Thursday 3 March 2011

Welcome fellow Scarlet Rose author, Jennifer Jakes!


Great to have you here, Jennifer - I am leaning more and more toward those sexy cowboys as I learn the craft of erotic romance writing so I was a very happy girl when I read your blog post. It gave me food for thought about the whole western thing as a setting for a story...the sex part I can pretty much conjure up myself when I think of half-naked cowboys! ; )

WESTERN OR NOT?

Michaela and Sully. Stands with a Fist and John Dunbar. Hawkeye and Cora. Charley and Sue.

Have I got you thinking? What TV series or movies did these characters come from?

*insert Jeopardy music here*

OK, time's up!

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; Dances with Wolves; Last of the Mohicans. Open Range.

Now, down to business. :) The characters I mentioned are those I never tire of. These are the kind of characters I write about (or aspire to). These are the kind of characters that grow larger than life in my head. Ever since elementary school, when I spent my summers reading about Sacajawea leading Lewis and Clark, I’ve had a love affair with frontier stories. So I have to wonder: Does that make me a western historical romance writer? I’m not sure. Let me explain. In my opinion ‘western’ brings to mind a certain image. When you say the word, do you automatically picture Clint Eastwood or John Wayne riding down a dusty Texas street? Do you picture two gun-slingers meeting on said street at high noon? Mmm-Hmm. Me too.

And therein lies my dilemma. None of my stories take place in Texas. Stagecoaches? Nope. Cacti? Sorry. And *gasp* there’s not a tumbling tumbleweed in sight. Yikes!

Am I a fraud? Will the real card-carrying western romance writers kick me out of Dodge? :) OK, I joke, but it’s something I’ve given some – maybe too much – thought to. And I have to ask: What is my subgenre?

A chaptermate suggested I call my work frontier historical romance. What do you think? What do you expect when you pick up a book labeled western historical romance?

I'd love to give an e-book of RAFE'S REDEMPTION to one lucky commentator!

He rode into town to buy supplies, not a woman.

For hunted recluse Rafe McBride, the raven-haired beauty on the auction block is exactly what he doesn't need. A dependent woman will be another clue his vengeful stepbrother can use to find and kill him. But Rafe's conscience won't let him leave another innocent's virginity to the riff-raff bidding. He buys her, promising to return her to St. Louis untouched. He only prays the impending blizzard holds off before her sultry beauty breaks his willpower.

She wanted freedom, not a lover.


Whisked to the auction block by her devious, gambling cousin, and then sold into the arms of a gorgeous stranger, outspoken artist Maggie Monroe isn't about to go meekly. Especially when the rugged mountain man looks like sin and danger rolled into one. But a blizzard and temptation thrust them together, and Maggie yearns to explore her smoldering passion for Rafe.

But when the snow clears, will the danger and secrets that surround Rafe and Maggie tear them apart?

****
Maggie wanted freedom, not a lover…

Oh, Lord. He was going to kiss her. She shouldn’t want this. She was confused enough.
Respectable women didn’t kiss men they barely knew, certainly not men who made them have wild,
exotic dreams.

It was crazy. He was making her want crazy things. Making her not give a damn about her reputation
or her virginity. Or her long-awaited freedom. All she could think about was that dream, and the way
his sinful mouth had felt. The table was only a step away, and honey was just as sweet as peach juice…

She swallowed hard and looked up into his hooded eyes.

“Maggie,” he groaned. “Don’t be scared. I’d never hurt you.”

Her mouth parted to object, but firm lips covered hers, hungry, demanding. She gasped, shocked at his
hunger, but even more at the illicit response coursing through her. An aching heat unfurled low in her
stomach, pulsed between her legs. Oh, yes. It started just like in the dream.

He deepened the kiss, coaxed her lips with his warm tongue. Long, languid strokes teased the inside of
her mouth, encouraging, tempting before he pulled back to nibble the corners of her lips.

Oh, God. Is this what all kisses felt like? Hot, lethargic? Melting her like molasses over warm bread?

“Kiss me, Maggie,” he breathed.

http://thewildrosepress.com/wilderroses/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=156&products_id=812

About the Author

After trying several careers—everything from a beautician to a dump truck driver—Jennifer finally returned to her first love, writing. Maybe it was all those Clint Eastwood movies she watched growing up, but in her opinion there is no better read than a steamy western historical.

Married to her very own hero, she lives on fifteen acres along with two beautiful daughters, two elderly horses, two spoiled cats and two hyper dogs.

During the summer she does Civil War re-enacting and has found it a great research tool, not to mention she has continued appreciation for her microwave and hot water heater.

