“Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all..”

Great stories bring hope to the heart and with every story I write, I strive to deliver that to my reader.  To give the hope of love.  To give the hope that good conquers evil.  To give the hope that there is light in the darkness, heroes in the battles, and healing to be found within the sharing of our hearts.

So secondly I realized that touching hearts is the true meaning of success for a writer, no matter what the financial gain may be.
All of which brings me to Mari and Roger, the heroine and hero of TACTICAL DECEPTION.  I hope they touch your heart.  Both of these characters have suffered through life-altering hurts and are struggling to find their way through pain, disillusionment and guilt.  The world events playing out around them amplify their internal conflicts and as they fight their way to save lives and keep the world from spinning into chaos, they discover the healing and forgiving power of love.

I hope that I have succeeded in writing a story that will speak to your heart and invite you to give TACTICAL DECEPTION a try.  But if a military romantic thriller isn’t where your heart lies, I invite you to give one of my other stories a try.

MIDNIGHT SECRETS, the first book in my Killdaren Series, a paranormal historical suspense was re-released in print this month.  Cassie Andrews steps beyond all propriety and safety when she goes undercover as maid into Sean Killdaren’s dark castle.  As she searches for the truth behind the disappearance of her cousin, her life and her heart are plunged into jeopardy.  She’s in a battle for her life and doesn’t know who to trust.  Especially the cursed Sean Killdaren.  He may be her darkest dream…or her most terrifying nightmare.

If you’re a new reader to my books, try one of my hot contemporaries or sexy historicals with great new covers now available on Kindle.  THE MISTRESS OF TREVELYAN, HIS DARK DESIRES, WILD IRISH RIDE, and SMOOTH IRISH SEDUCTION are all ready to whisk you away into the magic of story.

If you like what I’ve written then tell me the best way possible by posting an Amazon Review so others can read why!

Now back to TACTICAL DECEPTION!

Here is an excerpt of Roger and Mari.

Before the guilt of Neil’s death could get another strangling hold on him, Roger marched to his bedroom door. He couldn’t effectively take care of Mari if she hid herself from him. Something had to change. He knocked on the door.

No answer.

He knocked harder.

Still no answer. Worried now, he opened the door. “Mari?”

Light from the bathroom highlighted her figure at the window. She stood minus her abaya and hijab—her black gown and head scarf. She wore a long tunic over slim pants, a vision of cream-colored silk and ebony hair that fell well below her waist. Gold leaves embroidered the collar, sleeves and hems of her outfit. The effect was delicate, exotic, almost ethereal.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she had her hands pressed to her abdomen, to the child growing within her.

“Are you hurting? Is it the baby? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No. The baby is fine. No pain.”

Relief had his blood rushing with dizzying force, leaving him almost light-headed and his chest tightened into a knot. Emotion, pain, and desire sucker punched him in the gut and below. What kind of low-bellied dick was he?

The lowest he decided. He couldn’t stop his heated arousal in response to her beauty, but he damn well could ignore it and remember with every shred of decency he had in him that if it wasn’t for him, Neil would be with Mari right now and none of the shit that had happened to her lately would have occurred.

She stood frozen a moment then turned, reaching for her black gown.

“Don’t. Please don’t hide from me.” His voice escaped in a harsh rasp.

She paused, looking at him, her hand resting on her heavy gown. Her golden eyes were wide with…fear?

He covered the distance between them.

“Are you afraid of me?” Their gazes met and she lowered hers.

He knew before he slid his thumb under her chin how soft her skin was. Just weeks ago, he’d lost his restraint and kissed her tear-dampened cheeks after Dugar had taken a shot at her outside the hospital. That night he’d held her bandaged hand as she’d restlessly slept between nightmares. And until helping her up from the street today, it was the last time he’d touched her.

He clasped her hand resting on her gown and brought it to his chest, placing her palm firmly over his racing heart. Her gaze reconnected with his and he asked her again. “Are you afraid of me?”

“No,” she whispered before shutting her eyes and pulling her hand away.

She said no, but he swore he saw fear swirling in her conflicted expression.

“Why then? Why didn’t you tell me how bad things were for you? I could have helped or gotten you help. And why didn’t you tell me about the shooting lessons? I would have arranged for them. Made sure you were safe.”

“You would have?” She blinked at him with surprise. “But you were adamant about me not leaving the post for any reason. Not even to go with Holly to the store in Fayetteville.”

