Welcome to the fifth installment of “You’ll Never Believe…”
For those that don’t know what these new featurettes will be about, here is the scoop! “You’ll Never Believe…” will feature the weirdest questions or encounters that authors have been asked/had. Might be about their books or random things, like meetings in a bathroom where someone asked what brand of toilet paper they normally use. Fun stuff and inside scoops that an author would not normally share.
This time, it’s about the crazy research. 😉
Ready for Jillian?
You’ll Never Believe… with Jillian Neal
It happens to all of us throughout the week. We meet a mom we’ve never met before at the kiddo’s class Christmas party, or we run into an acquaintance at the grocery store, and they ask: “What do you do for a living?”
I smile and brace myself. “I’m a Romance writer.” A million thoughts instantly scatter across their minds, and it is very evident in their eyes just what they think of my profession. Huffy indignation –oh yeah I’ve gotten lots of that. Excitement—definitely that as well. Panic—do I tell her that I read those books? But the most common emotion is probably curiosity.
The bravest of those curious souls will inevitably grin, sidle closer to me, and ask: “Really? So, uh, how do you do research for that?”
Now, I write Contemporary Series Romance with a light Fantasy twist that involves multiple couples trying to take down a massive criminal organization.
My research involves things like – How to hot wire a car. How to take apart illegal weaponry. How to disarm a vicious opponent. How to kill someone with the energy in the world around you (there’s that fantasy twist.) Which blood vessels and arteries should be blocked first to completely disarm a criminal? If I’m going to hide my characters’ powers in plain sight, what’s the best way to make that plausible?
None of that “research” is quite what they’re going for, however. My sexy scenes are intense, descriptive, and detailed, involve Gifted energies, and they want to know more about that. My own sexy hubby is often asked if he “helps me research.” I’m not certain how he’s responding, but I have seen him high-fived on several occasions. I may need to ask him about that.
And yet, how I research is not at all the most unbelievable question I’ve been asked. Oh heaven’s no. I’ve been asked my favorite position, if my mother is appalled by what I’ve decided to do for a living, and which of my characters’ lives is based on my own. I try to gently remind them that my characters, for the most part, have superpowers and that I’ve never personally taken down a major criminal network.
But if I had to pick one of the most bizarre questions I’ve ever been asked, it would be from an extremely conservative family member that is horrified by what I write. I believe she made it through Chapter 3 of my first book before she started lighting candles for me. Her very pointed question was: “So, Jillian, when exactly did you decide to knowingly and willfully begin sinning?” I stood there with my mouth gaping open for several minutes. I made several unintelligible sounds, but none of them were actual words.
Finally, I just shook my head. I love, love! I love writing all of the scenes in my books. I love writing love scenes. I enjoy the intimate knowledge and understanding you get from a character in the middle of those scenes.
I never answered her question. After all, I have criminals to take down, characters’ lives to weave together and tear apart, and I need to figure out how my guys could absorb fire into their Gifted energies. I have cars to blow up and computer viruses to launch and then dismantle. There are several of those sexy scenes that need my attention. Those aren’t easy to write, you know. I’ll have to come up with an answer to her question later, much, much later.
Exclusive Excerpt:
Fionna bristled and turned her face away from his roving hands. Dan couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t watch it. He couldn’t watch some other guy who had held her, who had seen all of her, have her back in his arms even only for a dance. She was his, his baby, his life, the only person who meant anything to him.
The way her sweet smile formed on her face, those deep sienna eyes that grew dark and hungry from his touch, her adorable nose, her beautiful lips, swollen and ripe when she wanted his kiss. The thin skin of her delicate neck that always held her heady scent.
The graceful curvature of her spine, the way her breasts swelled from her desire, the way her nipples darkened and puckered just for him. The way her hands felt when she clung to him. Her voice soft and raspy as she begged to be taken. The silky perfection of her satin skin. The perfect indentation of her stomach and the beautiful swelling curve of her backside. The dimples that she hated, and he adored, where her back met her luscious ass.
The way she smelled like vanilla and coconut and heady musk. Her lush lower lips, the way they swelled and glistened for him. The sweet, intoxicating flavors of her. He would eat his way through fire just to taste that tight, wet space between her legs that formed around him, like it was made for him alone.
The way she moaned when he filled her. That perfect gasp on his first ragged thrust when he staked his claim. The way she screamed out his name as he brought her to climax. The way her long hair flowed around him when she pulled him deeply into her mouth.
Her long shapely legs and her adorable feet that she thought were unattractive, but Dan thought completed her perfection. It was all his and his alone, along with her heart, her tenderness, her vulnerability, her fears, and her dreams. Her very soul, all his. And some pompous asshole was trying to make a claim. Dan couldn’t sit there and watch him offer her his keycard, yet again, as the song ended.
She is mine. The thought pulsed with every beat of his heart. It reverberated in his soul and solidified his muscles for a fight.
Title: An Angel All His Own (The Gifted Realm Book 5)
Author: Jillian Neal
Expected Date of Publication: November 18th 2014
She’s everything Dan Vindico has ever wanted. Fionna Styler embodies every single thing he told himself could never exist inside of one woman. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, powerful, and she’s his… almost.
No one can know they’re together. The Interfeci would never let her live. It was an inevitability, but Dan simply cannot resist her.
After a vow to somehow keep her safe, Dan learns what that really entails. Betrayal, scandal, millions of dollars, and watching her in the arms of other men are only the beginning, when danger intrudes into every sanctuary he secures.
Dan can’t determine if the demons in his soul or the monsters outside are more vicious, but Fionna’s life depends solely on him. That blasted tomb is ever-present in his mind. Can he save the Angel who managed to pull him from the depths of hell, the one he longs to make his own?
Pre-Order the Book!
An Angel All His Own (The Gifted Realm Book 5)
Other Books in The Gifted Realm series
- Within the Realm (The Gifted Realm Book 1)
- Lessons Learned (The Gifted Realm Book 2)
- Every Action (The Gifted Realm Book 3)
- Rock Bottom (The Gifted Realm Book 4)
Goodreads // Amazon // Barnes & Noble
https://www.goodreads.com/series/123992-the-gifted-realm
https://www.amazon.com/Jillian-Neal/e/B00DO30KTQ/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/jillian-neal
About Jillian Neal
Jillian Neal is a Romance writer with a passion for passion who pens strong, character driven novels, told from the male perspective. Her guys aren’t afraid to let us inside their minds or inside their bedrooms. They’re hot on the trail of a sinister criminal organization when they’re not burning up the bed sheets.
She’s a self-proclaimed ‘Southern girl with a sassy mouth.’ Her coffee addiction is barely legal, and she’s most often running around with her hair and her pen on fire! She’s full of smarts, sass, and sizzle and that’s a lot to get into barely five feet of girl with her head always in the clouds.
Website // Twitter // Facebook // Goodreads
https://jillianneal.com/
https://twitter.com/@jilliannealauth
https://www.facebook.com/jilliannealauthor
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7142355.Jillian_Neal
Not familiar with this series. Looking it up and see pretty much all 5star reviews!!! Comments guys???