the woman posing as his wife puts them both in grave danger, but he finds Amanda has no intention of abandoning their mission. As the danger increases, Daniel's most vital objective is to secure a future for himself and the woman he loves.

An Interview with Jill Limber


Jill Limber, a native of Southern California, lives in San Diego with her husband and a trio of dogs. She has been writing romance for twenty years. As a child, some of her tall tales got her in trouble, but now, thankfully, she get paid for them. One of her favorite pastimes is to gather friends and family for good food, conversation and plenty of laughter.


Jillian: How often to you get lost in a story? 
Jill: If the writing is good it happens every time, and I consider good books gifts. You know, the stories that you are up reading at three in the morning even when you have to go to work the next day? Pure pleasure.
Jillian: What’s the first book you remember reading? 
Jill: I have read everything I could get my hands on since I learned to read at age six, but the book that had the greatest impact on me was Gone With The Wind. I read that when I was twelve and fell in love with romance. It changed my life. 
Jillian: What turns you off like nothing else? 
Jill: Mean people. I have a very live-and-let-live philosophy about life and mean people make me crazy.
Jillian: Where do you read and how often? 
Jill: Every day. I love to read.
Jillian: What sound or noise do you love? 
Jill: A giggling child. I love to hear children having fun. There is such a pure joy to that sound.
Jillian: Describe your favorite kind of hero to read/write? 
Jill: I adore a really competent man—you know, the guy who can do anything and do it well. Very big turn-on for me. 
Jillian: Be honest, when reading 1st person...do you miss the hero’s POV? 
Jill: Absolutely. I think it is very hard to write a romance in first person and pull it off.
Jillian: If you were given a chance to travel to the past where would you go and specifically why?   
Jill: I’d go back to 1861 and walk in the front door of the White House and ask to talk to Abraham Lincoln. According to history he was that accessible. I’d ask him why he is willing to sacrifice the country to uphold the union. I’d love to know what his reasoning was and how hard it was for him to make that decision.

Jill has a question for fans and readers: Who is your favorite romance hero, and if you could go on a date with him, where would you choose to go? I'm giving away a digital copy of A Heart that Dares to a lucky commenter chosen at random. Good luck!

Jill's books are available at Boroughs Publishing Group at boroughspublishinggroup.com and Amazon. Website: JillLimber.com
 Twitter: @Jill_Limber

Hot, Hot, Hot for New Author Jennifer Bernard

Hot For Fireman

Avon

ISBN: 978-0-06-208897-0

I’m so excited to welcome a fabulous new author, and my very good friend, Jennifer Bernard to Get Lost in a Story. Jennifer’s debut novel The Fireman Who Loved Me garnered amazing reviews and now her second book Hot For Fireman is doing the same. Join me in welcoming Jennifer and the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel! And, as a special bonus, Jennifer will be giving away an autographed copy of The Fireman Who Loved Me to two lucky commenters today! If you want to be entered in the drawing be sure to leave your e-mail in your post!

Meet Jennifer

Jennifer Bernard is a graduate of Harvard and a former news promo producer. The child of academics, she confounded her family by preferring romance novels to all other books. She left big city life for true love in Alaska, where she now lives with her husband and stepdaughters.  She’s no stranger to book success, as she also writes erotic novellas under a naughty secret name not to be mentioned at family gatherings.

Hot For Fireman   Katie Dane knows better than to mix business and pleasure, but her new bartender, Ryan Blake, is simply irresistible... and besides, she doesn't plan on working there much longer. That's if things go according to plan. But they never do, do they?

Ryan, the sexy heartbreaker of Station 1, is determined to rejoin the force. Tending bar in the meantime seems like the perfect idea, especially when it means he can spend his nights working next to his sultry new boss... if only the bar didn't keep catching fire.

Throw in a grizzled career criminal, a luscious-bodied barfly, a Bachelor Fireman bachelorette party, a flash-fire romance, and a million-dollar money pot, and suddenly playing with fire never seemed so much like falling in love.

Read an excerpt from Chapter One:

Ryan Blake needed a drink. Preferably somewhere no one would recognize him. Finding such a spot in the sun-blasted town of San Gabriel on a July afternoon didn’t come easy. The town had quaint little crafts shops up the whazoo, but so far he hadn’t spotted a single gritty, anonymous hellhole where he could prepare himself for his meeting with Captain Harry Brody. 

Right on cue, he passed Fire Station 1, home of the famous Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel and legendary for the heroics of its captain and crew. Time was, he’d been on the frontlines of those life-saving, death-defying heroics.  

