Heather McBreen Interview - Wedding Dashers

Photo Content from Heather McBreen

Heather McBreen currently lives in Seattle, WA, but spent the best year of her life living in London where she completed an MA degree in arts and cultural management. When she’s not writing or reading books about kissing, she can be found surfing the web for travel deals and plotting her next adventure. Wedding Dashers is her debut novel.

        

   

Greatest thing you learned at school. 

How to write! I still remember my very intimidating 10th grade English teacher staring down the class and telling us that this was the year we would either figure out how to write, or we wouldn’t.

When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill? 

Is it dorky if I say I think I always knew? I’ve been making up stories basically my whole life, and I think there was a part of me that always knew I would write a book. It was just a matter of building up the stamina and determination to do it.

Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre? 

My favorite book of all-time, any genre, is Beach read by Emily Henry. Nothing has ever made me feel the way that books has. It’s a masterclass in tension and fraught encounters (my favorite kind!) and I often return to it hoping to feel a fraction of the magic I felt the first time I read it. It’s truly a perfect book.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing? 

I think there’s a lot of advice out there about growing a thick skin and learning to let things roll off your back, and while I totally understand the advice and why it’s important, I would also say that softness is what allows you to write with empathy and compassion. It’s a feature, not a bug, and something you should try to preserve and protect as much as you can.

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
Can you tell us when you started WEDDING DASHERS , how that came about? Yes! I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the idea came to me. I’d had two separate ideas pinging around in my head for a while: one about two strangers who meet on a layover and find out they are both headed to the same destination wedding, and another about a pair of enemies-to-lovers who find themselves in a situation where they must pretend they are married in order to secure lodging for the night. I had the realization that I could combine these two into one story, and thus the idea for WEDDING DASHERS was born. I think I waited about ten minutes before I dove in and started writing.

TEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT WEDDING DASHERS

• The designer of Allison’s veil, Demi Karina Custom Bridal, is my real life best friend who does in fact own her own custom bridal business. She made my veil when I got married, and as my Maid of Honor, was in charge of transporting it to Mexico for the wedding.
• I have the same tattoo––a compass on my wrist––that Ada designs for Jack
• I also had a destination wedding, though with far less drama and antics.
• I got the idea for Jack’s zebra print eye mask when I came to bed and found my husband wearing one and couldn’t stop laughing.
• Jack and Ada’s experience driving on the left hand side of the road was inspired by the time my dad and I rented a car in Edinburgh and drove to St. Andrews. We had dozens of people give us the “peace sign” before realizing we were being flipped off.
• When writing the scene where Jack changes a tire, I had to watch a YouTube video on how to change a tire since I myself don’t know
• The scene where Jack and Ada watch the naked dating TV show is inspired by the time my British friend showed me this exact show while I was living in England. Like Ada, I couldn’t believe full frontal nudity was allowed on cable TV in the UK.
• The setting for this story was very much influenced by my time living in England during grad school, and all the traveling I did while I was there
• Unlike my characters, I actually don’t like pizza that much, and when I do eat it, I’m definitely with Jack. Pizza and pineapple don’t mix.
• Just like Ada’s sister, Allison, The Parent Trap is also my favorite comfort movie.

What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why? 

Surprise, surprise, it was language arts!

What is your greatest adventure? Writing and publishing books! 

It’s a wild ride!

What is your most memorable travel experience? 

My most formative travel experience was definitely the first time I went abroad. I was 16 and it was on a WWII tour of Europe with my high school class. We spent a whirlwind nine days traveling between Berlin, Amsterdam, Normandy and Paris and I’m pretty sure to this day nothing has ever felt as seismic as that trip did to my 16-year-old self

What do you usually think about right before falling asleep? 

It’s always an idea for a story that I think is AMAZING in the moment, but not-so-great when I wake up the next morning. Or, conversely, it actually is great, but I don’t remember it because I didn’t write it down!

After a case of mistaken identity and an almost one-night stand, two stranded wedding guests have to find their way to their final destination together, in this riotously fun debut romance.

Ada’s little sister is getting married. Which should be a happy thought, right? But the once close sisters have been in a year long fight, the wedding is all the way in Ireland, and Ada is so broke that she just barely managed to get a ticket on a budget airline. And as if things couldn’t get worse, said airline just cancelled her connection. Which means Ada is stuck in London with no way to make it to the wedding.

Surely she’s hit rock bottom?

So, there’s no reason for her not to spill her heart out about the over-the-top wedding, her sister’s worryingly quick engagement, and the womanizing best man she’s dreading meeting to a handsome also-stranded stranger at the bar. Until she realizes the stranger is headed to the same wedding. Oh, and he’s the infamous best man.

Now, Jack and Ada must put their simmering attraction behind them to make it to Belfast before they miss the nuptials. But between flat tires, missed trains, and suspect hostels, Jack and Ada start to question whether their feelings are worth going the distance, or just a distracting detour along the way.

You can purchase Wedding Dashers at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of Wedding Dashers by Heather McBreen.

Please comment below/share on Instagram to enter and tag JeanBookNerd.