“Going to a shoe sale in a crowded mall is different than going to a gun range. Besides, learning to protect yourself is more important than buying shoes.” Roger raked his fingers through his hair. He remembered the conversation they’d had a few weeks back. And yeah, he’d been pretty strong in his objections about them going to the mall. But then, someone had been calling in bomb threats at that time too. It had been three weeks after Dugar’s attempts to kill her and Roger would have bet money Dugar was behind the threats. He hadn’t told Mari about any of it though. He hadn’t wanted her to worry. Only to heal.

She frowned at him as if he’d grown horns. “What?” he asked. Had he said something wrong?

“So what does that mean? I am not supposed to do something, but if it’s something you approve of then it is all right to do it?”

Hell. She made him sound as if he were a bipolar prison guard. He counted to ten, hoping to ease his frustration, but it didn’t work. “No. Well, sometimes, maybe, yes. I mean—” Tension knotted his brow. What did he mean? Couldn’t she see the difference between the two outings? “We can discuss the details later. I just need to know why you couldn’t tell me about the anxiety you’re having and that you wanted to learn self-defense.”

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

Roger opened his mouth then shut it. He’d kept things from her for the same reason, but this was different. She’d put herself in both physical and mental jeopardy. Then again, hadn’t he set himself as her prison guard as opposed to a bodyguard? Had he done anything personal to put her at ease enough to be able to share her anxiety with him? No, he’d let his guilt and his need to avoid his attraction to her keep her at a cold, formal distance.

He had to change. “You can’t do that anymore. From now on, no matter what you want to do, just tell me and whether I like it or not, I will help you do it, okay? It is the only way I can assure your safety.”

“That’s it? If I want to go buy shoes then you’ll take me?”

He exhaled. “Yes. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to voice my opinion on whether it’s a smart thing to do or not. And if I really think something is too dangerous then I expect you to respect my serious concerns. This isn’t a forever state of affairs. It’s just until Dugar is caught, then you’ll be your own woman, okay?”

Her own woman? Did she even know who she was? Mari looked up at Roger, her heart racing so fast she could barely think.  A few moments ago, she’d been staring out at the purple-red sunset, wondering how she could face Roger.  She’d done exactly what he’d told her not to do and it had turned out so badly.  She’d been sickened over how miserably she’d failed in establishing any shred of independence.  Her worst fears about herself had come true. She’d had a total panicked meltdown. She’d been thrust back into the darkness of what had happened in Afghanistan. She’d hit the bottom and was surprised that she’d survived it all. Her pride was bruised, but she was okay.

Now she was not only facing Roger but… she stood alone with him, in his bedroom, wearing only her tunic and pants and she wasn’t embarrassed or shamed.  She wanted this familiarity between them.

He wasn’t as mad as she thought he would be either.

It wasn’t as if her choosing to leave the post didn’t matter. She could see that he was clearly upset and worried about her. But it wasn’t how she’d thought it would be. Her father would have—

Roger wasn’t her father. Never would be. But he wasn’t the easygoing teddy bear Neil had been either. In some ways Roger was like a fierce warrior. Dangerous and remote. She’d seen the deadly anger in his eyes when it came to Dugar. She had no doubt that Roger would kill Dugar with his bare hands if he had to. She’d also seen a haunted darkness in him too. Roger had deep secrets that she instinctively knew he’d never let another person near.

Neil had been different. There wasn’t a part of him he didn’t openly share with her. It wasn’t that he didn’t keep information from her. There were things about his job he couldn’t tell her and things she would never ask him. But his soul and heart had wrapped warmly around her as accepting and loving as a puppy. He’d never said anything to curtail what she did, but then, she’d never ventured beyond the strictures of her upbringing. It was two years before he could talk her into going to the store alone.

It wasn’t until she met Holly that Mari started thinking about doing things outside of the rules, about getting an education, a job, learning to shoot a gun, and yes, one of those things was standing without her abaya before a man who wasn’t her husband, her brother or her father. A man who said she could be her own woman? What did that mean?

“Okay?” Roger angled his head to look into her eyes as he set his hands on her shoulders.

She nodded. Her tongue was tied in the gratefulness clogging her throat and in the fire burning through her senses at his heated touch. He’d made this whole big problem and the fiasco of the day all so simple. So easy to let go of and move forward. At least she thought he had. Currently her mind reeled, making coherent thought debatable. His nearness and intensity had her blood racing places her mind couldn’t go yet.

