Wednesday, March 30, 2011

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?


12 comments:

  1. Jill, thanks again for stopping by and guest blogging today. Wishing you much success with your writing.

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  2. Congrats to Jill on the new release and on the RITA nominations. I do want stories to have HEAs no matter the genre.

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  3. Hi Mason and Jill .. another aspect to marketing - the book with the ecookbook .. like that idea. The Sweetest Thing - sounds like a great read .. thanks for the recommendation .. and yes I do like Happy Ever After endings .. cheers Hilary

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  4. In answer to your question... I'm more fond of life ending with happily ever after than novels. Novels don't have to turn out okay. I like to mix it up a bit.

    Lou

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  5. I like romances with happily ever afters for the most part. Mysteries and other genres don't need them to be good
    msboatgal at aol.com

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  6. Thanks so much for the giveaway. A happily-ever-after ending is not a requirement for me. However, I like the ending to be conclusive.

    monagarg@yahoo.com

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  7. Mason - Thanks for hosting Jill.


    Jill - Thanks for sharing some of the "behind the scenes" work you did to write The Sweetest Thing. I think characters are much more "real" if the author knows something about the character's profession, etc..

    And that's a creative idea to do a cookbook to go with it! I wish you much success.

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  8. Mason and Jill - thank you.

    The Sweetest Thing sounds a delight and I've added it my list of books to look for - yay!

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  9. I do like happy endings, especially after a roundabout way of getting there. And I really like the tie-in with her ebook. It adds a great dimension to her novel.

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  10. More than a happy ending, I love books with a sense of humor and well developed characters. With mysteries, it matter. With life, I love happy endings. Loved 'Simply Irresistible'and I can easily see how it led to other books. Now a Jill shavis fan.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

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  11. Thanks so much for having me here!

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  12. Congrats on the release!

    I do like the HEA no matter what genre. It really doesnt have to be romance to have a happy ending.

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

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I'd love to hear your thoughts on today's post. Thanks for dropping by.