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Logan Terret Interview - Agates Are Forever: A Nick Cameron Mystery

Photo Content from Logan Terret

Logan Terret grew up in Northern Michigan but has lived in the Southwest for the last twenty years. Formerly the chief software architect for one of America’s largest financial firms, he is now
retired and devotes himself to desert wanderings, mystery novels, machine learning, dog walking, and other pursuits. He is an inventor and licensed attorney. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

  

Greatest thing you learned at school.
Tough question. Either Latin or the General Linear Model. Latin helped me understand other archaic Indo-European languages. The General Linear Model allowed me to forecast all sorts of things.

If you could have written one book in history, what book would that be?
Don Quixote. Probably the first modern European novel. Part I gets a little repetitive. You know, Don Quixote wants to do something stupid, Sancho Panza tries to talk him out of it, Don Quixote does it anyway, and they both get the crap beaten out of them. But hey, if you have a formula, why not stick with it? And Cervantes acknowledged he went a bit overboard when, in Part II, a character says "Still, there are those who have read the history who say they would have been glad if the author had left out some of the countless cudgellings that were inflicted on Senor Don Quixote in various encounters."

What chapter was the most memorable to write and why?
Chapter 27, From China, with Love. The soldadera’s story was hard to write because it required writing from the viewpoint of a Mexican soldadera in 1916. Anyone who pretends to know how anybody thought in 1916 is crazy.

The US-Mexico border was a complete zoo from 1848 until post WWI, with hostile Indians, freebooters, robbers, smugglers, rogues and vagabonds, all both Anglo and Mexican, and the U.S. Cavalry trying to keep a lid on things. The crisis came with the Mexican Revolution, which was a very big deal for Mexico and the United States. It occupied much of President Wilson’s time, many Americans were killed, and Wilson eventually sent General John Pershing into Mexico to stop Pancho Villa’s freebooting across the border. (Trivia: the last horse cavalry charge of the U.S. Army occurred May 5, 1916 when the 11th Cavalry charged Villistas at Ojo Azules, Chihuahua.)

My interest springs mainly from stories my father told me (he was in the 11th Cavalry when they still used horses and knew people who had chased Pancho Villa.) Also a long survey of Taft and Wilson’s response to the Mexican Revolution of 1910-20, which I did for a noted diplomatic historian when I was at the University of Michigan. Novelists Martin Luiz Guzmán and Nellie Campobello, both contemporaries of the Mexican Revolution, helped. My knowledge of old houses and firearms, and how people lived at the turn of the last century, helped. The fact that my mother was a lieutenant in the Women’s Army Corp in WW II gave me some insight into how hard-assed women think, too.

Can you tell us when you started AGATES ARE FOREVER, how that came about?
It started with an email of the opening scene, which was intended as a joke. I’d been reading some very bad detective novels set in Chicago and written by an Englishman who had obviously never been there. You know, like “Whilst I was stuffing the cadaver into the boot of my car.”

What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your characters?
If your inspiration is real people you have known, it’s easy to avoid stereotypes because real people are not stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalizations based on group averages, and as with all averages, nobody is really average, at least on any continuous attribute that can be measured with high precision.

What were your inspirations for the character development?
People I have known. Being older, I’ve known tons of people, so this makes it easy. A female Chinese chemical engineer? No problem, I knew one. A crusty Black army retiree? Knew one. An East Indian female computer scientist? I’ve known a few dozen. A gentleman sheriff? I knew one. And so on.

YOUR FAVORITE QUOTES/SCENES FROM AGATES ARE FOREVER
Most guys go their whole lives without finding a corpse. I need to stop finding them.

From her emerald eyes to her marathoner thighs, with stratovolcano breasts in between, she’s hotter than a Soviet drill bit at the bottom of the Kola Superdeep Borehole. She sears her eyes into me—her left elbow is on the table and her chin rests on her knuckles as she scans me like a pyrometer drone checking out hot spots on Stromboli.

“Jägermeister, which is like a handful of black jelly beans with an Everclear chaser.”

“Is he dead?” she asks calmly.

“Yeah. Paco Madero has gone to the big gem show in the sky.”

So now the cops have two murders on their hands with nothing to go on but some low-resolution video showing a short, dumpy guy who looks like a hobo. The action plan? Run around town stopping every short, dumpy guy who looks like a hobo.

In Quartzrock, that’s half the male population.

She’s hotter than a uraninite vein at the Oklo natural fission reactor in the Statherian Period.

“You bastard!” she shrieks, then starts hitting me. “What if that horrible hobo had been here? He might have killed me!”

She grabs a hiking stick from the back seat and chases me down the gulch, madly flailing away and screaming she’ll rip my heart out with a gaff hook and skin me alive with a potato peeler. Presumably not in that order, but she’s agitated.

Now clearly, when a woman smacks you in the face, beats you with a stick, and threatens you with grave mutilations, it usually means she’s lookin’ for it. Happens every day, all over the world. So I have a feeling this will be a good night.

Well, that feeling didn’t last long….

She’s hotter than the Liuhuanggou mine fire.

