Discovered, by J.Lilley

     Hello there, boy do I have a treat for you today!  I am joined by author J.Lilley to discuss her new release. For those of you who are not familiar with J.Lilley’s work, she is an author for Young Adult fiction, and Discovered is her debut release. 

     Hello Mrs Lilley. It’s so good to have you here today.  How are you?

     I'm fine thank you and very pleased to be here. Well is fine the right word? Scared, nervous, no nails left, and very excited about this series. Hey please call me Jo, If you call me Mrs, I feel like my mum, because I write under my maiden name.

     Lol you know I spent ages wondering which salutation to use.  I could hear my Gran’s voice saying “Remember your manners,” hence Mrs Lilley. Jo it is J

     I hope the nerves subside for a mo, because I really want to talk about the Shalean series. Now, there is a lovely true tale to the birth of Discovered, would you like to tell everyone?

     Well a good friend of mine was looking for a shifter book for her daughter's birthday. She couldn't find one she liked, so in a moment of madness I said I'd write one. And The Shalean Moon was born. Of course my heroine is called Rach, after Rachael, the birthday girl. I mentioned it to a publisher, who asked to read it, said he wanted it, but it had to be twice as long and he wanted a series. So here we are. Rach has her books.

      That’s such a lovely idea, writing a story for a friend's daughter.  I bet that made her day.  How does she feel about the book going to print?

     She's over the moon, because there are six books and they will all be out in print as well as on eBook.

     Oh wow! So Rachael will be able to hold her very own book.  I have to say that I am a tad bit envious of having such a truly unique birthday present.

     Before I go completely to mush, let’s move back on to the book.  Shall we take a look at the blurb?

     I hope you think it’s interesting!

     When Rach moved to Scotland she knew there would be changes. She hadn't expected them to be quite so dramatic. Not only was there a new house, new school and new friends, there was also a secret to discover.

     Brios Parde was a Patriarch in waiting. When the powerful leopard shifter senses a new Shalean he is amazed to discover it's the new girl. All his senses tell him Rach will be important to him.

     However the Rogues try to destroy the budding relationship. Will Rach decide to side with Brios or help stage an uprising?

     Wow very intriguing, I can’t wait to read it.  When is it being released?

     It was released on June 1st in eBook, print is almost with us.

     And you can buy it from? www.lycaonpress.com www.amazon.com www.amazon.co.uk  

www.allromanceebooks.com and www.bookstrand.com

     Now we have a real treat for you, just to tempt you a little more.  Here is a little bit from J.Lilley’s Discovered:

Rach felt an electric zap up her arm. She couldn't figure out what was going on; why Brios was looking at her the way he was.

'Can you hear me?'

Argh, why do I keep thinking I hear voices in my head? Dad definitely has to stop this foraging lark.

He might think it was fun to go and collect blackberries and mushroom and things that grew wild, but Rach could still remember the time the mushrooms sent her all giggly and silly, and gave her weird and wonderful thoughts—like now. Dad said they were magic mushrooms and he hadn’t meant to pick them, but she had a feeling he’d made the same mistake again.

'You can hear voices Rach—my voice. It’s me! Look at me Rach.'

"Brios? What …" She didn’t know what to say, how did you ask someone if they were messing about with your mind?’

"It’s a gift, and it’s not messing." At least that was real and out loud.

"Um, what do you mean?" Rach asked cautiously, not really sure she wanted to hear his explanation.

"I can send messages to you."

Ri-i-ight.

But, Brios looked sane, like a normal, hot-bod boy in a boring school uniform. But shoot—his face was solemn and he didn’t look as if he was ready for the funny farm.

She began to fumble with the door handle.

'I’m sane, stop worrying.'

"Hells bells Brios, what the heck is this all about? How can I hear you when you’re not speaking?"

"It’s complicated. It's a gift given to certain people. Who can project and receive thoughts."

 Rach thought about that. She figured she'd just smile and go along with it; just until she was back at school and away from him. One day she might just listen to her dad!

Then she looked closely at his face and realized he wasn't joking.

'Believe it Rach.'

Oh great! One more reason not to like it up here; a mind reading hottie … Ahh!

"So, I can hear you, or whatever you call it? Can you hear me?’ Brios nodded with a smile, and Rach felt her face go red. "Oh shit."

Brios laughed out loud at that. Rach felt like hitting him. What if there was something in it? Did that mean she had to not think anything even slightly dodgy? She waited for some smart-ass comment to fill her mind, but nothing did.