He slowed his pickup truck and willed himself to turn into the parking lot, drink or no drink. Lord knew, his Chevy had made the turn so many times it could probably do it without him. But this time, it drove straight past the squat brick building with the cheerful red geraniums planted out front.

Face it, Ryan wasn’t ready for his appointment with Captain Brody yet. Wasn’t ready to beg for his job back. He needed a goddamn drink first.

A green and white Starbucks sign caught his eye. Several cuties in sundresses gathered around the outdoor tables like hummingbirds around a feeder. In olden days he would have strolled right in and spent the rest of the afternoon flirting with one--or all--of them.

But unless Starbucks had started adding tequila to their iced mocha lattes, the girls would have to get along with him.

He scanned the street ahead with its Spanish-style stucco office buildings and parched palm trees. Too bad he’d never been much of a drinker. He had no idea where to find the kind of drink-yourself-stupid-on-a-Wednesday-afternoon, out-of-the-way, loserville place he needed right now.

And then, as if the phrase “loserville” had conjured it out of his imagination, the sign for the Hair of the Dog appeared on the left side of the street. Towns in the sunny California suburban desert didn’t have dark back alleys. But the Hair of the Dog did its best to inhabit one. Located on a corner, it seemed to cringe away from its only neighbor, a dry cleaner’s called Milt and Myrna’s Laundry, whose name was spelled out on a marquee along with an inspirational saying, “The bigger the dream, the bigger the reward.”

If the Hair of the Dog had a dream, it would probably be to wake up as a medieval tavern. Faced with weathered wood, it had black planks nailed at random angles across its front. Either someone had done a clever job making the Hair of the Dog look decrepit or it was about to collapse. It looked like the kind of place old geezers spent their Social Security checks, the kind of place frat boys invaded when they felt like slumming and pretty girls avoided like poison because merely walking in gave them wrinkles. The kind of place guaranteed to be serving alcohol at two in the afternoon.

Perfect.

Ryan pulled over and parked his Chevy as close as legal to a fire hydrant. Silly habit left over from his firefighting days, when he’d always wanted to be close to any potential action.

Time to get blotto.

When he pushed open the door, the dim light stopped him in his tracks. As did the hostile voice addressing him with an unfriendly, “What do you want?” 

“Tequila,” answered Ryan. “The cheap stuff.”

“I’m not the bartender, moron. I’m the bouncer.”

Ryan’s eyes adjusted enough to make out a slouchy, dark-haired guy about his age who looked too skinny to be a bouncer.

“This place needs a bouncer?” He surveyed the interior of the Hair of the Dog. Just as crappy as the outside promised. Everything was painted in shades of black ranging from soot to shoe-polish, except for the booths, which seemed to be a formerly hunter-green color. Just as he’d expected, a motley collection of oldsters slumped on the bar stools. He squinted. Was that an oxygen tank? The old man attached to it gave him a snaggle-toothed grin. He nodded back.

Yep, this place was perfect.

“My so-called job is to weed out the jerkwads,” said the bouncer.

“Yeah? What’s your name?”

The friendly question seemed to throw the dude off. “Doug.” He added a menacing frown.

“Hey, Doug, nice to meet you. I’m Ryan.” He shook the bouncer’s hand before the guy knew what was coming. “You’re doing a great job, keep up the good work. How ‘bout I buy you a shot when you get off?” He breezed past Doug with the confidence of someone who’d been in too many fights to seek one out with someone who wouldn’t even provide a satisfying brawling experience. If Ryan wanted a fight, he knew how to find one. Right now, he just wanted a drink. 

The bouncer seemed to get the message. Ryan heard no more out of him as he made his way into the darkness up ahead.

Was this a bar or a haunted house? Maybe the men on the barstools were ghosts still hanging around for a last call that never came. A couple of them certainly looked ghoulish enough, although the intensely unflattering light provided by the overhead fluorescents might be misleading. Maybe they were captains of industry enjoying the tail end of a three-martini lunch. Maybe the atmosphere added thirty years and several age-related illnesses.

A dark-haired girl rose from behind the scuffed-wood bar, her head clearing it by barely a foot. She fixed snapping black eyes on him, nearly making him take a step back. What had he done? Why did everyone seem irritated that a customer had walked into their bar? The girl had big dark eyes, straight eyebrows like two ink marks and tumbled hair pushed behind her ears. She would have been pretty if not for that frown. No, scratch that. She was plenty pretty just as she was.

He gave her the smile that had made so many women his eager laundry-doers, tax-preparers, and back-massagers. Not to mention other parts of his anatomy.

She scowled even harder at him. And geez, was that a snarl? Maybe she was some kind of creature of the night, hanging out with the ghosts.