She’s hotter than a pyroclastic flow sizzling down the flanks of Mount Pelée.

Around 01:00 I wake up to the seductive heat of Theo’s soft hands stroking my bare shoulders. She leans close, her warm breath on my forehead, her long, scented hair caressing my chest with a velvet touch. In the dim light filtering through the drapes, her emerald eyes have turned dark and deep, like the green water turns abyssal black when night falls on the lagoon at Midway.

“You were snoring,” she says.

Janie’s there, looking hotter than a pyroclastic bomb in the Lupanar of Pompeii.

She rises, takes me by the hand, and leads me toward the door. My internal seismograph is thrashing. Her hand emits strong compressional waves, coinciding with some thrust faulting on my side, if you get my drift. The sound gets louder. Then she opens the door, and it’s piercing.

A big 3D printer is making a very detailed model of the Car of Juggernaut.

Then she jumps out and runs after him, brandishing her little revolver and threatening to cut out his liver with a filleting knife and skin him alive with a fish scaler. Does she have the hots for this guy?

What is the first job you have had? 

Paper route.

What is your happiest childhood memory? 

Building a treehouse with my friends in a big oak tree. In beautiful June weather. With some long rope swings.

What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why? 

In elementary school,

What decade during the last century would you have chosen to be a kid? 

1990’s. Fairly peaceful and prosperous, we had computers and the worldwide web, and the future looked bright. Then, after 2000, the idiocy started.

Name one thing you miss about being a kid. 

Having unlimited opportunities before you, and not having to choose.

Best date you've ever had? 

There are some things a gentleman does not discuss. As for the WORST date, the woman who raised endangered reptiles and lived in a camper trailer. I’m not making this up.

Which incident in your life that totally changed the way you think today? 

An old, rusty pickup truck loaded with firewood and a Volkswagen Rabbit collided at an intersection. I was young at the time. I looked at the scene and assumed the pickup truck was at fault. Not for any good reason, but because I assumed the person in the new vehicle would be the more prudent. I was wrong. This taught me to avoid making inferences based on appearances and stereotypes. It was a vivid lesson and I remember it distinctly today, decades later.

What is the weirdest thing you have seen in someone else’s home? 

I was taking singing lessons from an old opera singer. She suggested I say for lunch. She brought me a plate with a hotdog and canned beans. A piece of chewed chewing gum was stuck on the lip of the plate. I didn’t say anything.

When was the last time you told someone you loved them? 

 Today.

What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh? 

Watching the movie American Fiction

Any Camp stories you would like to share? 

I once saved a cat. I was in college and a little cat had climbed up an ash tree and couldn’t or wouldn’t come down. The tree had no branches for the first ten feet, so nobody could climb it. Except me, since I knew how to shinny up flag poles and so forth. So I did. I got to the branch the cat was on, approached the cat hanging from the branch like a sloth, took it in one hand, hung from the branch by my knees, and gently placed the cat in the upstretched hands of the girl who owned it. She looked at me like I was Superman.

What is your most memorable travel experience? 

The sewers of Paris are pretty cool, but my most memorable travel experience was staying for a week in a weatherbeaten shack at an abandoned silver mine at high elevation in Colorado. At the time, this was a place nobody knew about except the guys who were hiding out there for some reason or other.

Mix the western setting of C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett with the noir tropes of Raymond Chandler and the humor of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, and you get this witty, thrilling mystery fueled by diverse characters and set against the stunning backdrop of the Arizona desert.

Nick Cameron is a PhD geologist of independent means who boxes for fun, packs a Colt Commander, and has a knack for finding bodies—dead and alive.

When an agate heiress arrives in Quartzrock, Arizona, on the eve of a gem show, she asks Nick for help selling some gemstones—and soon becomes a suspect in the bizarre murders of two prominent lapidaries. Stalked by the mysterious killer, she and Nick dodge police while Nick works with his friend Frankie Benally—a Navajo jewelry artist and brilliant armchair detective—to unravel the case. But even Frankie is stumped—until, at an isolated hacienda deep in the Sonoran desert, Nick meets the great-granddaughter of a soldadera who served with Pancho Villa’s División del Norte.

Along the way, Nick gets help from an old-fashioned gentleman sheriff, a crusty army retiree, and a clutch of feisty dames. He navigates plot twists and red herrings that would make Sam Spade reach for the aspirin. And he does it all with deadpan humor that’ll make you spit up your bourbon.

You can purchase Agates Are Forever at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of Agates Are Forever by Logan Terret.

Please comment below/share on Instagram to enter and tag JeanBookNerd.

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Jo Segura Interview - Temple of Swoon

Photo Credit: Sean Hoyt

USA Today bestselling author Jo Segura lives in the Pacific Northwest with her doggo, who vies for her attention with his sweet puppy dog eyes whenever she’s trying to write.

​Jo's stories feature strong, passionate heroines and draw upon aspects of her life, such as her love of good food and great cocktails, dancing, her Mexican heritage, and her fascination with archaeology which inspired her debut romcom, RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART, published December 2023 by Berkley Romance, and the forthcoming sequel, TEMPLE OF SWOON (Jan. 7, 2025).