"So, er, you don’t sense everything I say then?" She really wanted to know the answer to that.

To her relief, Brios shook his head.

"Rach I would never do that, it goes against our creed."

"Creed?"

To her disappointment, Brios looked at his watch and groaned. "Look we’ve got to get back to school. Rach, there's so much I need to ask, to tell you about … to explain. We need to meet up somehow. You tell me how and when, and I’ll be there."

     And if that isn’t enough… take a look at this amazing cover…

     I can’t wait to read the book and find out what happens next!  Jo, I wish you all the best with book sales.  Perhaps you will come back and discuss the next Shalean release?

     I'd love to. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email me on jlilleyauthor@hotmail.co.uk or via my author page j lilley author on Faceboook. I'm on twitter @jlilleyauthor and I have a blog, www.jlilleyauthor.blogspot.com When I get to 50 followers I'll do a giveaway.

     It has been an absolute pleasure having you join me today.  Thank you so much for coming over.

     Thank you, I'm so pleased to have been invited. If anyone has enjoyed this book, then book 2   Renounced is up for pre-order and will be out on July 6^th. These two along with book 3 Accepted, will be available in print any day now.

     Ooh, I have the cover for the series for that too.  Take look…

     Here is the blurb for Renounced and Accepted, book two and three.

Renounced

     Donny and Leira had known each other for ever.

     But Leira is not prepared to let Donny decide her fate for her. She will chose her mate and it's not that annoying leopard. However, when danger closes in all around them, threatening the very heart of Shalea, Leira has a decision to make.

     Donny has always known Leira was the one for him. Convincing her is another matter. When his loyalties are tested and danger abounds, can he stand back and let Leira chose for herself?

     Will they have a future together?

Accepted

     Andy is Shalean and in love with a human, but had no idea how to make such a relationship work.

     Sam has no idea that Shalean exists, only that he is fed up waiting for Andy to make the most move. Overjoyed to find his feelings reciprocated Sam starts seeing strange things.

     Something is afoot and Andy seems right in the middle of it.

     What Sam discovers rocks him to the core. But he is determined to fight for their chance of happiness. Human he may be, but as long as Andy wants him, they can face anything, can't they?

     How about that!  Remember, Discovered is available NOW from the links above, and don’t forget to check our J.Lilley’s blog and web site for more release dates.

     Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you visit again soon.

Take care

xXx J.P. Stevens x Xx

On Writing by Stephen King

What a book! Honestly I cannot stress how fantastic this book is for those of you who are already writing, or like myself, just starting out.

Stephen King has a way of telling it the way it is! The experience he has to share is overwhelming.  He kinda reminds me of Sir Tom Jones name dropping all of his musical experiences on the voice.  However, Stephen is far more interesting.

My only wish was that I had read this book before submitting my first manuscript.  It would have saved the editor a lot of hard work and time, as well as my embarrassment at such silly mistakes. Although I can honestly say that I fully understand what was wrong with the manuscript, so I guess the lesson has still been learnt.

The book is split into three main sections. The first; a little about Stephens life, how he came to write; the second is about writing, finding your voice and the last section is how to edit your manuscript and what you can do with it.

Within the book, there was an unexpected exercise to do.  I have to confess that I jumped at the chance to write it.  They concept was based on something you often hear about on the news, or read in the paper.  What was so exciting about it was the simple, yet highly effective twist, Stephen put on it.  I can’t go into detail because I want you to read the book for yourself, but I promise you that, if you are a fan of Mr. King, you will love it!

The exercise has turned into my current WIP and I am scared shitless of one of the characters.  I guess that’s a good thing right?  Who knows and time will tell I guess.  Once it is finished, I will post it up here.  Just to warn you, that if you are not a fan of thriller/chiller/horror, then perhaps this is not the book for you.  I will let you know the fright rate once it is complete.  It will all depend how brave I am at letting this scary character loose.

Until next time, take care.

J.P.Stevens xxx

Easter Holidays

Wow!  The Easter holidays are over and I have just about caught up on all the house work I failed to do whilst my two were at home.  My youngest has only been in school since September, but you can quickly get used to not having them both around during the day.  We have had a great time all in all, that is once they got over their endoftermitis!

We started the holidays with the birthday party of my Granny, who was 80 and still going strong.  She keeps joking about kick the bucket soon (as she so bluntly puts it), but I keep telling her she is far too stubborn to go just yet.  It was lovely to see my family again.  I saw some of my cousins for the first time in…well too long really. My two loved playing and dancing with their cousins as well, and they got to stay up really late, much to the delight of my nearly 7 going on 12 year old daughter. 