He released her and stepped back. “Hungry?”

“Yes.” She drew in a much-needed breath of air. She thought about grabbing her abaya and putting it on now. Considering the way he made her feel, it would be safer.

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” He started walking out of the bedroom, but his gaze fell on the rumpled bed and she cringed. It looked as if a tornado had struck it; she’d tossed and turned so much.

She rushed over to straighten the bedcovers. “Whatever you want will be fine.”

She didn’t dare look at him. What he must think. He’d loaned her his bed and she couldn’t even leave it neat. Leaning forward with her knees against the mattress, she fixed the blanket and threw the pillows back up to the headboard. She stood back quickly and hit a hard, hot body—an unmistakably aroused, hard, hot, male body. His arm wrapped around her when she teetered with surprise and a visceral shock wave of want hit her hard.

Thank you for reading today and I hope to hear from you!

Remember every day to Dream, Believe, Create, Inspire, Love, Heal

Jenni

The post Open the Flood Gates! appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

Collateral Damage

Author: J.L. Saint

Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy Romance, Post-Apocalyptic

Reviewed by: Night Owl Reviews – by Talina

PERSONAL SUMMARY:

Lauren is caught in the crossfire of her ex-husbands betrayal and deceit that is stained with terrorism against his country. Lauren has no idea of the hell about to be unleashed on her. She has only one chance at proving she had nothing to do with her ex-husbands wrong doings against her country. That one chance is in the form of one Delta Force leader. With assassins hot on her trail, Lauren will have to think fast on her feet to help save herself and her twin sons. She’ll also have to work hard to keep her heart intact and closed to one sexy as hell Jack Hunter if she survives the trained killers that is.

SUMMARY: (taken from the publisher’s site)

One thing makes Jack Hunter invaluable to his Delta Force Team. The same trait that makes him suck at relationships. Single-minded focus on his career—and honing his ability to never miss a kill.

After a terrorist missile devastates his team and leaves him with only partial memory of a

a FUBARed rescue mission, he retains only one clear picture no one believes: the last face in his gunsight belonged to a prestigious American businessman. The man’s wife has to know something, but the only way to get to her is go AWOL.

After her husband trades his family to tango with double-Ds, Lauren Collins decides her dogs are better judges of character. She’s unaware how far her soon-to-be-ex’s web of deceit reaches—until the only thing between her, her sons and a killer is a wounded Delta soldier who activates her sorely neglected X-chromosome like nobody’s business.

Their instant attraction is kryptonite to Jack’s injury-dulled edge. Thrust into a world of peril, political treachery and treason, Lauren has no choice but to trust Jack with her life. Even if she and her sons survive, she’s not sure her heart will…

Contains a warrior who doesn’t hesitate to lay his body on the line, more than one emotional love story to tug at your heart, and chaos at Chuck E. Cheese.

FIRST LINE:

Pink Floyd’s “Time” hammered through Sergeant First Class Jack Hunter’s brain as he tightened his grip on the treadmill and ran harder, his heart pounding, his lungs burning.

PLOT:

Collateral Damage was one hell of a ride! One minute you just know what will happen only to have your know it all readers mind get a jolt of adrenaline from the plot twists you never saw coming. From cover to cover there was not one page that didn’t have you wanting to know what happened next. The author definitely paid attention to the plot points and threads, making sure they weaved seamlessly together to form a wonderful tale of manipulation, secrecy, betrayal and to top it all off – love. She also delved into the meaning of the two most haunting words I have ever read Collateral Damage. If you think about it, those two words can describe so much of what people are suffering and living through right now. While showing there is a price to pay for every action that is taken, the author also pointed out the one thing that is over looked at times – the feeling of being alive, the joy of falling in love, the joy of our children, the steel nerves of determination to not allow our freedom to be taken or our lives to be interrupted. And in my opinion she did a fabulous job of showing the excitement of life through her story. Ms. Saint has written a book that I hope leads to several more to come.

SETTING:

Collateral Damage takes place in the present day. Lauren and Jack’s story starts out in Washington D.C. then moves between Georgia, North Carolina, Dubai and a secluded reserve located in a section of the Peruvian Amazon Rain forest.

WRITING:

Ms. Saint has such a fabulous and strong voice. She lavishes her stories with the grit and truth that makes the story stick with you long after you’ve read the book. I loved her books under her other name, Jennifer St. Giles, and I will definitely be looking for her J.L. Saint books in the future.

