Welcome to Jennifer St. Giles' guest blog!

Welcome Ms. Jennifer St. Giles to Love Romances and More, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me!

Did you always want to become a writer?

I have always written, been driven to put thoughts and ideas onto the page, but the desire to write stories and be an author didn’t gel until I was in my mid twenties. I started several books over the next ten years, but didn’t complete a book until my mid thirties. I regretfully allowed life to intrude and keep me from pursuing my passion. Once I completed one book I was obsessed with becoming an author. It took me nine more years and ten more manuscripts before my dream came true. So my advice to other aspiring authors is to Never Never Never Give up on Your Dream.


What is the most, and the least interesting fact about writing?

The love of story telling of creating world and characters that take on a life of their own and manage to touch the lives and hearts of other people. There is power in words and story.


How did you celebrate your first release? What was it like to see your book in a bookstore? Do you have a special ritual for celebrating a book release?

I celebrated my first sale, by going to dinner with my writing friends who’d been with me from the start. I will never forget it because, LOL, I bit into a potato skin appetizer and the cap on my front tooth broke. One of my published friends said, well there goes your advance on your book. LOL, she was so right. As for seeing my book on the shelf? There is no describing the feeling. Not quite as euphoric as holding your newborn child for the first time, but close. Books become close to a writers heart. My special ritual for celebrating a book release usually involves, champagne, chocolate and my best buds, Jacquie D’Alessandro and Wendy Etherington.


How did your family react to fact that you also write romance novels? Have your family read your books?

Well, there are mixed reactions. Husband is not impressed with romance and doesn’t consider that I have a “real” job and would prefer I write in a different genre. My daughter absolutely loves my stories, but then she is a bit biased. My teenage sons don’t pay too much attention to my books. They think it’s cool to see my books in the book stores, but they are boys and male with a teenager’s appetite, LOL, if mom is writing then she’s not cooking! My sister, brother, parents, and extended family are all very supportive. Now for the person’s opinion who matters the most-me- I love writing romance because when you boil all of life down to its basic elements, love is the most important. Everyone seeks to love and to be loved. Romance is a part of almost every story ever told. I think writing stories about two people who overcome obstacles, fall in love, and commit to one another are along with the battle of good triumphing over evil are the most important things a fiction writer can write about.



Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?

Yes, Yes, Yes. I’ve been a voracious reader all of my life and my favourites range from Kathleen Woodiwiss to Nora Roberts, to Sandra Brown, to Susan Brockman to Amy Fetzer to JR Ward, to Jacquie D’Alessandro to too many to name!


Your characters come to life in your books. Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example? Do you have living role models for your characters?

Characters definitely take on a life of their own as a story evolves, but they are also a part of yourself and your imagination, so yes, they live with you while you are writing them and they stay with you after the story is done. Sometimes years later something will happen or someone will mention a book and warm memories of the character flood your mind. Do Characters manage to take over an author’s life? Ha! Always! I can’t even take a shower without them intruding. LOL. They wake you up in the middle of the night having conversations, or worrying you because you wrote a scene a certain way and they tell you that they absolutely do not like what you’ve done.
Real life role models...hmm...yes. Sometimes it is characters in movies that inspire, ie: Gerard Butler in Phantom of the Opera The Movie. Sometimes it is songs that inspire, ie: A Rose on the Grey, by Seal. Sometimes it is stories of heroic men and women that inspire. And sometimes it is people that I have met in person that inspire me. And Watch out sometimes I honor my friends with a character based on them. That is true in my Shadowmen Series, Annette Batista, Emerald Linton, and Stefanie Batista named after people I know.


Where do you get the inspirations for your books?

Everywhere! I love writing and so many things inspire me that I don’t feel as if I will ever be able to write them all. I wish I could.


Do you find it difficult at times to write love scenes?

This is usually a good indicator if I have written the story right. If the love scene comes onto the page with hot passion and flows well, then I know I have brought my characters emotionally to the point that making love is right for them. If I am struggling, then I know I didn’t do what I needed to do before that point and I have to go back and rework my character’s interactions and emotions.


What is your favorite book from the books that you have written so far? Who are your favorite hero and heroine, and why?

LOL That’s like asking a mother which of her children is her favourite, a nearly impossible task. I’ve written both paranormal contemporaries and gothic historical so I’ll pick two sets of heroes and heroines. I think sometimes the most beloved characters are often the most tortured ones. So for my paranormal couple I would have to choose Emerald and Sam from Kiss of Darkness. These two characters come from troubled paths, have no hope of a future, and yet love each other to the point of sacrificing self for the other.
In my gothic historical, I think I would choose, Ann and Benedict from The Mistress of Trevelyan. Benedict, though so strong, is lost without Ann and the depth her love and heart brings to his life and to his lost boys.


Which book was the hardest to write and which the easiest?

The hardest books were Touch a Dark Wolf because what I envisioned and what my editor envisioned were two different things and I had to rewrite the book in weeks. Kiss of Darkness was difficult, but so well worth the fight to get it right, I was also struggling with some major health issues after serious surgery, which made it even harder. The easiest books to write are my gothic historicals. They just flow onto the page!


If you could change places with one character from your books, who would it be and why?