When she’s not writing you can find her practicing law, perusing the aisles at Trader Joe's, or sitting out on the patio doing Buzzfeed quizzes (though she doesn’t care what the chicken nugget quiz said–her favorite fruit is not banana).

      

   

When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill? 

I’ve wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember. I loved going to the library with my mom when I was a kid, picking out a whole stack of books to take home with me. I loved the Book-It program, Scholastic book fairs, and the used book sales at the local library. And I used to write all sorts of stories and glued the pages together to make my own “books.” But as I got older and for the longest time, I didn’t think being an author was something I could actually do. It seems so daunting. Publishing books was a career for other people. I needed to have a “real job” (whatever that means). And even though I continued writing stories, it wasn’t until I was in my late thirties that I started to wonder, “why not me?” Once I got to that point, I never looked back, and now I’m so proud to say I’m an author.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published. 

Having readers reach out and say they felt like my book was written specifically for them. To be able to connect with readers on that level is such an amazing feeling. You put so much of yourself into a book, and for a reader to say, “I love this book and feel like it was written for me” gives you such a special connection.

What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
Imposter syndrome. I wrote TEMPLE OF SWOON before my debut, RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART, had come out. What if readers didn’t like Raiders? What if writing Raiders was a fluke and I couldn’t recreate the magic? What if no one wants to read my books? Imposter syndrome is a powerful thing, and it’s hard to not let it consume your thoughts.

What chapter was the most memorable to write and why? 

There’s a scene in TEMPLE OF SWOON when the team gets in some deep trouble (vehicle issues, an injury, and an unplanned detour) and the heroine, Dr. Miri Jacobs, is starting to doubt herself so she takes off into the Amazon Rainforest alone to blow off some steam. The love interest, Rafa, finds her trying to swing from vines like Tarzan, but she just keeps falling. Yet she never gives up. I loved peeling back Miri’s layers in this scene—her tenacity, her insecurity—and watching Rafa start to truly fall for her. Plus it was just fun. We’ve all seen movies of people swinging from jungle vines like it’s so easy, but in actuality, we’d probably all fall on our faces like Miri.

Can you tell us when you started TEMPLE OF SWOON, how that came about? 

I started TEMPLE OF SWOON a month after I signed my two-book contract. The first book, RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART, had already been written, but my editor wanted to see a pitch for the second book right away. I’d ended Raiders in a way that left it possible for a sequel, and we ended up deciding to pick up where that book left off but with new characters.

What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted/when you first saw the cover of the finished product? 

Shock that it was actually happening. Validated that publishing professionals (and someone other than my friends and family) thought my stories were worth telling and reading. And enamored when I first saw the final cover—I may be biased, but I think my covers are fantastic. The cover artist, Camila Gray, is a true talent.

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT TEMPLE OF SWOON

• 1. I chose Miriam’s name as nod to Marion Ravenwood from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• 2. LiDAR technology is actually used by archaeologists to help locate lost cities, such as the Lost City of the Monkey God, which was uncovered in Honduras in 2015.
• 3. Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro was my inspiration for Journalist Rafael Monfils (you can see the inspiration in the cover art). Rafa is half-Brazilian and half-French Canadian.
• 4. Miri loves snacks (like me), so it seemed only fitting to incorporate them into her meet-cute with Rafa. I added Pringles because it seemed like they wouldn’t get crushed in her bag like other chips might and were the perfect vessel for runaway snacks, but in actuality, Miri probably wouldn’t have brought can of Pringles because they would have taken up too much space in her bag.
• 5. There’s a running joke throughout the book involving potatoes—Rafa’s nickname for Miri, some phrases he says, etc. I even managed to squeeze in a quote from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Short Round says, “Hold onto your potatoes!”
• 6. The Moon City and its descendants, the Protectors, are completely fictional and are not modeled after any particular group of people, although there are still many indigenous people living in the Amazon.
• 7. Miri appears twice in RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART—in the first and last chapters. At one point, her mentor Dr. Socorro Mejía says about Miri, “She’ll be swinging from vines in no time.” And as it just so happens, Miri picks up vine swinging in the Amazon.
• 8. I tried to incorporate lots of the Amazon rainforest’s flora and fauna into the book, which meant lots of research. One of the most interesting things I learned was that despite being the world’s largest spider by mass and weight (and despite the name), the Goliath birdeater spider is relatively harmless to humans. But I still had to work one into the book because, I’m sorry, but if a giant spider landed on me in the jungle, I’d be freaking out, dangerous or not.

What is the first job you have had? 

Working concessions at a local golf tournament. I can even say that I served a hamburger to the actor, Jamie Farr (he was my hometown celebrity and starred in M*A*S*H for those who don’t know who he is).

What is your happiest childhood memory? 

Going on bike rides to the park with my mom and siblings where I sat in the kid seat behind my mom. We’d stop on the way at this little carry-out and I’d always get a root beer and a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips (Miri gets her love of SC&O chips from me). Then we’d head to the park, and I’d search for fossils in the rock wall along the river.