CHARACTERS:

Lauren Collins brought a life force to the story that had me riveted to everything happening in the story. She showed a strength within her that made me stop and question how I would respond to the life threatening situations she was plunged into with her twin sons in tow. To follow her through the story and to ‘see’ her fall for the wounded warrior, a man that risked everything to help protect her from being collateral damage to her ex-husbands actions was an emotional journey. Her actions and beliefs in life have changed how I see my own life. And I admit, it is not often that a character can be so well written that they influence me enough to take a step back and consider my own inner beliefs and thoughts.

Jack was the perfect counterpart to Lauren. His soul is tormented and in need of someone strong enough to help him heal. His Delta Team is in need of a leader that is whole enough to lead them and Jack ‘DT’ Hunter is determined to be that leader once again. I won’t say anything else because I would be to tempted to spoil the book for you. Be warned though, DT is one sexy-as-hell warrior that will whisk your heart away!

Ms. Saint also did an excellent job in writing the antagonist. He’s a unique character with a twisted desire to only preserve the world for his son. BUT, you’ll have to read the book to find out just how sick, twisted and somewhat genius he really is. The depth of conflict and the supporting characters provide an exhilarating emotional ride, a story that is simply a must read.

LAST THOUGHTS:

After reading Collateral Damage I couldn’t help but stop and think about my own actions in life. Ms. Saint has brought to my attention just how blessed a life I live. This book has gone to my must keep pile and I look forward to reading the Silent Warrior series as each new book comes out. I also look forward to revisiting Jack and Lauren for another read soon!

The post Top Pick Review for Collateral Damage appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

My voice caught in my throat as I was about to comment that Gemini’s nose was already irrevocably red, even though it wasn’t. The sound of horse’s hooves on the shore along with the act of everyone around me turning and gasping with awe and fear told me that he had arrived to the docks. Lord Alexander Killdaren.

Though the mystery surrounding Mary’s death had been solved, the murder of Lady Helen Kennedy eight years ago had not been. Since Sean Killdaren and Lord Alexander Killdaren were the last ones to see her alive and a witness had seen one of them leaving the scene of the murder, a dark cloud of suspicion hung over their lives. To this day the villagers gave the Killdaren twins a wide berth. Neither Cassie nor I believed the rumors. She was sure Sean was innocent and I was convinced Lord Alexander was, too.

Lord Alexander leapt from the saddle and strode down the dock, a commanding figure to be reckoned with. Shockingly dressed in only snug black pants, a loose white shirt, and knee-high boots, he could have easily been a swashbuckling pirate from a reckless age. His dark hair framed his strong features, and lay wildly windblown well over the collar of his shirt. His thick muscles strained against his clothes as he walked. His charismatic aura jarred the world around him like a stiff wind from the dark sea and blasted me as he neared.

He must have felt my regard, for he suddenly gazed right at me. I stared directly at him as if possessed by a need and will greater than any rule of propriety I’d ever leaned. “Lord Alexander is great indeed,” I murmured.

“What?” Cassie asked, following my gaze with hers. She gasped and grabbed my hand. I heard the “Sean” that rang through her mind before her pulse steadied and she whispered, “Lord Alexander.” All of that pent up worry I’d felt in her earlier escaped in his name.

As we stared at him, he nodded his head politely then passed by without offering a cordial greeting before going to the ship where I’d seen the wild horse being gentled.

Now that you have read the description let’s have a little fun with my fictional heroes. The lucky ladies who have read the stories might have a bit of an advantage because they have a good idea what my heroes look like…everywhere. For those who haven’t read the stories, don’t worry, just imagine what the rest of my hero looks like.
Here’s the challenge. You’ve just inherited your long lost relative’s business in Hollywood. This book is being made into a movie. Below are the actors you have to choose from to be the hero of this story. Which one would you choose and why?
Bon appetit!

