Emerald Jewel is a New York designer with a stalker on her trail. She needs a place to hide out and Jackson's farm is the perfect solution to her problem. The last thing she wants or needs is to be attracted to her sexy new boss.
Neither of them is prepared for the explosion of passion that flares between them. They try to resist, but the desire burning between them will not be denied.
The stalker is getting closer to finding Emerald and will stop at nothing to possess her. As the threat around her escalates, she must face leaving Jackson and the farm to draw the danger away from them.
Jackson knows that Emerald's life is New York and his is on the farm. But he's not about to let her face this danger on her own. He'll eventually have to let her go, but not until the stalker is caught and the threat is eliminated.
Visit N.J. Walter's web site
Read an excerpt from Jackson's Jewel
About N.J. Walters
N.J. Walters worked at a bookstore for several years and one day had the idea that she would like to quit her job, sell everything she owned, leave her hometown, and write romance novels in a place where no one knew her. And she did. Two years later, she went back to the bookstore and her hometown and settled in for another seven years.
Although she was still fairly young, that was when the mid-life crisis set in. Happily married to the love of her life, with his encouragement (more like, "For God's sake, quit the job and just write!" ) she gave notice at her job on a Friday morning. On Sunday afternoon, she received a tentative acceptance for her first erotic romance novel, Annabelle Lee, and life would never be the same.
N.J. has always been a voracious reader of romance novels, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks-all vie for her attention. And she doesn't mind a bit. It's a tough life, but someone's got to live it.
Backlist
Ellora's Cave Publishing:
Katie's Art of Seduction-Awakening Desires, Book 1 (E-book) & (Print)
Erin's Fancy-Awakening Desires, Book 2 (E-book) & (Print)
Capturing Carly-Awakening Desires, Book 3 (E-book)
Craving Candy-Awakening Desires, Book 4 (E-book)
Harker's Journey-Dalakis Passion, Book 1 (E-book)
Lucian's Delight-Dalakis Passion, Book 2 (E-book)
Dalakis Embrace- (Print--Contains Harker's Journey and Lucian's Delight)
Stefan's Salvation-Dalakis Passion, Book 3 (E-book)
Eternal Brothers-Dalakis Passion, Book 4 (E-book)
Annabelle Lee-Summerville Secrets, Book 1 (E-book)
Heat Wave-Summersville Secrets, Book 2 (E-book)
Summersville Heat- (Print--Contains Annabelle Lee and Heat Wave)
Christina's Tapestry-Tapestries, Book 1 (E-book)
Bakra Bride-Tapestries, Book 2 (E-book)
Tapestry Dreams- (Print--Contains Christina's Tapestry and Bakra Bride)
Woven Dreams-Tapestries, Book 3 (E-book)
Amethyst Moon-Birthstone Series (E-book)
Three Swords, One Heart-Torrid Tarot Series (E-book)
Anastasia's Style-Valentine Vixens Quickie (E-book)
Candy Caresses- (Print Anthology containing the Valentine Vixens Quickie, Anastasia's Style)
Drakon's Treasure-Autumn Animalia Quickie (E-book)
Feral Fixation- (Print Anthology containing the Autumn Animalia Quickie, Drakon's Treasure)
Jessamyn's Christmas Gift-White Hot Holidays Quickie (E-book)
White Hot Holidays 3- (Print Anthology containing my White Hot Holiday Quickie, Jessamyn's Christmas Gift)
Unmasking Kelly (E-book)
Over Time, Under Him- (Print Anthology containing EC Quickie Unmasking Kelly)
Ellora's Cavemen: Legendary Tails IV (featuring "A Love Eternal") (E-book) & (Print)
Ellora's Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis IV (featuring "Shadows Stir") (E-book) & (Print)
Ellora's Cavemen: Seasons of Seduction III (featuring "Sunshine for a Vampire") (E-book) & (Print)
Samhain Publishing:
Discovering Dani-Jamesville, Book 1 (E-book) & (Print)
The Way Home-Jamesville, Book 2 (E-book) & (Print)
The Return of Patrick O'Rourke-Jamesville, Book 3 (E-book) & (Print)
The Seduction of Shamus O'Rourke-Jamesville, Book 4 (E-book)
An Interview with N.J. Walters
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: N.J., thank you for talking with us at TRS BLUE. Please tell us about your featured book, Jackson's Jewel.NJ: Thanks so much for having me at TRS BLUE. I'm thrilled to be here to talk about my upcoming novel. Jackson's Jewel is the fifth book in the Awakening Desires Series and is due out from Ellora's Cave on July 25th! Readers have met Jackson before in the series and have been anticipating this book for a while now. But, if you haven't read the series, it can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Here's the blurb:
The last thing Jackson Connors wants is a housekeeper. He likes his life just as it is-solitary and uncomplicated.