What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why? 

In grade school, I loved English because I loved books and writing. But in college, hands down Geology. The study of rocks and the structure of the Earth is absolutely fascinating.

Name one thing you miss about being a kid. 

The lack of responsibility.

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? 

“If I don’t move, maybe Henrik (my dog) won’t notice I’m awake and I can get another five minutes of sleep before he gets up.” I literally think this just about every day.

What is your most memorable travel experience? 

Traveling to Belize to participate in a Mayan archaeological dig for a month.

What's your most missed memory? 

I miss waking up early on Thanksgiving to help my mom prep the turkey. I moved from home almost 20 years ago and haven’t been back for Thanksgiving, but it was something I looked forward to every year.

When you looked in the mirror first thing this morning, what was the first thing you thought? 

Mmm… my fave soap! (Trader Joe’s peppermint foaming hand soap)

What do you usually think about right before falling asleep? 

Honestly, my stories. I use bedtime to plot whatever I’m working on.

If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be? 

I would have studied abroad. I was signed up to spend a summer in Spain in college but pulled out at the last minute. After that, it took me almost twenty years to go to Europe for the first time.

First Love? 

Indiana Jones.

What event in your life would make a good movie? 

Probably right now. I’m living on a farm in a small town, and within the first week I saw a bear, got swarmed by slugs on the doorstep, caught a mouse in the bathtub, and locked myself out on the balcony without my phone. My sister said it was like the start of a horror film, but I said it’s the start of a romcom.

What is one unique thing are you afraid of? 

It’s not necessarily unique, but it may be irrational since I almost never encounter them, but sharks. I used to think sharks would bite off my feet as I was getting in bed as a kid. To this day, I can’t look at pictures of sharks. If I’m flipping through a book and suddenly there’s a photo of a shark, I’ll toss the book away from me.

A plucky librarian and an archaeologist on the run fake an engagement to save their lives, leading them into the labyrinth of their own desires.

Daniela Guiterrez has been in love with her brother’s best friend, Theo, for as long as she can remember—until he went missing over a year ago during an archaeological expedition. But on a solo trip to Greece, the intrepid librarian discovers that Theo is very much alive, although judging by the criminals holding him hostage, he is not doing well.

An expert in ancient Greek archaeology, Dr. Theo Galanis was abducted by artifact smugglers in search of a priceless gemstone—the eye of the Minotaur. This ridiculous assignment was supposed to get Dani out of his system, not keep her tied up next to him. But when a little white lie spirals into his captors believing Theo and Dani are engaged, the “couple” must utilize her research skills and his expertise to solve the millennia-old Minoan mystery, all while feigning a romance to keep each other alive.

Now with six days to find the jewel, underground societies, mythological beings, and pesky abductors are only half the battle. Because among the ancient ruins and temples they explore is an even bigger danger: falling in love for real.

You can purchase Temple of Swoon at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura.

Please comment below/share on Instagram to enter and tag JeanBookNerd.

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Jessica James Interview - For One Night Only

Photo Credit: Emily Jones Photography

Jessica James (she/her) writes steamy, heartfelt romance about ambitious women and the people who fall in love with them. Her romance obsession began with strong influences from Jane Austen, Meg Cabot, and early 2000’s rom coms. In November 2021, Jessica was selected as a Pitch Wars mentee for adult contemporary romance. Her romance novels, For One Night Only and For Our Next Song, are available now from Berkley Romance/Penguin Random House in paperback, ebook, and audio. She is represented by Root Literary.

In addition to writing, Jessica has a passion for music—she’s a mezzo soprano with a BA in Music and an equal love of rock concerts and Broadway. Her spare time is spent watching too much TV, trying new cookie recipes, playing cozy video games, and exploring the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her spouse and their magical reindeer herding dog. She can be found with an iced oat milk latte in hand regardless of the weather.

      

When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill?
I didn’t realize I had a creative dream in a single defining moment, but rather, it was an innate desire that I gradually learned to recognize in bigger ways. Making up stories was a part of my life from a really young age! My childhood friends and I would take turns dreaming up fantastical scenarios to act out—pretending to be fairies or explorers or Pokémon trainers—and there was something so exhilarating about sharing ideas with others. The role of storytelling in my life shifted and changed over time, whether that meant doodling in diaries about potential characters, or writing fanfiction I never shared with anyone but couldn’t stop thinking about. At some point, I definitely knew I wanted to write books, but I didn’t know what that looked like, so I set that aside during college…and ended up studying music! (My craving for creative pursuits could not be denied.) When I finished my degree, I realized there was nothing stopping me from actually trying to write except my own fear. I’m so glad I decided to go for it!

Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
I love this question, and my answer is the same for both: The Hunger Games! I read the series at the end of college, and it was the spark that got me back into reading for pleasure. I renewed my library card, discovered a love for dystopian stories, and tore through Divergent, The Selection, Legend, and Uglies in quick succession. Rediscovering my joy of reading really inspired me to get back to writing. The Hunger Games has become a bit of a comfort series for me despite the heavy themes, because I just love the characters so much, and the story is so incredibly compelling. The Hunger Games is a masterclass in pacing and worldbuilding. When I’m looking to up my craft, I return to these books again and again.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
I had an opportunity to meet with a group of booksellers and librarians about four months before my release date. The night was so meaningful to me, because it was my first official event as an author, and I got to experience it alongside writers and publishing professionals I deeply admire. Talking to folks with the power to put my book in readers’ hands was a little intimidating! But everyone was so kind and enthusiastic—book people really are the best people—and it made this author journey feel that much more real. It was a special experience, and I know I will treasure it for years to come.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
Elle Woods said it best: “You must always have faith in yourself.” Publishing is a long, winding road full of highs and lows, and there are also lots of stagnant periods where you’re waiting on things outside of your control. You have to learn to be your own biggest fan and fiercest advocate. So ask questions! Seek learning opportunities! Trust your gut! But taking care of your creative self means learning to pay attention to not just what your career needs to thrive, but your mind and body too. Maybe you like to “write the wait” and work on your next project while you’re anticipating news, or maybe you need to spend a lot of time refilling your creative well between projects. Whatever that looks like, figure out what works for you, so you can have a strategy for the long waits. It’s important to take care of yourself—not just so you can keep creating, but because you deserve care!

What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
At risk of cliché: life! I wrote FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY while my first romance manuscript was on submission to editors (and that book ultimately did not sell at the time.) I had such a hard time getting motivated to write again, which is unusual for me—I’m usually almost too eager to start working on the next project, because new ideas are shiny and exciting. But this time, I was in a period of deep burnout amidst a lot of change in my personal life. I had to take extra time to rest, and I was deeply frustrated with myself, which was not conducive to the creative process. Expecting myself to write when I wasn’t ready made it worse! But once I had the spark of the idea for FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, I couldn’t let it go until I got the story on the page, and it made me fall in love with writing all over again. Working on this book taught me a lot about my process and what I need to be productive, even when life is distractingly busy.

What chapter was the most memorable to write and why?
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY is a second-chance romance about two former rockstars bringing the band back together for the first time in six years. Valerie has remained in the spotlight as an actress, while her ex-love and childhood best friend, Caleb, fled the industry for a life in the suburbs. There’s a chapter early on where the two make music together for the first time in years—doing something as simple as karaoke—and everything between them just starts to click again despite all the tension from being in the same space after a bitter breakup. The moment dregs up all those juicy unresolved feelings from their former relationship, and it affects both of them in a big way. Writing that scene was so special because it really felt like the moment I honed in on a major theme for the book: exploring the way music can bring people together.

Can you tell us when you started FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, how that came about?
During the pandemic, I developed a bit of an obsession with art that had a musical element. I have a background in music, and not being able to work with other musicians for the first time in my adult life made me really miss those collaborative spaces. So I consumed television, film, and books about musicians, and I was struck all over again by the importance of the found family that is so often formed while making music with others. I knew I wanted to write my own story about people with a shared love for music finding their way back to each other… and eventually, they ended up being sexy rockstars struggling to love and be loved in a world heavy with expectation.

What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted/when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
Overwhelming joy and gratitude. I cried so many happy tears! I started working on my first manuscript about ten years ago, so getting to this point was a long time coming. Finally getting published and seeing my name on a cover was so incredibly special. I still want to pinch myself at least once a day.

TEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY

• 1. The first detail I had about the book was the band name: Glitter Bats. I don’t exactly remember where it came from originally, but there’s a fun explanation for it in the novel.
• 2. I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo in 2022. It wasn’t my first time fast drafting, but it was my first time completing an 80,000-word project in exactly one month!
• 3. When I decided to include song lyrics in the book, I took an online songwriting class. It had been a while since I studied music, and this research was invaluable in developing the Glitter Bats catalog, even though I wouldn’t call myself a songwriter by any means. But I had a lot of fun!
• 4. There’s a lot of mixed media in the book, but my favorite is a fanfiction database listing about the characters. Creating it felt very meta.
• 5. A lot of the social media posts I wrote for the project were inspired by my own experiences in fandom spaces. The names and scenarios are of course different, but all of the comments are based on things I’ve seen online!
• 6. Before we settled on the title of FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, the working title was WHEN OUR STARS COLLIDED. It was a deep cut for fans of one of my favorite TV shows, but I’m so happy with the final title, so it wasn’t a heartbreak to change it. No regrets!
• 7. Valerie and Caleb’s bandmates are each named in honor of a pop culture reference: one from Jane Austen, one from Star Trek, and one from Ted Lasso. It truly shows the range of my personal tastes!
• 8. While the book is about a pop-punk band, there are a few references for Swifties. I like to describe the plot as “Delicate” meets “Midnight Rain.”
• 9. In addition to Taylor Swift, my FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY playlist has a wide range of music, including songs from Paramore, 5 Seconds of Summer, Yellowcard, Avril Lavigne, Joseph, Lizzy McAlpine, and the Julie and the Phantoms soundtrack.
• 10. FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY isn’t the last you’ll see of the Glitter Bats. Stay tuned!