The post Alexander Killdaren as described by Andromeda Andrews appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

The promised winter storm arrived in Georgia last Sunday and us Atlantans have been iced in for almost a week.  Iced in and snowed in are two different animals and I hope you never have an encounter with black ice.  He is a deceptively mean SOB who lurks in the dark of the night to steal your traction right out from under your wheels and sends you spinning out of control.  I, myself, did a 180 in the middle of a five lane highway at midnight on Friday going to pick my son up from work.   I count it a complete miracle that I and my car did not suffer damage.  When I came to a stop, I didn’t even have room to open my car door, the bridge’s guardrail was so close.  There was a reason no one was out.  The South is uniquely cursed.  Whenever we get a snowfall, because it almost always warms up just enough then freezes again to form a hard ice on top of everything.  And it is slick.  But enough about me…

This week I introduce you to the heroine of Collateral Damage, Lauren Collins, a mother of six year old twins who lives in suburban Atlanta.   In the middle of the night she gets a call from an American Embassy in Brazil.  Her soon to be ex’s body, Bill Collins, was found floating in the lake of a five star resort.  She hangs up the phone stunned and…

Suddenly glass shattered and Sasha and Sam started barking. Fearing the boys were up and in the kitchen, Lauren ran down the hall.
A quick glance in their room brought her racing heart to a stop before it thundered painfully harder. Both Matt and Mitch were asleep in their beds. Then who was downstairs? Had Sasha and Sam broken something? Halfway down the steps she caught sight of a black clad hulking figure standing just inside the kitchen French doors.

From this point on everything that Lauren believes about her life and the world around her starts to unravel.  She and her sons run for their lives.  One man puts himself between her family and a killer.  That man is Jack Hunter, a wounded soldier with blood on his hands.  Jack is determined to find the truth.  He killed Bill Collins two weeks ago in Lebanon, so how did the man’s body end up in Brazil reportedly murdered just yesterday?  What he discovers could not only destroy the world as we know it, but could cost him everything.  What does a man do when he falls in love with the woman whose husband he killed?

For those of you who tuned in last week, I was in the middle of writing the dreaded synopsis for book two of my Silent Warrior Series, titled Tactical Deception.  I am happy to say that Tactical Deception will be released in the Fall of 2011, provided that everything goes well.  This is the story of Lt. Col. Roger Weston and Mari Dalton who are secondary characters in Collateral Damage.

Here is a taste of their story in Collateral Damage

Now that Neil was gone, had fate landed her back into the death that she had escaped? For once again, Mari was imprisoned in a windowless room, and death was banging on her door.

She told the emergency operator where she was located streetwise, but couldn’t remember the name of the food mart. After hanging up, she began to wonder what would happen when the police did come. She hadn’t thought about anything but her grief and the baby since Neil was killed. Was she even allowed to remain in the United States now? Her application for citizenship hadn’t been approved yet. Would the police lock her behind bars and accuse her of wrongdoing? She had hit the man with the door first.

Heart pounding impossibly faster, she searched through her incoming calls, found the one number she swore she would never use and hit the send button, and prayed Lt. Col Roger Weston answered.  She was out of time and as good as dead.

Stay tuned for more.  As soon as I get my dreaded taxes done I will be writing Tactical Deception and giving you a taste of that as well.

Go forth and be thankful for every blessed moment that you are alive!

P.S. The Golden Globes are on tonight and a very special lady will be the Golden Globe lady!  Gia Mantegna!  Check her out!

J.L. Saint, aka Jennifer St. Giles, aka Jennifer Saints.

The post Week Two: Suspenseful Seven Sentence Sunday appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

It’s cold out.  The sun is shining brightly, and I woke up this morning determined to finish the dreaded synopsis for Book 2 of my Silent Warrior Series, titled TACTICAL DECEPTION!  More about this in a moment.  First let me give you the SEVEN SUSPENSEFUL SENTENCES FROM COLLATERAL DAMAGE.  Then I will address something that everyone both loves and hates this time of year…The NEW YEAR RESOLUTION and end up with TACTICAL DECEPTION.

Meet Sergent First Class, Jack “DT” Hunter from COLLATERAL DAMAGE

“Shorter of breath and one day closer to death…

Pink Floyd’s “Time” hammered through Sergeant First Class Jack Hunter’s brain as he tightened his grip on the treadmill and ran harder, his heart pounding, his lungs burning. Rage tinged with fear made for a potent Power Bar that fueled his drive. Sweat poured from his brow and his body screamed for relief, but he couldn’t stop. Not yet.

His vision dimmed, and President Anderson’s address on the overhead TV calling for a swift but rational retaliation to al-Qaeda’s latest attack became nothing but a blur in his mind.

Life often hinged on the details, those seemingly insignificant microscopic events that most people trampled over obliviously.”

