Prepare to be captivated by the intricate tapestry of truth, perspective, and human connection in Ava Dellaira’s latest novel, EXPOSURE. In this week’s Jen’s Jewels, we dive deep into the creative mind behind this compelling story that interweaves the lives of four characters across time and place. Dellaira shares her six-year journey crafting this multifaceted narrative, exploring themes of race, grief, and the elusive nature of truth in our polarized world. From the sun-soaked streets of Los Angeles to the bustling energy of Chicago, discover how Dellaira breathes life into her settings and characters, offering readers a poignant reflection on the complexities of human experience. Don’t miss this insightful conversation that peels back the layers of Exposure and offers a glimpse into the passionate process of a rising literary star.   Jenifer Vido: In EXPOSURE, the perspectives of four characters provide a multifaceted view of a single night. How did you balance the different voices to ensure each character’s truth resonated equally? Ava Dellaira: I wrote this book over the course of six years, so I had a lot of time to spend with each of them! During the writing process, I would move freely between the different storylines and…

Book Title: SPELLS TO FORGET US Character Name: Luna Brandt-Gold   How would you describe your family or your childhood? Witches in Boston are all about magical power, so my family arranged for my parents to get married so they could pass down their magic and have a super powerful kid. But the bad news is they don’t really like kids. Or each other. So I spent most of my childhood off by myself and got into a lot of trouble using my magic for pretty self-destructive stuff.   What was your greatest talent? Unfortunately, my greatest talent is definitely my magic. I’m the most powerful witch in Boston. (Actually, I’m supposedly the strongest witch in all the Northeast according to my grandma, but it’s not like I’m leaving town all the time to test that out, so I’ll have to take her word for it.) I have sacrifice magic, which means I can make almost anything I imagine happen with my powers. The downside is that, for every bit of magic that I work, an equal cost has to be paid. That cost is impossible to anticipate, but my magic almost always makes some kind of twisted torture out…

Book Title: MY VAMPIRE PLUS-ONE Character Name: Reginald Cleaves   How would you describe your family or your childhood? My family all died violently and a very long time ago. I think I had a happy childhood? But it’s been centuries so I can’t remember.   What was your greatest talent? Bullshitting others   Significant other? Do fake significant others count??   Biggest challenge in relationships? Immortality   Where do you live? No response. (This is classified information.)   Do you have any enemies? Why? What have you heard????   How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place? It’s pretty fun here! I have no complaints.   Do you have children, pets, both, or neither? None of the above.   What do you do for a living? General layabout. One major benefit of having lived centuries is that compounding interest has had an extensive amount of time to compound. I haven’t had to work since the American Revolution.   Greatest disappointment? Frederick   Greatest source of joy? My Edward Cullen poster. It sparkles! Frederick loves it too, though he won’t admit it….

1–What is the title of your latest release? HAMPTON HEIGHTS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? It’s right there in the subtitle: “One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.” Six paperboys and their stupid manager Kevin set out to sell subscriptions on a cold winter’s night in 1987. Wild adventures ensue. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I grew up in Milwaukee in the 1980s and wanted to capture that very particular time and place. And Hampton Heights is a real neighborhood—one that in the ‘80s was shifting from working-class white to working-class Black and facing the manufacturing shutdown that hit most Midwestern cities in that era. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonists in real life? The six boys at the center of the story would (wisely) scorn me now, but back when I was a teen, a few of them might have thought I was OK. I would not hang out with their stupid manager Kevin. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonists? Ambitious, anxious, and brave. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That it is really fun to take the familiar creatures…

It’s September, and we desperate, hopeless addicts know what that means: a new J.D. Robb book! PASSIONS IN DEATH’s arrival brought sighs of relief to readers across the globe, and their anticipation was generously rewarded. The story opens, of course, with murder most foul, when a young, exuberant bride-to-be is killed at her pre-wedding party. Eve didn’t know the victim, but she knows and cares about the location of the killing—a nightclub where she herself was once the victim of a vicious assault. Ferreting out the killer proves a challenge, as the dead woman was surrounded by a group of closely-knit, and seemingly loving friends. Roarke, meanwhile, is busy being Roarke (fess up: aren’t you closing your eyes and sighing longingly, too?) running his galactic enterprise while simultaneously able to focus on the fate of individual administrative employees and ensure that Eve has a glorious cup of coffee whenever she most needs one. As always, the mystery was captivating, Eve’s ruminations about life, elevators, and syntax were entertaining, and a brief scene in which Eve and Roarke walk in the garden and sample a peach was the epitome of tenderness. How many days until February???? Readers always eagerly await new…

