Thank you for visiting my blog with your evocative, erotic, fairy tale, romance novel, Jacki and the Giant.
What would you like readers to take away from your story? Does it contain a message?
I think it contains a very important message without getting preachy. That message is to stop judging people by the way they look. Stop name calling and bullying, we are all special in our own unique ways. We need to take more time to get to know each other, I think we will find out we have more in common then we could ever imagine. We all want the same thing, to be loved for who we are. Jacki looks past the Giants reputation, his size, and his scar and sees the good person, but lonely person he really is.
Where did you find your inspiration for the story? Was it a person, a current event, something you witnessed, or something else?
Well, it’s kind of an odd story. After the success of Rapunzel’s Romp, I was looking to write another erotic fairy tale, but was looking for one that maybe hadn’t been done before. At the time I was working at a physical therapy clinic and one of our patients had gifted us a plant as a thank you. One day I happen to notice that it was really growing like crazy, climbing up the window in the clinic really very quickly. I told one of the therapists’ it was like a magic beanstalk. As soon as it was out of my mouth the story clicked in my head and I knew I had found my new story.
Did you face any obstacles or challenges while writing the story and if so, what were they?
Well anytime you are writing a story set back in time it requires a little research. Jacki and the Giant takes place in the 1400’s in a village. The Giant lives in a cottage on top of a mountain, so not really challenges or obstacles, just some Goggling about how they may have lived, dressed, traveled, and ate back in that time.
What have you learned from the main characters in your story?
I hope I’ve learned not to judge by the outside, but by the goodness we all have inside us. My characters are good people, who were misjudged by everyone, except each other, and all because of how they looked.
How much emphasis do you put on supporting characters to move the plot of your stories along? Have any of your supporting characters ever gotten their own story?
Just in a couple of series that I have written. There is an important character in Jacki and the Giant, one who plays a very important role in helping the two of them meet.
Do you write in other genres and if so, what are they? What genres would you like to try that you haven’t already?
Most of my books are contemporary stories, as well as a couple of stories that are considered “sweet” with no sex involved. I’m currently writing my first YA and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I like to write whatever comes to me and I don’t want to be boxed into a single genre. That would not be fun for me and I think I would get bored with writing if I were to stay in only one lane.
What or who influences your writing?
Anything and everything is fair game. My friends and family know what I write and have learned to be careful about what they say around me. A movie, an overgrown plant, a name I heard out in public can all turn that light bulb on in my head. Once I got one sentence stuck on repeat in my head and wrote an entire book about that one sentence.
What do you do in your down time to feed your soul?
I read and I wish I could say I read a lot, but unfortunately I usually only manage one or two books a month. When I’m not working the evil day job, reading, or writing I tend to watch a lot of Netflix and TV. I am obsessed with the Food Network Channel and love to cook and share with friends and family. My sons are grown and have their own homes, but we try and get together and have movie and dinner night from time to time and it’s my favorite time of all, just hanging out with them and listening to them talk about their day.
What’s next on your literary horizon?
Tackling that YA novel I mentioned earlier, I hope I don’t lose interest and will be able to complete it. Like all authors I have tons of stories I have started and never finished.
What is important in your life and why?
Family, family, and more family, with a dash of friends, who are like family. I lost my husband ten years ago after thirty years of marriage. I know how important family is and not just with my sons and their significant others. I love my younger brother and sister and their children and try to stay close with them even though we all live in different states.
Blurb:
What if the Giant was just lonely?
Jacki’s already hard life just went from bad to worse when a misunderstanding brands her a witch and a mob intent on burning her alive sends her running for her life.
An odd little man gifts her with a handful of dried beans and tells her to use them in a dire situation. What could be direr? With the mob on her heels and her back against a mountain, Jacki drops the beans to the frozen ground and watches a beanstalk grow to the sky. With no other choice, she climbs.
Ben has been known as the fierce Giant of the Mountain all his life. He lives alone in isolation on top of the mountain, yearning for love and a family of his own. His frightening size and slashing facial scar have given him a reputation that has ostracized him from the villagers below.
Can the tall woman with the fiery red hair that shows up in a snowstorm be sent just for him?
Excerpt:
“I told you, Jacinda, you’re not going anywhere, not today, anyway.”
Jacki watched him walk to the fireplace, crouch, and stoke the fire before adding a couple of logs. He looked up at her, his face calmly impassive. “I’m going out to tend to the animals and I’ll come back and make us some breakfast. I suggest you stay put.”
Jacki leaned against the door. She was a virtual prisoner here. It would be nothing short of suicide for her to even try to leave. But she couldn’t stay here, could she? Here, alone with the likes of him? Her reputation would be in ruins. That was if she even managed to survive long enough to have a reputation. What if he was dangerous? He certainly looked capable of danger. He was too manly, too ruggedly handsome for his own good.
He cut his eyes to her and a dark eyebrow quirked up. It was almost like he could read her thoughts. Her heart sped up and her lady parts tingled with awareness. Perhaps he was dangerous in other ways. Her body was certainly telling her he was. She couldn’t go there. He was, after all, the giant. The town folk obviously feared him and probably for just cause. Shouldn’t she also fear him? Oddly enough, she didn’t.
Jacki swallowed and raised her chin. For some reason, it was important to her that he know she understood. “I’m not afraid of you.”
In one fluid motion, he turned and looked at her, stood, and leisurely, deliberately moved toward her. How could someone so big still manage to move so gracefully? Powerfully, yes, but somehow he managed to be smooth and not clumsy. Jacki felt her insides tremble the closer he got. She leaned back against the door and the cold from outside seeped through her clothing. He stopped in front of her. Close enough that she could see the flecks of gold in his bright-blue eyes. Close enough that she could see the edges of the scar and count every stitch that it must have taken to mend his skin back together. Close enough that she could smell his manly scent. It had a surprising effect on her body. Her breaths quickened, her heart beat harder and faster, and her skin grew warm and tingly. What was happening to her?
He reached out his pointer finger and slowly, deliberately, ran it down the side of her face and over to her bottom lip. His gaze dropped to her mouth and Jacki found herself holding her breath in anticipation.
“You should be afraid.”
“Why? Why should I fear you? Just because you’re…” She shrugged her shoulders. “You’re tall? I’m a tall woman. People also look at me with fear in their eyes.”
“No, not because I’m big.” His eyes flicked back up to hers. “Because I want to kiss you, Jacinda, and I may not want to stop.”
Jacki swallowed. “Oh, I see.” She searched his face. “I’ve … I mean … I’ve never been kissed before. Not a proper kiss … from a man.”
“The men in the village must all be simpletons.”
She shook her head. “No, I think they are just short.”
The corners of his lips twitched. He chuckled. It was low and rough. A sound from somewhere deep in his chest and it rolled outward and encompassed her, like a hug. “Well, thankfully I don’t have that problem, now do I?”
Buy Links:
https://www.bookstrand.com/jacki-and-the-giant-mf
https://www.evernightpublishing.com/jacki-and-the-giant-by-t-lee-garland/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1130574289?ean=2940155977629
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