Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

Ask Adam: Print release

Just the other day I had to pinch myself. After waiting since about forever, I received a package in the post. Not just a regular package. No. This one was filled with books. My books. My author copies of the print version of Ask Adam. Forgive me. I have to write that one more time. My author copies of the print version of Ask Adam.

See, even after having taken out one of the copies, and reading it from cover to cover, I still have difficulty believing I am a print author. But the exhilarating truth is I am, and if you like the look of Ask Adam, you can buy your own copy on the 29th of July when it becomes available.

ASK ADAM:
Can one wild night of passion turn into the romance of a lifetime?

Lexi Tanner’s got a major problem: AJ Riley, the man she’s about to approach for a hefty donation, turns out to be the stranger she shared a night of steamy sex with less than a week past. She’ll do anything to raise money for a children’s charity – anything except sell herself. Now how can she ask AJ for money without it seeming like he’s paying for sexual favors?

If there’s one thing the past has taught Adam “AJ” Riley, it’s that loving someone can only lead to pain. He knows he shouldn’t feel so attracted to Lexi, and he definitely shouldn’t trust a woman who’d sleep with a man one week and approach him for money the next. Yet somehow Lexi breaks through all his barriers. His instincts tell him to run but his heart wants to give Lexi – and love – a second chance. How can he let go of his tragic past and still protect his battered heart?

Warning, this title contains the following: steamy sex, graphic language and red-hot romance.

Ask Adam has received fantastic reviews, including recommended reads at: Joyfully Reviewed, Fallen Angel Reviews, Cupid’s Library Reviews and My Book Cravings.
You can see all the reviews here.

For more info about the book, check out my website, or my author page at Samhain

Jess

You write what???

The other day my seven year old son walked into my office while I was updating my website. He stared at the computer screen for a few minutes, perplexed, and then asked: “Mom, who is Jess Dee?”

Turns out he’s seen the name a few times, and has no idea why it keeps popping up in my office. Now, the truth is, he has no idea who Jess Dee is. He knows me by my real name, and as Mom. So how do I explain that Jess Dee is not only his mother, but an author who writes erotic romance?

The last time I blogged here at Samhain, I mentioned that my in-laws were staying with us, and I had gone to great lengths to hide my writing persona from them. Pity I haven’t gone to such extremes to hide my other self from my children. Okay, fair enough, my seven year old has only just turned seven. His reading, while advanced for his age (of course it’s advanced, he’s my son) is still fair to poor. He is not going to be picking up a book by Jess Dee anytime soon and paging through the contents.

But…what happens when he is older, when picking up an erotic romance is not just a curious action of a young boy, but the developmentally appropriate lusting of a teenager? Yep, he’d probably prefer the lovely, shiny pictures he’d find in a magazine to a soppy romance, but heck, if it has sex in it, won’t anything do? Even a love story?

How do I then explain to him, that: “Yes darling, Mom did write that book? And yes, I did use all those naughty words. And yes,” will nod the affirmative, “I do know what sex is.”

Isn’t it a fact that parents don’t know about sex? Certainly they don’t indulge in the activity. I know my parents never did. Ever. Their four children were all quite incidental to their marriage. (Although I do still wonder sometimes how we got here.) How can I possibly explain to my son that actually, yes, parents do know about these things, and more than that, this particular parent writes about them.

What is the average adolescent boy to do? Grab as many of his mother’s books as possible and show every other adolescent boy he knows the “good bits?” Or grab as many of his mother’s books as possible — and bury them?

I’m glad I still have time to come up with a solution or two. I figure I have a good six or seven years on my hands (and please, don’t disillusion me about that. Even if it’s a fantasy, it’s my fantasy, and it keeps me calm.) But if you do have some advice, or some personal experience, I would love to hear it. Any counsel or wise words of wisdom will help.

Jess
href="http://www.jessdee.com"> Visit my website
href="http://jessdee.ordpress.com"> Visit my Blog

Does you mother-in-law know what you do?

Yesterday my in-laws arrived from Canada for a one month visit, prompting my question: when do I get a chance to write over the next four weeks? Have you ever tried to drop the good, capable, loving daughter-in-law routine for a couple of hours, and hit the keyboard, to adopt the sexy, passionate, erotic romance writer persona? I have. Several times. It hasn’t work yet.

When I write my love scenes I need absolute privacy. Not a single soul around. Just me, and my computer. (Oh, okay, Luigi the dog is allowed into my office — but no one else.) It’s not just the love scenes I need privacy for. It’s the whole book, as every chapter in every book invariably leads up to, or away from, those love scenes. The building of the tension, the secret looks, the unexpected touches, the jittery bellies, it’s all incorporated, all that underlying sexual tension. How can I conjure it up if there’s someone else around? And more importantly, how can I conjure up that level of sensuality when my father-in-law might walk into my office at any minute?

It’s no surprise that while my extended family knows me really well, they have never met Jess Dee. Yes, they’re aware I write romance, and some even know I write hot, but I have done my best to make sure DH’s parents never learn the truth. Imagine what they’d think if they knew what I wrote about. Tell, me, please, how do I look my mother-in-law in the eye when I’m half way through a, um, juicy description of my hero and heroine in, well, let’s just say a rather compromising position, and she wants to know where I keep the whipped cream? (All right, the mayonnaise. ;) Whipped cream just seemed to fit in better there.)

Then there’s the terrifying fear that I will have to leave the house for whatever reason, and forget to close the file I’m working on. Of course the in-laws need to check their email, and my computer is right there… AARRRGGGGHHHH! I can’t even think about it.

Don’t get me wrong. My in-laws are wonderful, wonderful people, and though some may think it impossible, I love having them stay with us. It’s just that for some reason, they seem to think I am wonderful too, and I would hate to mess with their perception of me. Tell me, please, how could a wonderful girl – married to their son, no less – fill the pages of a book with words and concepts like that? I am, after all, the good, capable, loving daughter-in-law, and I intend to keep that persona!!!

Jess

BTW, I’d love it if you popped in to visit me at:
My website and my blog

Happy New Year

So, today is the 29th of December. Just two days to go until 2008 rolls around. OMG — how fast did this year go? Where did it disappear to? And can you believe it’s time to bring out the party hats again and cheer in the new year?

I found the first photograph in the Sydney Morning Herald. It’s a pic of the 2005/2006 new year celebrations.

What's in a name?

You know the old cliché about not judging a book by it’s cover? Well, how about not judging an author by her pen name?

Ah, you’re wondering who’s been judged. That’s easy: I have. See it’s all in my name. Jess Dee. Sound simple enough? Sigh. It’s not. Wanna hear a secret? My pen name hasn’t always been Jess Dee. Not two months ago, it was Jessica Dee. So why the change you ask?

Sit down, grab a coffee, and I’ll tell you the whole sorry story.

*Ask Adam* - A new release

It’s funny how the worst case scenarios (you know the ones where you totally hit the depths of despair and think you’ll never smile again?) often turn into the best. Take Ask Adam for instance. When I first submitted the book to another publisher, they grabbed it. They already had the prequel, Photo Opportunity, and now they were going to release Ask Adam as well. I was in heaven.

Then disaster struck. The publisher changed its contract, and the new one was pretty lousy. I had no choice, I couldn’t sign. Which left me heart broken. I was forced to take Ask Adam elsewhere. This wonderful two-part series, Photo Op and Ask Adam were about to be split.