I do love the tortured hero in romance novels.  My first book, THE HIGHLANDER’S SWORD, had a great tortured hero.  He had been raised in war and held lots of deep secrets, guilt, and anguish.  As a result  he was distrusting, moody, and did a lot of glowering and such. In contrast, the hero of my latest release, THE HIGHLANDER’S HEART, is not particularly tortured.  Laird David Campbell  actually had a loving childhood and is surrounded by family who adore him.  His clan is prosperous, and although he does have to negotiate with the surrounding clans to avoid war, I wouldn’t say he has anything in particular to be tortured about. Despite this, poor David Campbell is still a tortured hero.  No, he’s not being tortured by his own internal demons, he is being tortured by me, the author.  He had his life all worked out, controlled, organized, and predictable, until I threw Lady Isabelle into his path.   Within fifteen minutes of meeting her, he is attacked by ruffians, gored by a wild pig, and his horse is stolen.  And it pretty much goes downhill from there. David also has a secret fear, one that he doesn’t want anyone to…

“Jessica Scott writes with a soldier’s heart. Because Of You is touching, authentic and a fantastic read.”  New York Times Bestselling Author Cindy Gerard “Crackling with realism, sizzling with sexual tension, and pulsing with emotion, Jessica Scott has penned an unforgettable military romance that delivers heartache and hope on every page.” New York Times Bestselling Author Roxanne St. Claire Meet Jessica Scott, whose first book, BECAUSE OF YOU is out now from Loveswept. Jessica writes realistic but emotional military romance. But rather than rattling on about it, let’s hear what Jessica has to say. Can you give us a one sentence summary of BECAUSE OF YOU? The toughest battle Shane Garrison will ever face is loving Jen St James. Every author has a favorite or the toughest scene in a book, which one in BECAUSE OF YOU do you like the most? The scene where Jen finally trusts Shane enough to be comfortable with him unclothed.  Although BECAUSE OF YOU is very sexy, Jen resists total nudity during their intimacies. Tell us something unique about your hero? Shane is bald. What’s unique about your heroine? She is a breast cancer survivor. What is your heroine’s occupation? Jen is a nurse…

In Mesopotamia, somewhere in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, dating back to 3700 B.C., someone put stone to tablet and hammered out a message and we’ve been hammering out messages ever since. What is this love affair with the written word? They have the power to move people and even nations. People steal them, go to war for them, suppress them, cry over them, and love them. I enjoy painting with them, finding just the right ones that transport me to another place and all in the comfort of my overstuffed chair. The dappled sunlight in the forest, the clashing sound of a sword striking steel, and the apprehensive touch of the first kiss. I love them all. I’ve had stories in my head since I was a little girl. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a damsel in distress and a knight in shining armor racing to save her. (I’ve always thought historical romance). There were times when I finished a book and I refused to let the characters go I loved them so much. I continued the story. It may have been Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER that started me thinking how the accomplishments…

I’ve noticed that novellas have been making a comeback lately. Amazon.com has 8,224 novellas available at the moment. Once upon a time, novellas have been a well-respected literary form. Then, for some reason, they fell out of favor. I have to admit, it’s been a while since I’d read one, until Charlaine Harris started to put out Sookie Stackhouse novellas in between her full-size books. And then I fell in love with the format. So as of this year, 3 of those 8,224 novellas on Amazon are mine. Yay! Since I’ve started writing novellas, I’ve been reading more of them. They are the answer to my problem of not being able to put a book down once I started it. Sadly, I don’t get to read until it’s bed time. Then I’m up until 2 a.m. when the last word is read. Then I’m dragging the next day. Sounds familiar? But now I can read a novella, get the full experience, a rounded out story, and still get some sleep. They proved to be the perfect beach read as well. I’m not saying I’m leaving full-size novels behind, no way. But I found that novellas have their place in my…

You know the funny thing about writing, is you get into your characters far more than you think. For a good story to grab you by the throat and hold on until you gasp, it’s critical that the characters aren’t just two-dimensional constructs. They need to have fears and weaknesses, strengths and motivations just as real as any living person. Now this is not to say that some of those fears, weaknesses, strengths and motivations aren’t just as weird as real life. Take this guy for instance. He’s passing by a funeral procession at age 12 and is forced by the people in the procession to kiss the face of the 11 year old dead girl. It changes his life. He becomes obsessed with death and becomes a leading expert in Russian on Moscow’s cemetaries. He also turns out to be the man who’s stealing young women’s corpses and has them dressed up around his home. Creepy, yes. But look at how that one singular moment changed the direction of his life. And this isn’t fiction, it’s a true story! The characters in our stories aren’t any different if they are well-developed. They have reasons for what they do, even…