Visit Jennifer Jakes at www.jenniferjakes.com

Ok, you've pulled me in Jennifer! And I really admired you for writing a full-length erotic romance novel. Not sure I could do that...but never say never.

Great post - over to you guys...what makes a western a western?


16 comments:

  1. I grew up on westerns. My aunt's favorite story of me involved westerns.

    A scene appears...cowboys and indians (Native Americans, I know, but back in the day it was indians) chasing each other. I bounce up and down and squeal. "See," she says. "Three is too young for her to watch these types of shows." I squeal again and yell, "Horsies!"

    So, what do I think of when you say Westerns? I actually think a western is anything set in what we call the southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, west Texas). It's the rugged setting that conjures to mind westerns. When I hear frontier I think plains and mountains and thick forests. Just my two cents.

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  2. Hi Emma,
    Thanks so much for having me here today!
    Yes, me too. I always see a dusty street in southern Texas or maybe Arizona. Sometimes I think of bawling cattle crowding down a Dodge City, Kansas street........
    These are the images that make me think I write Frontier Romance instead of Western. :) lol

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  3. Jennifer-

    Congrats on the book of the month win! So awesome!

    ~Sarah

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  4. I guess westerns involve cowboys and Indians to me. Whether in Texas or across the Plains to the West Coast, it's a western if it has cowboys and Indians. Also the time period of settling the west from about 1830. Prior to that you could call it frontier historical romances. There wasn't that settling phase prior to 1830. It a white man was in the west he was an explorer, hunter, not settler/farmer/rancher. He also was a friend to the native populations, not ready to kill them and seize their land.

    smg5775@yahoo.com

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  5. Jennifer, IMHO, if the story takes place prior to 1942 and the location is west of the Mississippi or...the Australian outback, I consider it a Western. Why Austraila? Cowboys! lol! So, yeah, Rafe's Redemption sounds like a western read to me and I am so putting it on my TBR list!

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  6. Sarah,
    Thanks so much!
    And thanks for stopping by today:)
    Good luck in the drawing!

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  7. Hi smg -
    Very good point about the presence of Indians making it a western. There are Indians in RAFE'S REDEMPTION, and he's definitely their friend(can't say more w/o giving away the plot) so I guess that's 1 point for RAFE being a western. LOL
    Thanks for the comment and good luck in the drawing:)

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  8. Hi Lilly -
    LOL! You're funny:)
    And darned if you don't have me thinking about Aussie cowboys now. *sigh*
    So glad you're excited about reading RAFE;)
    Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the drawing.

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  9. LOL I don't even try to place my sub-genre any more. I'm claiming spicy contemp romance... but it's been called so many other things. ; ) I won't even get into the fanatasy/paranormal/urban fantasy/ question. By the way, I loved Michaela and Sully.... oh did I have a crush on Sully! And I can't way to read Rafe's Redemption! Every time I read the excerpt or blurb, it moves up the TBR list.

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  10. Oh, yes. Sully. *Sigh* That man is one yummy inspiration. LOL
    Yay! So glad you're anxious to read RAFE. I guess he's a Sully of sorts. But I'll let you be the judge of that when you read it;)
    Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the drawing!

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  11. Oh, definitely a cowboy. No sneakers and baseball caps either. He's gotta be the real deal. He might drive a pickup, but he wears jeans and has horses in the pasture. Believe it or not, we have a lot of hot cowboys here in Arkansas. I know, I know what you thought, but it ain't so. Thanks for a good interview and a though provoking question.

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  12. Rachel Leigh, Thanks for this blog chat today.
    Hi Jennifer,
    Glad you are on this blog today. Congrats on the BOOK OF THE MONTH Win!
    I think he needs a Cowboy HAT and neck scarf. Doesn't that make it a western?
    Many of the early movie westerns were shot in my area of California. The Mojave Desert, Apple Valley and Victorville area.
    Sully stands alone. Nice thought when thinking of a book cover.
    I think you have just out paced Louis L'Amour.
    Your book and all your achievements along with it are very exciting. Way to go!

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  13. Hi Janet Kay!
    Oh, I love those westerns that were shot in the deserts. Makes me want to go watch one now! :)
    Thanks so much for all your support!
    Good luck in the drawing.

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  14. Hi Velda! Good to "see" you again. haha
    I grew up in Arkansas so I know what you're talking about;)
    Thanks for stopping by today and good luck in the drawing!

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  15. THE WINNER OF THE DRAWING............
    Sarah Grimm!!
    Congrats:)

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  16. Huge congrats, Sarah!

    Thanks so much for visiting, Jennifer - what a wonderful amount of commenters! Loving the enthusiasm for Westerns too!

    Rachel x

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