That is the beginning paragraph of the book.  Jack has no other choice but to damn the consequences and move full speed ahead when news reports of an American Businessman killed yesterday in Brazil surface.  Jack knows without a doubt that he killed the man two weeks ago on a FUBAR mission in Lebanon.  Nobody believed him because the body disappeared.  Now Jack goes AWOL from the hospital, determined to uncover the truth and gets more than he bargains for when he meets up with the businessman’s widow and two small sons.  They end up running for their lives from assassins as they unravel a global terrorist plot and Jack loses more to the family of the man he killed than he ever thought he had–his heart.

Read the full excerpt of COLLATERAL DAMAGE Here.

Now the dreaded New Years Resolutions…

Those one sentence killers that everyone painfully utters with their hearts full of hope that this year they can turn the tides in their life and accomplish their heart’s desire.  I took the plunge and made two myself.  I had meant not to make any, so that I wouldn’t have to face myself in the mirror when I failed to carry through with my self-promises.  But then I heard two, one from my son and one from a radio talk show host and I thought.  You know what?  That’s exactly what I am going to do.

New Year’s Resolution number One.  JUST DO IT DAMN IT.  This one came from my son.  A very simple motto with which to face the mountains of little things that never get done year after year.  A simple motto to face that nagging mess on my desk.  A simple motto to face writing the next book, or blogging on my thoughts.  Writers are extremely good at procrastination.  It is a job requirement meant to keep our souls in a state of torment because we are compelled by forces beyond our control to write, and yet abhor the discipline of having to sit before a blank computer screen until inspiration strikes.  But then when inspiration finally does hit us, writing a story is like soaring through the air with the wind beneath our wings and the sun bright and warm upon our faces.

New Year’s Resolution number Two.  MAKE EVERY CHOICE A WISE ONE.  A very simple motto to face everyday and every decision that comes your way.   Before you decide, before you speak, before you act, take half a second and ask yourself IS THIS CHOICE A WISE ONE.  Would that we all do it.  For now I am seriously going to do a New Year’s resolution trade with my youngest son.  I’ll tell myself every day to just do it damn it.  If he’ll ask himself at every choice if it is a wise choice or not.  Considering he just turned eighteen, maybe I will avert some of the angst of being a mom.

Now about TACTICAL DECEPTION..

This will be Lt. Col. Roger Weston and Mari Dalton’s story.  For those of you who have read COLLATERAL DAMAGE, then you will already know who the hero and heroine are.  At this point I can tell you that Roger is willing to put everything on the line to save Mari and her unborn child, but between Mari’s radical family, a plot to kill the president, and a extremist out to kill them both, it might not be enough to save them.  But then perhaps Mari has a surprise that will turn the tide.  Well keep you posted on the details of the book and what is happening in my life here!

There are  a host of great authors participating in the SUSPENSEFUL 7 SENTENCE SUNDAY.  Please go check them out here.

Good Morning, Go Forth and choose Wisely!

Jenni

The post Suspenseful Seven Sentence Sunday!!! appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

Collateral Damage

Virna DePaulI interviewed J.L. Saint about her new ebook original, Collateral Damage, a romantic suspense with Samhain Publishing, Ltd. With the world on the edge of war, one wounded Delta Soldier and one desperate woman are at the center of a horrific plot and running for their lives. As they unravel the deceit, they are thrust into a race to save her children and stop a global meltdown into anarchy.

Previous reviews of Saint’s works, which she published under the name Jennifer St. Giles, have routinely commented on her masterful ability to weave suspense and emotion:

“St. Giles’s story ripples with tension.”–Publishers Weekly

“Raw emotions give way to desperate choices, which adds up to breathless reading pleasure.” –Romantic Times

Sexually charged romance that satisfies whether you’re seeking suspense or passion.” –Romantic Times

“Fast paced, full of mystery, and…danger. I couldn’t put the book down.” —A Romance Review.com

You’ve indicated Collateral Damage is a “military thriller with a slice of romance” that is “different” from your other books. Can you tell us how?

Collateral Damage is the first book in my Silent Warrior Series that will feature a military man or woman as the hero or heroine of the story. The first few books in the series center around a Delta Team whose mission to extract high profile hostages from a radical group in Lebanon turns into tragedy. These are not battlefield thrillers, but stories that place a military hero and his extraordinary skills in a domestic setting with a high-octane plot. In all nine of my published novels (Pocket Books and Berkley Publishing) there is an element of suspense, either a murder mystery in my gothic historicals, or a do or die fight against evil in my paranormal contemporaries. I also have a very sensual romance at the core of each story. When I write I want my readers to feel the story, be it humor, heart-stopping suspense or pulse-pounding passion. What makes Collateral Damage different is that there are no paranormal elements to the stories and I have more freedom to explore some of the controversial issues all of us are facing in the world today.