Wolf Pack #1 August 2011 On Sale: August 2, 2011 Featuring: Jaxon Law; Kira 352 pages ISBN: 0451234340 EAN: 9780451234346 Paperback $7.99  Add to Wish List Romance Paranormal, Paranormal Thriller Buy at Amazon.com Another great Readers & ‘ritas author Primal Law by J.D. Tyler To claim his mate, he would break all the rules Meet the Alpha Pack, a top-secret military team of wolf-shifters fighting the most dangerous predators in the world, human and nonhuman. After a massacre leaves Jaxon Law crippled, he must relearn how to fight-and battle the anger and guilt threatening to overwhelm him. But when Jax rescues a beautiful woman who awakens his primal instincts, he is unprepared for the dangers that lie ahead. Soon he must decide if the deep connection he feels with Kira is worth defying the ultimate shifter law… Sizzling and interesting, PRIMAL LAW pays homage….while forging its own paths. Previous Picks

Why is it that some of our fave heroines are just a tad bit chilly? They have an edge about them that can come off as cold-hearted or in some cases, just plain mean. I’m thinking Anita Blake, Cat Crawfield, Mercy Thompson, and my own personal heroine, Ice.  Oh yes, these women can be classified as strong minded (translation: hard-headed) or even hard, yet we love them. In some ways I think it’s because they are also witty, confident, and almost always fearless. Let’s face it, ladies, we enjoy playing in their shoes for the length of a novel. It’s a great way to relax and feel the empowerment that we may not get in our everyday lives. At least, that’s why I read and write about heroines like this. Here’s my list of things I look for in a good “cold” heroine: 1. Strength—not only to know her own mind and heart, but to be able to stand against everyone else for what she believes. 2. Compassion—even if she doesn’t show it, I want to know that she has a deep soul that cares for others. The most talented authors can take a heroine and make us believe that…

I have come to realize perfection is overrated. If the world became filled with beautiful people who never did anything wrong, managed their daily lives efficiently without stress and still managed to get everything done, how boring would that be? Actually, I think I would hate every one of those people. The nerve of them being so perfect when the rest of us are scrambling. Maybe that’s why I like when people screw up. Well, not so much the screwing up, but the part that comes immediately after. That’s when the good stuff happens. It’s sort of like peeking behind the curtain into their character. Will that person become humbled? Will they feverishly try to correct their mistake?  Will they apologize? For me, the person’s reaction to the mistake makes them interesting. As a reader, I gravitate to flawed characters. I like to imagine what event in the character’s history made them that way. What emotional wound do they have that hasn’t been healed over the years? What makes them act the way they do or fear the things they fear? As a child, I slept with a blanket. One night my father told me I had to try sleeping…

If I dropped you in the middle of nowhere with nothing but fifty dollars, a beat-up muscle car, and an ugly stray dog, would you able to build yourself a new life? That’s what happens to former trophy wife Lacey Bradford in TALL, DARK AND COWBOY. Lacey’s been raised to riches, but her privileged life is whipped out from under her when she discovers her ex-husband is a con man. She’s left with few survival skills and fewer resources when she swears off his ill-gotten gains and hits the road. Hundreds of miles and one hunky cowboy later, she has to  rebuild her life in a world that’s as foreign to her as another planet. My romances are almost always fish-out-of-water stories, where a hero or heroine finds herself in an unfamiliar world and has to make the best of it. And since I started writing that kind of story, I can’t pass through a small town in the West without looking around and wondering what I’d do if I had to live there. Could I get a job at that little café? How tough would it be to tend bar at that tough-looking whiskey joint on the edge of…

Owen is the kind of a man any one of us would love to call our own. He is everything that is wonderful: warm and giving with a mischievous sense of fun and an almost child-like sweet tooth. Here is a man who takes delight in Lucky Charms and ice cream, who is a tiger in the sack, and whose number one priority is not to hurt Megan. Truly, I could eat him up with a spoon. ~From the Book Wenches Review Given the awesome reception NORTH OF NEED‘s hero, Owen Winters, is receiving, I thought I’d share what I think makes him so lovable and compelling. As a basic description, Owen is a long-exiled snow god who is the adopted son and destined successor of the Boreas, the Supreme God of the North Wind and Winter. And here’s why I and the heroine Megan love him, and hopefully YOU will, too: Godly Handsome. What else would you expect in a Greek god? LOL Let’s just say that cover does Owen all kinds of justice. Here’s Megan’s first impression: Even asleep, unconscious, whatever, the guy was ruggedly handsome. Mop of shiny black hair, strong brow, square jaw, fair skin, full…