Author Jill Shalvis Visits

It’s my pleasure to welcome bestselling author Jill Shalvis as the special guest blogger here today at Thoughts in Progress as she makes a stop on her virtual book tour.

Jill’s newest release, THE SWEETEST THING, debuts Friday, April 1. Here’s a brief synopsis of it: Two Men Are One Too Many . . .

Tara has a thousand good reasons not to return to the little coastal town of Lucky Harbor, Washington. Yet with her life doing a major crash-and-burn, anywhere away from her unfulfilled dreams and sexy ex-husband will do. As Tara helps her two sisters get their newly renovated inn up and running, she finally has a chance to get things under control and come up with a new plan for her life.

But a certain tanned, green-eyed sailor has his own ideas, such as keeping Tara hot, bothered . . . and in his bed. And when her ex wants Tara back, three is a crowd she can't control-especially when her deepest secret reappears out of the blue. Now Tara must confront her past and discover what she really wants. If she's lucky, she might just find that everything her heart desires is right here in Lucky Harbor.

Thanks to Jill and Brianne at Grand Central Publishing, I have 3 copies of THE SWEETEST THING to giveaway. Please see the end of the post for the giveaway guidelines.

And in other news, Jill is coming out with a cookbook which will be available only as an eBook. The cookbook, HEATING UP THE KITCHEN, ties in to THE SWEETEST THING, whose heroine is a cook. The cookbook will be on sale April 15th for only 99 cents. Be sure to check out the HEATING UP THE KITCHEN widget in the sidebar. It includes Jill’s favorite recipes and Chapter 1 of her book.

As part of her book tour, Jill has answered some questions for me about her writing and her new book.

MASON - What drew you to write in this genre?

JILL - I’ve always read romance so it was a very natural fit for me to write in the genre.  Plus, I like a happy ever after.  J

MASON - How did you do research for this book?
 
JILL - I did a lot of cooking (and eating!!!) because my heroine is a chef.  In hindsight, I should have made my heroine a professional slacker.

MASON - If you could change places with any of your characters for a day, who would it be and why?
 
JILL - Oh Tara for sure. Because I want Ford for myself.

MASON - What would you like readers to take away from your book? Is there a message or just plain, fun reading?
 
JILL - It’s just plain fun reading but if the reader comes away from THE SWEETEST THING believing in love, then so much the better.

MASON - What can readers look for next from you?
 
JILL - HEAD OVER HEELS comes out in late November.

Jill, thanks so much for guest blogging here today. Learning more background on a book is always interesting. I think I’d like your type of research.

Now for a bit of background on Jill. She is a USA Today bestselling author and lives in a small town in the Sierras also run by quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books are, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill's bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website at JillShalvis.com for a complete book list and for a daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountain adventures visit http://jillshalvis.com/blog. She can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JillShalvis and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JillShalvis.

The guidelines for the giveaways are as follows: To enter this giveaway, send an e-mail to me (mcbookshelf@gmail.com) with the subject line, “Win THE SWEETEST THING.” Your message should include your name and mailing address. The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only and no post office box addresses can be accepted. In addition, Grand Central advises winners that they will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if they win the same title in two or more contests, they will receive only one copy of the title in the mail. (Winners here have always be great about letting me know if they have already won the book somewhere else so another winner can be selected. However, this announcement is something that has to be passed along from Grand Central). And, just so you know, I don’t share the mailing information or use it for any other purpose. The deadline to enter this giveaway for a chance at one of 3 copies of THE SWEETEST THING (ISBN:9780446571623), a 384 page paperback, will be 8 p.m. (EST) on Friday, April 8.

What are your thoughts on romance books? Do you like stories that have ‘happy ever after’ endings no matter what genre they are?