LOL, I would love to be any one of my heroines because they take charge of their lives, they’re respected by the men they love and can love passionately and fully! So were I to pick just one, I’ll have to give you a fun answer and tell you it would be Marissa from Bride of the Wolf, coming in 5/09 because she inherits billions that she’ll now be able to make a powerful difference in the lives of those she loves and against the evil trying to take over everything.


If you could travel through time to visit a special time period or famous person, what or who would it be and why?

Queen Victoria, I love the time period where women were beginning to break down barriers to establish themselves as equals. And Queen Victoria was Britain’s longest ruler and she ruled during its greatest rise as a world power.


Do you listen to music while you are writing and if so what music is it?

When I writing, I need earplugs and quiet. If I am looking for inspiration, I can go to music sometimes.


If you could choose of your books for a movie, which one would it be and who would you as the cast?

The Mistress of Trevelyan because of its classic and heart-warming elements. Gerard Butler and Angelina Jolie. Kiss of Darkness would be second because it shows how quickly a town can succumb to the influence of evil, stars would be Hugh Jackman or Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Reese Witherspoon.


Are you working on anything right now, and can you tell us a teaser about these projects?

I am currently working on a short story for the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romances Book 2 called Point of No Return. This will be set in England about 1808 and how Aerick the Eternal, a vampire and leader of the Blood Defenders, who vowed never to condemn his angel of light to an eternity of darkness, claims her as his mate to save her from being burned at the stake as a witch.

Cover blurb of Kiss of Darkness:

A vampire bite has Sheriff Sam Sheridan on the fast track to hell and demons are taking over Twilight Tennessee. He's battling not only to save both his soul and his town, but also his love for one woman, Emerald Linton. Emerald has a secret that could destroy both her and Sam. She is an angel, and if she can't save Sam from turning evil, then she'll have to kill him, no matter how much of her heart belongs to him. Sam is determined to take as many demons and vampires down with him as he can and to protect Emerald, but as the seductive dark power in him grows will he condemn Emerald to share his doomed fate, or will they both find a way out of hell.

Excerpt of Kiss of Darkness:

Something was wrong in Twilight.
Sam had the limo’s license plate imprinted in his brain, which meant he could track down the bastards without having to chase them down. Good thing. He’d probably be as lethal behind a wheel as he was with the gun at the moment.
Dozens of questions about what Emerald had just done and what had just happened screamed through his mind, but he didn’t trust himself to speak to her, yet. Not until he had a firm handle on his temper, which meant the FBI--or Myra if she was lying--would get the brunt of his rage. Nice.
“Sam,” Emerald said. “I’m sorry. I didna mean to—”
“Later, Em. I can’t think yet,” he told her, still gulping in deep breaths of air.
“Come on,” she said softly, taking his hand. She led him up the steps of the station and into the shadowed recesses of the entrance. For once she kept quiet, as if she really understood how tenuous his hold was. Even the tinkling of her bracelets grated on him.
What had happened to him?
He tugged her back before she could open the door, intending to take a moment more to gather his cool. But when he looked at her, she had that lip thing going again and all thought and reason abandoned him. Seeing her teeth sunk into her lush bottom lip that was now all moist and wet snapped something inside him. All of the desire he’d kept a tight lid on for months meshed with all of the emotion roiling in him and he lost it.
Taking hold of her shoulders, he leaned down and kissed her, sliding his tongue swiftly over her plump lip then sucking the sweetness of it into his mouth. Her heady lavender and spice scent mingled with womanly arousal filled his lungs and set his senses on fire.
Blood roared in his ears, rushing south to his swelling erection. He could smell, taste, and feel her on a level he’d never experience before in his life. It was all consuming. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her hard against his burning need. She gasped in response and his tongue invaded deep, sweeping the softness of her mouth and tangling with her tongue.
She moaned, angling her neck back to take more of him and he stepped between her legs, riding his thigh to the V of her hot sex. Her breasts brushed his chest and he had to touch her, had to feel their ripe fullness. Taste her. Suck her. Eat her. Thrust into her until nothing but mindless pleasure ruled them both.
“Sam, please” she said, splaying her hand against his chest, breathing as heavily as he was.
That was all he needed to hear. She wanted him as desperately as he wanted her. He’d known it forever. So why in the hell hadn’t they banged it up big time, yet? He couldn’t seem to remember why and wasn’t the least bit interested in thinking right now. He backed her to the wall and shoved his hand up her soft shirt to even softer skin and cupped her lace covered breast. Her nipple hardened and he groaned deep, shoving his arousal hard against her.
Emerald pulled back then suddenly smacked her fist into his chest.
He blinked at her, trying to see through his desire hazed vision. “Em?”
“I said please stop, you gack. Not please more.” She pushed at him again and he loosened his hold, surprised to find his hand palming her breast. Reluctantly, he slid his hand from her shirt and eased back from her, finally seeing clearly enough to realize they weren’t even in private.
Considering one could practically spit from one side of the town to the other, life in Twilight was like trying to lose oneself in a fishbowl. Anybody looking from the street or the parking lot would have seen them at least kissing, if not the full details of the kiss. And anyone exiting the sheriff’s station would have gotten an eyeful. Damn where in the hell was his mind?
“I canna believe you kissed me like that. After all this fooking time you up and kiss me now?” She glared at him, chest heaving with ire.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. I shouldn’t have—”
“Yes, you bloody well should have. But you should have kissed me months ago when it would have been you kissing me.”