The weather wasn't really that good to be able to let the children run about and play in the parks, but we made the most of what we had.  To be honest it was really nice pulling out all the craft gifts the children have been given over time and just spending time 'doing' as there was no need to rush out the door in the morning.

Before I knew it, the holidays were ending and I couldn't help feeling, that once again, I never managed to do all the things we wanted to do, or that I had planned.  Still we made the best of it and I guess that’s what counts.

On Monday just gone, it was teacher training day, which I only realised late afternoon on Sunday.  Bonus for me as my Husband had booked the day off for our scan, which meant we got to take the children with us. J

It was very exciting for them, and us to be honest.  As we walked through the Maternity section of the Hospital, we were able to show them exactly where they were born.  Admittedly it was more emotional for me than them, but one day they will understand I'm sure.  When we were called into the room, the children were a little apprehensive about what was going to happen, despite us going over it LOTS at home and in the waiting room.  I guess the excitement of it all was too much to take in.  But as I lay on the bed and the scanner was placed on my tummy, they both looked up at the screen to meet their baby brother or sister.  The sonographer showed them all the baby's arms, legs, heart, tummy and brain, to which my daughter is adamant is not as clever as hers J time will tell lol.

After we had finished we waited outside the room for my notes to come back.  The sonographer came out with a picture for each of my children and made such a fuss of them I was welling up with pride.  It is important to me that my two children don’t feel left out with the arrival of the new baby, and he really helped by giving them the pictures and not my husband or I.  The only downside was my Son wouldn't share his picture with me, only Daddy.  Apparently I have to share with my daughter? 

Here is a picture of our baby:

When we got home they both put their pictures up in the front room so they can see the baby, which is really sweet.  The only problem was that we don't have a picture for ourselves.  When they children went to bed I have to confess to photo copping the scanned pictures and replacing their copies so that we could keep the originals safe.  So far they haven't noticed, so phew!

Anyway, we are now just over 20 weeks and I am pleased to say that everything is going very smoothly.  The scan has made everything very real now and I cannot wait until the baby arrived.  However, I do need to finish decorating a few more rooms in my house and hopefully fitting in some more writing.

So until the next update, take care and keep safe.

Love J.P.Stevens

xxx

Interview with Jules, from Taken Identity by Raven McAllan

Hi everyone

Have I got a treat for you!  I have none other than Jules from Taken Identity here with me today.  Hello Jules.

S.M - It's so good to have you here.  How are you?

Jules – I'm fine thank you, and really pleased to be chatting.

S.M - That’s great, really glad to hear.  

So, Taken Identity. What a gripping story!  Absolutely loved the book! If it's alright with you I'd like to start at the beginning?

Jules – well (laughing) it's the best place to start

S.M. - Before Gray turned up on your door that night, you were alone.  No husband, boyfriend?  Was that your choice?

Jules - Yeah, I hadn't found someone I wanted to spend my life with. Loads of friends of both sexes, and ex-lovers who I get on well with, but there had never been anyone I remotely felt might be 'The one." So to say I was shocked when I found out Gray was married is a bit of an understatement. 

S.M. - Did you know he was "The one" from the onset, or did this develop as you spent more and more time together?

Jules - Well I took one look and thought wow! But no it developed—fast—but developed. I was adamant I wasn't going to do anything while he was married. Shows how wrong you can be.

S.M - I admire your, (what's that word, not honesty, or… ah Morals) but it doesn't always work out like that as you say.  Especially when the chemistry is so strong.  

Jules – Ha, well I'm not saying my morals actually worked, but the intention was there.

S.M - So when he turns up on your doorstep demanding to see his wife, who apparently has the same name as you.  What is your first reaction?

Jules - Where's my contacts so I can see. And ohh I bet he's lost! Could I be so lucky he's here for me?

S.M. - I have to admit the thought of someone using my name scared the beegees outta me.  But you seem to contain your emotions very well.  Are you always this level in control of your emotions?

Jules - Nope, I'm a typical celt, red headed and red tempered. But I was so gobsmacked I knew I had to behave rationally to sort it all out. Then Go off on one! And Gray kept me in er check lol

S.M – ( lol in more ways than one I see ;)  So tell us, what was it about Gray that had you week in the knees most?