“Well? Are you going to order or just smile for the security camera we don’t have?” Her throaty voice, though grouchy, set off a pleasant shiver at the base of his spine.

For more of this excerpt go to http://jenniferbernard.net/hot-for-fireman.php

Time for Questions

LIZ: How often do you get lost in a story?

JENNIFER:   First of all, thank you so much for having me! I spend an outrageous amount of time lost in a story -- and that's not even counting whichever story I happen to be writing. I've been that way since I first learned how to read. I was always the kid with her nose in a book. I get so immersed in my favorite books that it's disorienting to look up and discover that I'm not in Regency England or downtown Manhattan or Hogwarts (if I happen to be reading to my kid.) 

LIZ: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

JENNIFER:  Cinderella. My sisters are wonderful, not jealous and mean, and I never had to sweep out a hearth. But I love that idea of being transformed from a mistreated afterthought to the belle of the ball, catching the eye of the prince and inspiring him to search everywhere for his elusive love. I think we all feel unappreciated at times. We want someone to see our true selves and love us for them. We want someone to treasure us so much they'll search the kingdom for us. The Cinderella story taps into that desire so powerfully.

LIZ: What one thing about your hero drives his heroine crazy? And what one thing about your heroine drives her hero nuts?

JENNIFER: Ryan is a very handsome guy, the sexy heartbreaker type, although he himself doesn't care anything about his looks. But it irritates Katie that she finds herself attracted to someone so ridiculously good-looking, someone who all the girls sigh over. It takes her a while to see past that exterior to the vulnerable, big-hearted person inside. On the other hand, it drives Ryan crazy that Katie is spending all her time on something she hates -- namely, running her family's bar, which is always one step away from disaster. He admires her loyalty to her family, but also wants her to stand up for her own wishes.

LIZ: What sound or noise do you love?

JENNIFER:  The snort is a very unappreciated sound. You can say so much with a snort. Skeptical? Amused? Annoyed? Try a snort, and you can get your point across without saying a word. I also love the whooshing of wind through tall grass --  whispering secrets in a language you might understand if you listen closely enough.

LIZ: If you were given a chance to travel to the past where would you go and specifically why?

JENNIFER: I'd go back to the year I was thirteen. I'd tell myself that I wasn't hideous, as I imagined, that boys would like me some day, that I might occasionally tear myself away from my book, and that I should try smiling more. But knowing 13-year old me, I'd just roll my eyes at myself and tell myself I had no idea what I was talking about and how it sucked to be me. But since that time in my past involved a lot of writing, maybe it all worked out the way it was meant to.

LIZ: What will always make you smile, even on a bad day?

JENNIFER:  The sky. I walk outside, tilt my head up, and take in whatever's happening up there. The clouds, the birds, the air … it's good to be alive, even on a crappy day.

LIZ: What is your biggest vice?

JENNIFER: It's a long list that includes anything sugary and anything sparkly. But at the top of the list would be laziness. If I let myself, I can laze away hours and days. I rarely give into it, but it's always there, waiting for me to take a darn vacation. Get me anywhere near a hammock and I'm doomed.

LIZ: What’s your favorite kid joke?

JENNIFER: Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine.

LIZ: What do you hope for the future of romance publishing?

JENNIFER: I hope romance starts getting the respect it deserves. It's such a wonderful genre that brings joy and comfort to so many people, it drives me crazy to see it disregarded or even scorned.  

LIZ: What’s up next for you?

JENNIFER:  SEX AND THE SINGLE FIREMAN will come out in early 2013. I'll also have an e-novella called ONE FINE FIREMAN coming out in December 2012.

LIZ HAS GOTTA ASK: What’s the most personal thing you’ve ever put in one of your books?

JENNIFER’S GOTTA ANSWER:  My heart and soul! Oh, and my blood, sweat and tears. But aside from that, I gave Ryan, the sexy, manly fireman in HOT FOR FIREMAN, my childhood love for the book "The Little Prince." That book meant a lot to me when I was growing up. Ryan had a rough upbringing and loves the book for different reasons, but nonetheless it's something close to my heart that I passed on to him.

Jennifer’s Question for You!

What quality in a romance hero is most important to you? 

(And remember, Jennifer has two autographed copies of  her debut novel The Fireman Who Loved Me to give to commenters today! Include your e-mail in your post to be eligible to win.)

Stay in touch with Jennifer:  

E-mail: JenniferBernard.author@gmail.com

Website: http://JenniferBernard.net

Twitter: @Jen_Bernard

FB: http://Facebook.com/JenniferBernardBooks 

Blogs: http://JenniferBernardBooks.blogspot.com