What is the first job you have had? 

My first job was babysitting! Before I really got started, I took a class that included getting my first-aid certification, and I put an ad in our small town paper every summer. I usually babysat for family friends and neighbors, but it was regular enough that I didn’t get another job until I could drive (when I spent a summer working at a telephone answering service.)

What is your happiest childhood memory? 

I did 4-H and rode horses as a kid, and while the shows were fun, what I loved most were my after-school days spending time at the barn. There was something so peaceful about spending time with horses that made my anxieties melt away. Even though I don’t ride any more, I still think of myself as a horse kid, and I really hope I can get back into it someday.

What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why? 

High school English! I fell in love with Emily Dickinson and Shakespeare, and it’s where I got my first taste of writing (and my first positive feedback! English teachers are heroes.) It took a long time to shift from literary essays to fiction writing, but I’m grateful for every step on that journey.

What decade during the last century would you have chosen to be a kid? 

I was a 90s kid and I wouldn’t change it! I am grateful that I (mostly) grew up without social media and with some of the best Disney films. It wasn’t the worst time to be a kid!

Name one thing you miss about being a kid. 

The luxury of unstructured time without adult obligations. There’s something so precious about the days when I could get homework done and then simply do whatever I wanted for the rest of the day. I read so many more books and played way more video games back then!

Best date you've ever had? 

My spouse and I went to Disneyland for our ten-year wedding anniversary, and it was basically a three-day long date! We spent a ton of time in Galaxy’s Edge, had an anniversary dinner at one of the restaurants, and even got some photos taken. It was also in December, which is a really special time to be at Disney with all of the holiday celebrations. The trip is full of memories I’ll cherish forever.

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? 

I’m not a morning person, so honestly, it’s how to get ready for my day—because if I get distracted, I’m genuinely at risk of not making it out the door on time! I have to keep myself focused and keep my eyes on the clock. But…I’m a daydreamer, so I often spend my drive to work manifesting the best-case scenarios of what my near future could hold.

What is your most memorable travel experience? 

Right after we graduated high school, a good friend and I went to New York City. We were barely adults, and being in the city with our future ahead of us made anything seem possible. We saw a ton of Broadway shows (including Wicked and Spring Awakening,) ate a ton of fabulous food, and spent days exploring the city. I loved every minute.

Which incident in your life that totally changed the way you think today? 

Not an incident per se, but two years working in public libraries radically changed how I see the world. I learned a lot about all the ways libraries serve the public beyond making books free to access. I also learned about media literacy and fighting book bans! The freedom to read is so incredibly important to our society, and it’s something I’m committed to advocate for as an author.

Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heart break or have never loved before? 

This feels easy—I would definitely choose true love with a guarantee of heartbreak. I think love is worth it no matter how much time you have with someone, if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for. As a romance author, that’s one of my guiding principles!

What do you usually think about right before falling asleep? 

Usually I write fanfiction in my head, because it helps me turn off my anxiety brain. There’s something about revisiting familiar stories and characters that is so comforting.

If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be? 

I’d go to grad school. I was offered an opportunity to continue in my music program right after undergrad, but I didn’t take it because I was trying to avoid more student loans. That was a sound financial decision, but I also wish I’d gotten my master’s when I had the chance. I’m not sure I’ll ever go back at this point! To this day, it remains my biggest “what if.”

First Love? 

I’m lucky enough to say it’s my spouse! We were college sweethearts, and our love story is honored in my FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY dedication.

Most horrifying dream you have ever had? 

I’m child free to this day, but I started having vivid dreams about being pregnant when I was in high school, and the first one really unsettled me! I later learned it’s a very common stress dream. Go figure!

What is your greatest adventure? 

Being an author! Every step in this process has been full of the unexpected, and it’s both a challenge and a joy.

What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh? 

It was definitely interacting with my dog. We have an older Lapponian Herder who is very odd and particular, and does things like begging for lettuce and hiding underneath my writing desk when he hears beeping sounds. Recently, he started flopping dramatically near my yoga mat when I’m trying to work out, because he’s offended if attention is not on him at all times. He keeps us entertained!

For Glitter Bats keys player Jane Mercer, writing music helps tune out her self-doubt from a strict upbringing. Composing also distracts from her longtime feelings for her bandmate and best friend, Keeley, who Jane can’t pursue if she wants to keep her bisexuality out of the media. But when an incompetent percussionist quits mid–recording session on one of her major solo projects, there’s only one drummer to call to make the deadline.

Keeley Cunningham is determined to do what’s best for the newly-reunited Glitter Bats—including conceal her incurable attraction to Jane by keeping her distance. Still, when Jane asks for her help in the studio, Keeley drops everything to fill in. They collaborate harmoniously… until their repressed feelings crescendo into a massive argument about the band’s future that leaves them barely speaking.

As music forces Jane and Keeley into increasingly close proximity, the lingering tension finally ignites into the romance they’ve both been craving—and it’s hot, emotional, and fundamentally secret. But after an intimate moment is caught on camera, they’ll have to decide if their duet can survive its debut—both on and off stage.