You started Collateral Damage in the early 2000s before 9/11. In the first chapter, we see Delta Force soldier Jack Hunter freshly wounded from a rescue mission and itching to return to the frey after al-Qaeda attacks American’s oil hubs. Can you discuss the progression of this work from its inception to publication?

I wrote the proposal for Collateral Damage in 2000. Set it ten years in the future and used the world’s dependency on oil and inflamed religious factions to bring about global chaos as the backdrop for the story. The only real changes I made before finally getting to write the story in 2010, is that I went to an algae-based biofuel from a space mined fuel and I went to a ruthless environmentalist as the mastermind behind the plot as opposed to American businessmen. Immediately after 9/11 no one wanted to touch the story. Al-Qaeda was too sensitive a subject, especially for a romance writer. Then I became published in the historical and paranormal genres and it sat in my file cabinet for nine years. But the way the real world events kept playing out since 9/11, I couldn’t get the story out of my head. I kept seeing how ripe the world was for this “what if scenario” and I finally decided to write the book. My next problem was that I had this big world plot, but I wanted to bring the story down to a personal level and how an everyday person is affected by the collateral damage from the choices another person close to them makes. Because the truth of the matter is everyone suffers collateral damage in their life. How they deal with it is what determines the quality of their future.

At one time, you were a nurse. How has that experience played out in your writing?

I recently attended Kennesaw State University and have just renewed my license to practice nursing after eighteen years out of the field. I am currently looking for a part time position. As for how nursing has helped my writing, I find that I often pull on my medical based background in both my plots and in characterization, but I think the influence goes deeper in that there is a nurturing element to my heroines and even my heroes that is a part of me and what led me to the practice of nursing in the first place.

You write Contemporary and Historical Paranormals, Contemporary Suspense/Thrillers, and Contemporary Romance. What advice do you have for authors wanting to write cross-genre?

First and foremost, write a story that you are passionate about and not a story solely based on what is selling now. If you can twist what is hot on the market to fit the story you want to write in your heart, then go for it. But in order to excite others, you need to be excited yourself. For me, I love story and I believe passionately in two important elements to the stories I write no matter the genre. I believe that when you boil all of life down to its core, you end up with the need to love and be loved as the most important and fulfilling element in life. So I write about love, the expression of that love physically, mentally, and spiritually, and the power of overcoming obstacles make love possible. Secondly, I believe in the battle of good and evil on earth and in the spirit world. So I write about that as well. By taking those two elements and believing passionately in them, I think a writer can write a story in any genre they choose.

Is there generally a message in your novels you want readers to grasp?

Well, LOL I think I answered this question in part already. Messages in my books are about love, acceptance that people are not perfect but are still worthy to be loved. That life is not perfect but still worthy of living. That there is a higher power and good does conquer evil.

What are your tips for meshing suspense and romance? For readers who like a lot of romance, which of your books would you recommend as an introduction to you work?

Meshing romance and suspense is different depending on the genre. In the gothic historicals with a murder mystery at the core, the romance and the suspense are like a coil being twisted tighter and tighter. The closer the heroine gets to the hero, the closer she comes to discovering the truth, and the more her heart and life is endangered. Yet she continually makes the choice to reach out to the hero no matter what the consequences. With the contemporary thrillers the romance and the suspense play out differently. The hero and the heroine are in a desperate race to save their lives or souls, the lives of those they love, or even the world. This battle strips away normal social barriers and bares their souls to each other. During the action the hero and heroine continually make the choice for the other’s good and eventually make the choice to love no matter what the cost. It is this sustained emotional element that makes a thriller a romantic thriller.

What fictional novels are you reading now?

Authors I have read this year are, JD Robb, Brad Thor, Suzanne Brockman, Andrew Peterson, AJ Tata, Amy Fetzer, Lara Adrian, JR Ward, Andrew Gross, Barry Eisler, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Allison Brennan, Alex Berenson, and Nora Roberts to name a few. LOL

Is there anything you find particularly challenging about writing?

The time and the focus to write everything in my head. And if someone has a cure for the Procrastination Virus please contact me.

How has your writing process changed as your career has developed?

When my children were little I would write between 10 at night to 4 in the morning, now that I am getting older, I don’t function during those hours and I write in the day time.