Yvonne Maison Ladurée doesn’t have the flavor Madeleine likes for her macarons, but they say the new batch will be ready in fifteen minutes. They don’t even promise me anything, they just throw the information at me as if I was her housekeeper. A well-dressed housekeeper, but no one to fawn over. I want to tell them I’m her understudy, and I’m fetching macarons to get into her good graces, so she’ll recommend me for principal roles, and don’t they know to prepare orange blossoms and pistachio macarons for when the great Madeleine Moreau rehearses Tosca? But there’s no point to argue. I just have fifteen minutes to wait. I wander outside the store on Rue Royale to pass the time. I could go to the right, toward the Church of Saint-Marie-Madeleine that a king (Louis XV maybe? I was never good in school) wanted to be a memorable end bracket to the street, the other bracket being the Place de la Concorde with its Egyptian obelisk. The thing is, the church’s name reminds me of Madeleine, and I’m already thinking about her too much, running errands for her when I’m supposed to go and meet my professor from the…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE ROYALS UPSTAIRS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A bodyguard and a nanny have to come to terms with their tumultuous past relationship and sizzling unresolved chemistry when they’re both hired by the same zany royal family. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? My father and family is Norwegian, plus I’ve written about the Norwegian royals before, so it felt natural to have it set with that royal family again. I set it just outside of Oslo, at one of the royal estates, to keep the characters isolated and in forced proximity. Also my heroine is from the same small village, Todalen, that my father was born in. In fact, my heroine’s house is modeled after my family’s house, and there are a few scenes that take place there. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes! Laila is super easy going and we share a lot of the same neurodivergent traits. And James, our MMC, would be a real hoot (and a sexy one at that! Hello, Scottish brogue). 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Stubborn, loyal,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE LOVE LIFE OF AMANDA DEAN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Schitt’s Creek meets Love Rosie – The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean is a queer love story told in a series of flashbacks, starting from the self-described bi-disaster’s wedding day, and moving back and forth in time through her past relationships as our heroine discovers herself and readers discover who finally won her heart. It’s a contemporary novel full of queer characters where their queerness is never an issue—not because this is historically accurate but because this is the world I hope for.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The simple answer is all my books are set in California. I was born there, grew up there, and it’s where my heart is. Sending Mandy to London to study abroad was challenging, as I’ve never been there myself and I do hope to one day get the chance to go. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Of course I would. We’d get margaritas and chips and salsa and probably bum around a street…

In GET LOST WITH YOU, Jillian Keller has settled into her life as a divorced mom who is happy to be back in her hometown, surrounded by her family and the people she loves. When Levi Bright, the boy that all of her teenage diary entries were about, comes back to Smile for good, they reconnect and realize that all those long-ago feelings never went away. This is a second chance, brother’s best friend, childhood crush story that needs a soundtrack to encapsulate the multitude of feelings and emotions both Jilly and Levi have.   If this book had a theme song: Everything has Changed by Taylor Swift And all my walls Stood tall painted blue But I’ll take ’em down, take ’em down And open up the door for you And all I feel In my stomach is butterflies The beautiful kind, makin’ up for lost time Takin’ flight, makin’ me feel like   Jillian and Levi have both been through a lot in the last ten years. When they reconnect, it’s first as friends even though they both feel the spark of what once existed between them. Jillian is more cautious now but it doesn’t take long for…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Misty Simon!   Writes: I’m all about giving the escape hatch from life for a little fun reading time! One of my favorite things in life is that I get to have an absolute blast bringing readers the blend of RomCozies – cozy murder mysteries with a rom com twist that’s sure to make you laugh and sigh in delight, all while trying to figure out whodunnit. Hopefully not before me and my sleuth since that would ruin the fun of our race to the finish!   About: I like long walks on the beach to contemplate where my next murder will happen, extended soaks in the bath so I can figure out who did the dirty deed, and deep conversations over which method to use and how the bad guy thinks he might get away with it… These things fill my head as I do my best to bring laughter, escape, and a story that makes you forget to make dinner or go…