Jules - Well look at him, what's not to lust over. And he has a good sense of humour, 

S.M. - Not to mention his voice...  I have to say you are one lucky lady to have captured such a hunk.  But what I wanna know is, does he have any annoying habits?

Jules - Nope. unless you call singing out of tune in the shower? And not always listening to me when I beg him to let me come. He has to be in charge. Though generally, I'm not complaining about that.

S.M -   I should think not eh lol *leans closer to whisper*  SO dish the dirt, score outta 10? 

Jules - oh 25! He is sooo inventive. What that man can do with ice cubes, and silk is no one's business. And he says I led him astray! in his dreams.. Oh he says yeah there as well.  He's watching me type my answers to you!

S.M - lol tell him to go away, this is woman talk!!! so would you share? Just kidding.  Changing the subject slightly, before things get too heated.  How did you, being a fiery red, manage to restrain yourself from launching a verbal or physical attach on Elizabeth, when she turned up at your house?

Jules - She was pregnant. And looked pathetic. no really, I gritted my teeth and thought of the fact I was hopefully finding out what happened. Once I had then I could go for the jugular!

Jules - Now Awful Adrian was another matter. Gray has to restrain me there! Or me him, ether way we were very restrained.

S.M - How is life now that sorry mess is all over with?

Jules -  Oh brilliant. Well if the puppy stopped chewing everything he can get his teeth into. It's costing Gray a fortune in silk scarves. but as I keep telling him. If he'd just remember to put them away after use. They don't have to be tied to the headboards all the time!

S.M - lmao quite a little treat for a puppy hey lol.  And of course you have the baby on the way, so exciting.  When are you due?

Jules - June. And contrary to what Gray thinks of it a girl she is not going to be Larkspur or Ophelia. I quite like Damask rose. And if i's a boy … Well def not Adrian.

S.M - roflmao Definitely not Adrian!  I take it you haven't heard from them since?

Jules - Well strangely we did. just once. To tell us she'd had a boy called Archie! Go figure.

S.M - Oh wow, that's a little bold lol. Lets hope they will stay away :)  Changing the subject quickly again, but not only are you going to a mummy but you also have a wedding to plan.  Any ideas on the date?

Jules - Not while I'm big as a house. And it will be quiet.

Gray types - Big you and the wedding

Jules - Ignore him. I want a wedding in the garden. Bono can be the ring bearer.

S.M - Sounds beautiful.  Well I would like to wish you both the very best for the future, and thank you so much for answering my questions.

Jules - You're welcome.

Gray takes over keyboard again - And please don't let her fool you. She's as bad as me for leaving scarves around.

Jules giggles - Well you never know where and when you might need them!

S.M – Always be prepared, that's my motto.  It has been a pleasure catching up with you Jules.  I wish both you and Gray all the best for the future and lots of happiness for the baby.

Jules – Thanks, and thanks for letting me chat today. If anyone wants to but my story, well Raven McAllan has written it up for me, and its over at www.nobleromance.com or on Amazon.

And there we are, the lovely Jules from Taken Identity.  I hope you have enjoyed the interview as much as I did.  Now go buy the book, it's a really gripping read, trust me.

My Happy New Year Surprise

I have been trying to blog about my Christmas and New Year, but  recent news keeps taking the lime light, so I guess I had better write about that and then blog about the festive holidays later.

On 5^th January I found out that Paul and I are expecting our 3^rd Child.  Whilst we had taken steps to prevent having anymore, (even as far as booked a vasectomy) we were both extremely excited by the news.  Thank goodness we found out before he had the appointment!

We wanted to keep it quiet until we had the scan, just so we knew everything was ok.  However, I have a very clever little girl who read my pregnancy vitamins and a little boy who still thinks my legs are fire man polls and my body is a climbing frame!  Adding to the fact that I seem to be expanding at a rate of knots, we wanted to tell the children as opposed to them figuring it all out.

Their faces were amazing!  My daughters eyes sparkled with excitement and Joe bounced up and down on the floor.  Then the both sat next to me with their heads on my belly listening to the baby.  Apparently Jasmin could hear it breathing and got even more excited.  I won’t tell her that It was me breathing just yet, she’s too pleased about it J

Our son keeps stroking my tummy and telling his daddy how it should be done, which is just so cute!  This sibling excitement is new to me as Jasmin was still just a baby when we planned for Joe, but I love the way they are so caring about the baby already.

So here is a sneaky preview of my bump at 6 weeks. 

Hopefully now I can get on and write about my fabulous Christmas and the best New Year party!  Until then, take care xxxx

J.P.Stevens