Emerald Jewel is a New York designer with a stalker on her trail. She needs a place to hide out and Jackson's farm is the perfect solution to her problem. The last thing she wants is to be attracted to her sexy new boss.
Neither of them is prepared for the explosion of passion that flares between them. They try to resist, but the desire will not be denied. Jackson knows Emerald's life is in New York and his is on the farm. He'll eventually have to let her go, but he's not about to let her face this threat on her own.
The stalker is getting closer to finding Emerald and will stop at nothing to possess her. As the threat around her escalates, she must face leaving Jackson to draw the danger away from the man she's coming to love.
HH: This is the fifth story in your Awakening Desires series. What can you tell us about this critically acclaimed series and where you got the idea for it? NJ: I'm thrilled with how readers have embraced the series. The Awakening Desires series is all about awakening to life and possibilities, about going after what you desire most. For me, any book begins with the characters. Once I know them and understand them, I have a better idea of the storyline. Although, my characters always manage to surprise me.
Ideas come from everywhere-life, television, magazines, overheard conversations at the grocery store, while I'm riding the bus, etc… Book two was inspired by the headline on a woman's magazine on how to drive your man wild in bed. You see versions of this theme all the time, but this time when I saw it I had a vision of a woman sitting at table, in a lonely farmhouse. Thus, Erin's Fancy was born.
HH: What can you tell us about the first four stories? NJ: This series started with Katie's Art of Seduction. I'd always wanted to write a modern version of the old Beauty and the Beast scenario and Katie Wallace and Cain Benjamin were perfect for the story. He's a loner, a man more comfortable in the shadows. Katie is a painter and a waitress, a woman who is drawn into his lonely world. He pulls her toward him, and then pushes her away when she gets too close to uncovering the man beneath the cold façade.
I was almost finished this book before I realized that I'd need a book two-Erin's Fancy, which ties in to book one. Capturing Carly came next. I'll admit that the hero in this book, Nathan Connors, almost drove me crazy, wanting to do everything his way. He's a sheriff's deputy and is used to being in control, in and out of the bedroom.
Craving Candy was book four. I love Lucas Squires, who is Katie's boss and friend in book one of the series. He's a man with a dark past who has managed to carve out a life for himself, and it doesn't include room for one pushy publicist, no matter how much he's attracted to her. You have to love a man who knows his way around the kitchen!
In all the books, the characters grow and change. They have to confront things from their past that hold them back. Otherwise, they'll never be able to reach out and take what they desire most. The ideas are limitless for this series and I'll probably do at least two more before I'm done.
HH: How does Jackson's Jewel continue your series? NJ: Jackson Connors is the eldest of the Connors siblings who are first introduced in Erin's Fancy, book two. Nathan's story was told in Capturing Carly. Now it's Jackson's turn.
HH: Your heroine is a beauty in danger, hiding out. Your hero is her reluctant savior. Where did you get the idea for this story? NJ: Jackson is a real special man, but he's a typical alpha and likes doing things his way. I knew he'd need a feisty, independent woman, someone who would stand toe-to-toe with him and not be intimidated.