You can purchase For One Night Only at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of For One Night Only by Jessica James.

Please comment below/share on Instagram to enter and tag JeanBookNerd.

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Sandra Griffith Interview - One Beautiful Year of Normal

Photo Credit: Ric Griffith 

Sandra Griffith is a doctorate-level psychologist with extensive clinical and forensic experience, the owner of a large behavioral health agency and an adjunct professor for Marshall University’s Doctoral of Psychology program. One Beautiful Year of Normal is her first novel.

       

  

What is your favorite book and why? What is your favorite book outside your
genre?
I’m showing my age with this one. Boys Life by Robert McCammon has been my favorite book since 1991 when it was first published. It is a beautiful, Southern Gothic, coming of age story with a touch of mystery and magic realism. It’s the only book I’ve read more than twice. My favorite book outside my genre is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It’s also a Southern Gothic but is based on an actual murder that took place in Savannah, Georgia in 1981. The book is considered non-fiction, but the writing is so lyrical and interesting it reads like a novel. The thing I love most about it though is how it manages to make the city itself the main character.

Greatest thing you learned in school.
The more you learn the more you realize how little you know.

What were your inspirations for your characters development?
I’ve been a psychologist for over thirty years and have worked with both children and adults who experience severe psychological issues, some of which present in unusual ways. The mother-daughter relationship in the story was largely based on this.

What chapter was the most memorable to write and why?
I think anyone who reads a lot knows how important Chapter One is, so with that in mind, I rewrote that opening pages so many times I can now recite it word for word without looking.

When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill?
I think most people who become avid readers always secretly dream of writing. I can’t remember a time when that wasn’t my biggest dream and I’m still not sure what kept me from trying it sooner.

TWO OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES/SCENES

One Beautiful Year of Normal are ones that take place with the main character as an adult coming to terms with her mother’s mental illness but still quietly questioning why no one intervened
sooner when it was obvious she had basically been left on her own. The two quotes are:

“The reality of our situation was stark: She rarely left our house, and by the time Helen came to fetch me, my mother wouldn’t even come out of her bedroom. If anyone had seen her curled into fetal position on her bed, it might have made a difference. Or it might not have mattered at all. The delicate mask my mother wore was so beautiful even I hadn’t always been able to see how much damage was hidden behind it.”

“Although my mother did not choose this terrible illness, I’ve always suspected there is a part of her that doesn’t want to get better. She would see this as a betrayal of my father. She lived. He died. She split the difference.”

What was your first job?
My first job was an Avon Saleslady at the age of 15! My only customers were friends of my mom, and she had to drive me around to deliver their orders, but I loved it!

What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?
What it was like to sleep in a bed without dogs piled on me.

What is your most memorable travel experience?
A trip to Italy several years ago. I wanted to squeeze as much as I could into ten days and ended up overbooking tours of different cities. I overestimated my physical ability to walk hundreds of miles, run to catch trains and function with less than five hours of sleep a night.

Name one thing you miss about being a kid.
The ability to jump off something from a high distance without getting hurt.

Best date you’ve ever had.
The best date I’ve ever had, or at least the most memorable, was on my 13 th wedding anniversary. We left a historic inn in Winchester, Virginia and headed to a resort in Charlottsville when our new car broke down. We called a tow truck, and the driver drove us two hours to a car dealership in Charlottsville. From there we took a cab to the resort. After checking in, we were driven from the front office via trolley and taken to a smaller area with golf carts that we then used to get to our room. We needed a way to get home the next morning so after dinner we did same trip in reverse to a bus that took us to a car rental place. So….the date involved riding in a car, tow truck, cab, trolley, golf cart, bus and a huge rental van because that was the only vehicle that was available to rent.

A must-read for fans of character-driven suspense like Liz Moore’s Long Bright River and A. J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window, One Beautiful Year of Normal is a gripping psychological thriller about a woman’s dangerous decision to unearth her family’s darkest secrets.

Some memories protect you. Others imprison you.

When August Caine receives a phone call from a Savannah attorney, she is blindsided by the news—her Aunt Helen has passed away. But how can that be, when August’s mother insisted Helen died in a car accident fifteen years ago? Determined to uncover the truth, August returns to the deep South, where the ghosts of her past—both real and imagined—await her.

Plagued by a memory splintered by her father’s unsolved murder when she was a child and further tangled by psychiatric treatments for the debilitating depression she struggles with, August realizes her survival depends on unraveling the mystery surrounding her father’s death. This means returning to the one safe place she remembers from the childhood she has mostly locked away inside her mind: Aunt Helen’s home, and the ghost tours they created together.

A chilling exploration of mental illness, mother-daughter bonds, and generational secrets, One Beautiful Year of Normal follows August as she pieces together the long-buried truths that shaped her family’s tragic past and confronts the question that has haunted her for years: Can the truth set her free, or will it unravel everything she thought she knew?

You can purchase One Beautiful Year of Normal at the following Retailers:

        

Thank you SANDRA for making this giveaway possible.

Please comment below/share on instagram to enter.

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