THE 'DESIRE' OF BRENDA JACKSON

Brenda Jackson, NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author was born in Jacksonville, Florida.  She is a proud graduate of William Raines High School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Jacksonville University.  She worked in management for State Farm Insurance where she recently retired after thirty-seven years.  She married her high school sweetheart, Gerald, thirty-nine years ago and they have two sons, Gerald Jr. and Brandon, ages thirty-four and thirty-two, respectively.  

Her professional writing career began in 1995 with the release of her first book, Tonight and Forever.  Since then she has written over 75 titles, which includes a made-for-television movie by BET, One Special Moment.  She has received numerous national and literary awards and has made many trail-blazing accomplishments, which includes being the first African-American author to make the New York Times Bestseller’s List and the USA Today's Bestseller's List in the romance genre.

She was a 2012 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Fiction for her book, A Silken Thread, and was recently named RWA Nora Robert’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for 2012.

She has been featured in several magazines including Essence, Sister-2-Sister, Today’s Black Woman, Ebony, Romantic Times, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day and Cosmopolitan.

Inspired by her love of romance and dedication to her numerous readers, Brenda formed her own publishing company, the Madaris Publishing Company.  She is proud of her national book club – the Brenda Jackson Book Club – that has a membership of over  2,000 readers.  Brenda also joins her readers every two years for a Madaris/Westmoreland family reunion cruise to various destinations.

One of Brenda’s entities, Madaris Entertainment, has joined forces with her son Gerald’s production company, Five Alive Films, to bring viewers the best in romantic movies based on Brenda’s award winning books. 

She added a director’s hat to her list of accomplishment with her first movie titled, Truly Everlasting.  It was a huge success and has been picked up by Warner Brothers and will be in stores nationwide on May 15, 2012.  For more information visit, www.trulyeverlasting.com.
A listing of her books can be found on her website – www.brendajackson.net.  

FEELING THE HEAT

A brand-new Westmoreland novel.

Harlequin Desire

ISBN: ISBN-10: 0373837763

Their affair ended long ago. But when Dr. Micah Westmoreland must work with his old flame, the heat between them is undeniable. This time, he'll do whatever it takes to make her his.

READ MORE OF THE DESIRE

"Haven't you learned your lesson yet, Micah?" 


MEET BRENDA JACKSON
ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?

BRENDA: All the time.  My stories are characters driven so I get absorbed ib my characters as I write the story. 

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

BRENDA: I’ve read a lot of books, but the one I remember reading that made an impact on me was The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.  It impacted me so much that I named my youngest son after the hero (Brandon).  After that I read Shanna, and to this day it is my all time favorite book. Had I read that book first my son would be Ruark.  

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

BRENDA: Sweetie 

ANGI: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you’ve met?

BRENDA: My husband.  I consider him as my real-life hero. 

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

BRENDA: Beauty and the Beast   

ANGI: What’s your favorite cartoon character?

BRENDA: Yogi Bear 

ANGI: What turns you off like nothing else?

BRENDA: Someone smacking on gum. 

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?

BRENDA: Due to my writing schedule, not as much as I like, but when I do read it’s by my inside pool.  I can sit by the pool at any time regardless of the weather. 

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

BRENDA: Sound of the ocean 

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

BRENDA: Batman 

ANGI: What was the first story you remember writing?

BRENDA: The ones I used to write for my classmates when I was 14. 

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

BRENDA: Sooner or Later 

ANGI: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

BRENDA: Great! 

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK:  It’s DESIRE week and we’re celebrating our teammate CAT SCHIELD’S release of Unfinished Business. So I’m going to play off her title and see if you’ve got any… “Unfinished Business.” Is there a character you’ve never given a story that just has to be shared?

BRENDA’S GOTTA ANSWER: Bane Westmoreland.  I get at least a couple of emails a day about his story.  It’s coming.  I’m giving him a chance to grow up and mature.

UP NEXT:

Courting Justice is my new Madaris novel that’s coming out in June 2012.

FIND BRENDA:

Website    Facebook    Twitter    YouTube    The Movie

BRENDA WILL BE DRAWING FOR A SURPRISE GIVE-AWAY, so leave your comment!
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.

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. This weekend, Lena Diaz' interview will replay (due to technical difficulties on Tuesday). ~Angi

HAVE YOU GOT A QUESTION FOR BRENDA? Go for it!