Emerald Jewel is a city gal and likes it that way. They are completely opposites in that way-the country boy and the city gal-but they both are people with a lot of depth. Many of my ideas take form as scenes in my head, and this book was no different. I could picture Emerald in her car, hightailing it out of the city. She's scared and I knew it would take a lot to scare a woman like that. Then her phone rang, and I knew what that reason was. *g*
HH: Many of your works have elements of suspense and mystery in them and you're excellent at this. How do you place a character convincingly in danger? NJ: Thank you so much for the compliment. Danger heightens most situations-emotionally, mentally, and physically-which makes it ideal for a romance novel. All that blood-pumping suspense often leads to an explosive physical reaction between the hero and heroine.
But it's convincing only if the characters feels it and the reader can believe it too. You need to engage all the senses so that it's as real to the reader as it is to the characters. Physical situations, mental stress, and high emotions all add realism to the storyline. A lot of times, I'll have an idea of where the story is going, but other elements will come out as I'm writing. The villain, the characters, and the story all change as the book unfolds, and many times they'll surprise me.
HH: How do you find these suspenseful elements affect the relationship between your primary characters? NJ: Danger obviously heightens the emotions and sets off a whole series of chemical reactions in the body-hormones release, blood pumps faster, senses are heightened. It's the whole flight of fight scenario, which is the most basic of all human reactions.
The hero and heroine will draw closer during danger, sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally. Oftentimes, once the danger passes, there is the inclination to pull back, as if they've exposed too much of themselves to the other person. That's human nature, but it makes their relationship more complex and, in the end, more fulfilling.
HH: You're a prolific author. How do you keep writing fresh and original for yourself? NJ: I have no idea. LOL
It's all about the characters for me and I find it endless fascinating to uncover who they are, what motivates them, what do they like and dislike, what demons are lurking in their closets.
I guess that's what keeps it fresh. All the characters are different; therefore their stories are too. I mean, all romances are basically the same at their core: boy and girl meet, they have conflict, they live happily ever after. But it's who they are and how they get there that fascinates all of us. They can live in a small town, a city, in some alternate reality. They can be from the past, the present, or the future. They can be ordinary or paranormal creatures with unlimited powers. The possibilities are truly limitless.
HH: What do you enjoy reading? NJ: I'm a big fan of paranormal and contemporary romance. With paranormal romance there is the dark edge of danger, and the lure of the exotic, where human rules don't always apply. Contemporary is almost the complete opposite. It's familiar to all of us and we feel like we know and understand the characters.
I also enjoy reading historical romance. And if it's an author I love, I'll read it no matter what the genre.
HH: If you ever had to call on any of your characters to bail you out of a jam, who would it be and why? NJ: That's a tough question and I had to make a top three list. LOL
Seth from "A Love Eternal" from the Ellora's Cavemen: Legendary Tails IV Anthology. This is one man you literally don't want to run into in a dark alley. I can't say anymore than that or I'll spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it.
Gideon from "Shadows Stir" from the Ellora's Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis IV Anthology. Gideon is a Shadow Ryder, an ancient warrior who is part of a society that has been all but lost in the shadows of time. It's paranormal and action-packed. Gideon is one tough dude who had special fighting skills.
Stefan Dalakis from Stefan's Salvation is my third choice. A vampire, he's the youngest of the three Dalakis brothers. When I started the series, Stefan was supposed to be the comic relief, the light-hearted brother. Boy, was I mistaken. Didn't happen that way. Stefan is dark and brooding and incredibly powerful. Plus, he'll do whatever it takes to protect the woman he loves, whether she wants him to or not. I love all three brothers, but there is no denying that Stefan is my favorite.
Thank you so much to TRS BLUE for having me here this month. It's been a blast!
HH: Thank you!
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