Do you have any advice for authors seeking to write suspense for both male and female readers?

I am exploring that issue now as I make a decided step toward the thriller genre. What I hear from women readers, and know for myself as a reader, is that women want an emotionally rich and satisfying story with an uplifting ending and monogamy in the romance along with the heart-stopping suspense. They also tend to want to see the physical relationship play out on the page. Also, both the hero and the heroine have very strong, very active roles in the action and plot.

Men want an action oriented plot, possibly more realism, and not necessarily a character who settles on one romantic interest. LOL if the hero or heroine does commit or becomes really romantically interested in another character then often that character gets killed. The hero and the heroine don’t jointly play a strong, active role throughout the entire story. It is either one or the other. (If I have this wrong, then please let me know). Marrying these two wants into one book isn’t an easy task and may not be entirely possible. Except for a few, romance writers who have become successful thriller writers, lose some of the elements that defined them as romance writers. I hope that I can find the key that will satisfy both men and women readers.

Can you tell us a little about the next novel you’re working on?

My ambitious writing docket for 2011?

Write a short story for an upcoming anthology.

Write book 2 in the Silent Warrior Series that will feature Lt. Col. Roger Weston and Mari Dalton (two characters introduced in Collateral Damage)

Finish the last section of the pilot script for a paranormal/crime tv series I have developed.

Finish my steampunk proposal, book one of a The Covenant Conspiracies called Legacy Undone.

Finish book five in The Shadowmen Series called Bewitching the Wolf.

And since I have re-sold my Killdaren Series to be re-released in ebook, Midnight Secrets 4/2011, Darkest Dreams 8/2011, and Silken Shadows 12/2011, I would like to have a new historical gothic ready to be released in 2012.

Am I insane? Yes. Shoot for the stars and you may end up with the moon or only an armful of air, but at least you’ll have tried and maybe your feet will no longer be stuck in the mud.
About the author:
J.L. Saint is the pseudonym for USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles. She is a nurse and the mother of three. She has won a number of awards for writing excellence, the Daphne du Maurier Award, Romance Writers’ of America’s Golden Heart Award, two National Reader’s Choice Awards, two time Maggie Award Winner, and the RT Book Club’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Gothic/Mystery.
For more information, go to: www.jlsaint.com or www.jenniferstgiles.com

The post Big Thrill Interview From International Thriller Writers appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.

We can’t help but search our souls after the last turkey has been blessed and eaten, the last carol has been sung, the last Christmas tree turned off, the last present is opened, the last New Year’s Eve bell has rung, and the last Valentine opened.  After each of these lasts, when we look into ourselves we see so many things both good and bad, things that make us both happy and sad, things we wish were different, things and people we have lost, things we wish were better, and things we would never change because they are just perfect.  This past year, and yes, even the year before, have been especially difficult for me.  And I got to thinking about the painful changes and the difficulties I faced and will face and found  that I could so easily be saddened or even over-whelmed by it all.   And when I look at the state the world and the United States are in, I wonder how there can be any hope?

Yet I still hope and I know why.

Collateral Damage originated as a military term referring to unattended or incidental damage from an action taken.  The phrase has since been used to describe so much more.  If you think about it, we are all victims of  Collateral Damage in life.   There is no person who remains unharmed from the decisions and actions of those around them.  In my book, Collateral Damage, a December 14th release from Samhain Publishing, I delve into this issue in the many faces it can show.  Everyone in the story is affected by the Collateral Damage from the actions of the people and the institutions around  them and from the events occurring in the world as well.  No one is damage free.

Yet the characters are thrilled to be alive, and I know why.  And not just because I wrote the story, but because I choose to do the same thing in my life that they chose to do in theirs.  (Yes, ask any writer…characters do make choices.  They take on a life of their own in the magic of putting them on the page.)  What choice am I talking about?

Whatever happens to us in life, we have the power to choose how we are going to view what happened, how we are going to react to what happened, and how we are going to place what happened into the huge jigsaw puzzle that all of life makes up.

People are not perfect.  Life is a struggle.  We cannot isolate or compartmentalize events or hurts and make them the sole focus of our minds and angst.  The human experience, all of its highs, all of its lows, all of its joys, and all of its pain needs to be embraced as a whole.

We can choose to give thanks for the many things that are good.

We can choose to bear and positively change the things that are bad.

Above all else, we can  choose to love both ourselves and others, especially at This Time of Year.

The post This Time of Year appeared first on USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles.