All posts by Gwen Jones

World-Upending News!

KISS ME, CAPTAIN cover reveal June 20th! Pre-Order your copy now!

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Image not availableI know you’re been waiting a long time but your wait will soon be over! Coming to a device near you on June 20th — the KISS ME, CAPTAIN cover reveal. As soon as I get the specs about the where and when of it, I’ll tell you–my closest peeps ever! But I can’t tell what I don’t know myself. Have to let those wheels of the industry start grinding, before the good folks at HarperCollins Avon will reveal all. Not that I haven’t gotten a glimpse, though. Just WAIT until you get a look at Marcel! I GUARANTEE you will be pleased with what you see. Trust me on this one!!

In the meantime, know that you can pre-order KISS ME, CAPTAIN at Barnes and Noble dot com by clicking right here. You can also get a sneak peek at what the book’s about, but why don’t I pique your interest and I tell you right here:

French billionaire Marcel Mercier loves women. And there’s a string of broken hearts across two continents to prove it. But as CEO of Mercier Shipping, he’s got more important things to worry about … like why the charter company he just purchased in the United States is suddenly the center of an international media firestorm.

Now that big, bad Mercier Shipping owns Captain Dani Lloyd’s ship, she’s sure her job is at stake. But she won’t go down without a fight—even if it means chaining herself to the mast of the Esther Reed and refusing to set foot on shore.

The delectable captain and her newsworthy dramatics are a PR nightmare, but Marcel is happy to let Dani prove her skills on a weeklong sail to Boston. He knows no woman can resist him for that long … in fact, he’s counting on it.

But Marcel’s plan to seduce Dani backfires as sparks fly between the billionaire playboy and the passionate captain. Which leaves Marcel realizing that winning her heart is a challenge he can’t afford to lose.

I know! You can’t wait, right?!

World-Upending News!

Up to Speed! (And some inside scoops, too!)

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imagesNow that I can finally come up for air (at least for the next week or so), I’d like to bring you up to speed what I’ve been doing lately. Mostly, it’s been working on Kiss Me, Captain, which is now at least finished on my end, and in the editorial stage. Everything seems right on target for its August 26 publication date, and if you’d like to preorder, you can do it right here on Barnes and Noble (Amazon preorders coming soon). We’ve also been working on the cover, and it’s been SO HARD having to endure a parade of hot looking guys auditioning for the model. Okay, so they’re photos, but who cares! Better than looking at a black and white screen of text all day, I’ll tell you. Cover reveal should come in the not too distant future, so stay tuned.

If you’re reading this on http://www.gwenjoneswrites.com, just look to the top and you’ll see that I’ve added a new page called “Just who are these people?” which is a cast of characters from both WANTED: WIFE and the upcoming KISS ME, CAPTAIN, Book One and Two from the “French Kiss” series. Now I don’t really include too many surprises about the KMC characters, nothing that will really spoil the story, at least, but SPOILERS ABOUND in for WW, so if you haven’t read it yet, DON’T read about the characters until you read Book One. What I can tell you in this post is that BOOK THREE, which is due to hit the cybershelves on November 14, will center around two characters from KMC, Book Two – Rex Renaud and Charlotte Andreko. That’s all I’m going to tell you at this point, beside the fact that my editor at Avon, Nicole Fischer, describes Marcel Mercier in KMC as “Swoon, so hot!”

Pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?

World-Upending News!

Hey! Remember me? Soon to be seen at Book Expo America 2014

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book-expo-americaYes, yes, I know it’s been a long time, but there’s a reason for that. I’ve been putting the finishing touches on Book Two in the FRENCH KISS series, now known as Kiss Me, Captain. For those who read the first book in the series, Wanted: Wife, you may remember Andy Devine’s thorough rake of a half-brother, Marcel Mercier. This is his story, and I’ve been working my fingers to the bone to finish it. Get it in your hot little hands in ebook August 26, 2014, to be followed shortly thereafter by the paperback. Watch for the all important cover reveal, blog tours, contests, and preorders, available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and all those other wonderful book outlets.

ALSO, if you happen to be in the book business and will be at Book Expo America on Friday, May 30, I’ll be signing Wanted: Wife at the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Booth #2551 between 1-2 PM. Stop by and say hello. If anything, there’s free books!

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Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference this weekend!

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LibertyWebGraphicYes! It’s been a long time since I logged anything here. Why? Well, I’m writing, dammit! I’ll be on deadline well into the summer, creating that magic you must be dying for if you’re reading this. Except for this weekend, where I’ll be at Liberty States Fiction Writers’ annual “Create Something Magical” Conference in Iselin, New Jersey. Hey come on, I have to give this carpel tunnel a break before my hand simply falls off. And because of that, I’ll be engaging in some exercises in alternate rehab therapy. One of my favorite is the One Handed Wine Hoist, a practical ergonomic exercise that offers near immediate relief. Another is the Advanced Beer Lift, preferably performed with a pint of Yuengling. This takes a bit longer to accomplish, as it’s also accompanied by the Chip Dip Scoop and every half-hour or so, the Latrine Trot. Even so, a few hours of this brings on a euphoria that leads one to question whether there ever was any pain at all.

But it won’t be all work and therapy. Outside of reader and writers’ tracks, some terrific workshops, panels, editor and agent appointments and Sherrilyn Kenyon as a special there’s a Book Fair that’s open to the public with over thirty authors. To see the full list click here. So if you’ve never been to Iselin, NJ, and are panting to go and meet the great and near-great, swing on by. I’ll show you some great exercise that you’ll feel so much better for.

World-Upending News!

And it shall be named–Galocher!

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aishwarya-hritik-french-kiss-dhoom_0According to NPR, what the French have been practicing for centuries has long been without an official name, but that has since been corrected. The newest edition of the Petit Robert 2014 dictionary has a new verb — “galocher,” meaning “to kiss with tongues.” It’s a clever derivation of la galoche, a word for an ice-skating boot, and so evokes the idea of sliding around the ice — or the lips and tongue. Time magazine, says the term French kiss is “commonly attributed to American soldiers returning from World War I, who apparently picked up the technique from the more sexually adventurous French nationals they canoodled with abroad.”  Not that we here is New Jersey don’t know our way around a canoodle, especially when we’re canoodling with a French transplant or two. Or even three!

Which fortunately slides (sorry!) right into my NEW series title which all started with Andy Devine and company in Wanted: Wife–FRENCH KISS. Things have been popping around here lately, and although Book Two (of the FRENCH KISS series) revolves around Andy’s younger brother (the luscious) Marcel Mercier, we’ve yet to settle on a name, though rest assured, you’ll hear it here first when we do. Tentative pub date is around Labor Day, with Book Three due sometime by the end of they year.

Back to work!

World-Upending News!

Books Two and Three SOLD to HarperCollins Avon Impulse in WW Series!

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A.J.MeerwaldThis is the A.J.Meerwald, New Jersey’s official tall ship. She’s a Delaware Bay oyster schooner, once used to hunt for oysters off the coast of the state. She’s what I pattern the Esther Reed after in my sequel to Wanted: Wife, or at least the sample from which I was showing you above, My Dear Captain.  It’s a work of fiction of course, but today it became just a bit more real, and even more tomorrow, when this announcement is slated to appear in Publishers Marketplace:

Gwen Jones’s WANTED: WIFE next two titles in series. Book Two tentatively titled MY DEAR CAPTAIN, about a billionaire playboy who unwittingly falls for the only female captain in his shipping fleet. To Nicole Fischer at Avon Impulse, in a two-book deal, for publication in September 2014, by Marisa Corvisiero at Corvisiero Literary Agency (World).

Can’t say you didn’t hear it here first!

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Big News Brewing!

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can't keep a SecretAnd wouldn’t you love to know what it is. Well, I can’t tell you, not yet anyway, but when I can I PROMISE you’ll be the first to know. Look, I don’t like to be vague, but I’m all about NOT counting chickens as when I have they’ve only gotten me scrambled eggs. And if that’s not enough mixed metaphors for you, then you’ll have to leave me time to think up more. My brain is kind of fried and there’s a blizzard going on in NJ as we speak. So give me a break and stop back soon. I promise I’ll have more for you as soon as I can.

World-Upending News!

‘Ma Cher Capitaine’ the sequel to ‘Wanted: Wife’ – and no, you’re not crazy

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51cunardcruiselinesIf you’ll take a look at the top you’ll see I’ve posted the first chapter of the sequel to Wanted: Wife, Ma Cher Capitaine, which centers around Andy Devine’s half-brother, Marcel Mercier. It’s brand-spanky new, just out of my head into yours, and if you’re saying to yourself now wait a minute–didn’t I read this before…?” Well, yes, you’re right, but then you’re not. And I’ll tell you why. I had posted another iteration of this chapter before, but it’s not what appears now. Why is that?

Well, because ‘Capitaine’ is what we call in the biz a WIP–a ‘work-in-progress,’ and what you saw before isn’t what it is now. You see, writers go through many versions of their WIPs before they finally settle onto a final version, and even then it isn’t finished until the editor gives it her final approval. A writer can get half through the story, especially in the early stages, then find out something isn’t working, and sometimes that means she has to go back to the beginning and start all over again. Of course, every writer has their own methods, and some write from beginning to end without ever stopping to edit. Unfortunately or not, that’s not the way I roll, as I’m constantly editing until something finally sounds right to me. Right now, at this point, Chapter One does. Though I can’t say how I’ll feel tomorrow, next week or by the time I finish. Right now, I’m satisfied. If you are too, let me know what you think.

Happy reading,

Gwen

World-Upending News!

“Wanted: Wife” makes BN.com Top 100 Nook Book List

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Wanted WifeOkay, if I don’t blow my own horn, who will? So in a shameless self-promotion, here’s the skinny: Wanted: Wife, as part of HarperCollins’s holiday “Fill Your New eReader” promotion is offering said book at .99 until January 6, which apparently is just enough incentive for the adventurous to download my genius. I didn’t notice this until the day after Christmas, when coming down hard from a cookie overload I decided to see how my book was doing on Barnes & Noble. On that day WW was #1 in Romance and #13 OVERALL, right up there with Stephen King and Nora Roberts! Sweeties, to say I was floored is akin to calling Niagara Falls a drip. From there I next went over to Kobo where it was also in the top 50, and at Amazon it was hovering around 10,000, which doesn’t sound that all impressive until you consider they list about 400,000 titles. A week later, WW is still in the BN. com Nook Top 100 at 37, and 10 in Romance out of approximately 55k titles. Again–floored.

I’ve gotten some pretty fantastic reviews, too, the majority of which give me five or four stars. Of course, there are a few dissenters, grumbling about the surprising amount of sex in this romance (“I am shocked–shocked!–to find that gambling is going on in here!”), one even calling it “pornography.” (Hm. I wonder how many more books that sentiment sold.) But most comments were really sweet and all–good or ill–are appreciated. One frequent comment was if and when there’s going to be a sequel. There will. When it will be published…well, let’s just say I have to finish writing it first. Which I’m getting to right after I’m done here. There’s a major snowstorm working its way to New Jersey, and I’ve already armed myself with a boatload of writing chocolate and Irish Breakfast Tea. Zoom!

World-Upending News!

Here’s to a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

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fb7761fffa5bc87fd55d044a5d0b8162If you’re reading this, then you’ve either stumbled upon me looking for news about Chris Harrison’s wife (forgive me, but I have no idea who either of them are) or you’re actually interested in what I have to say. If it’s the latter, then allow me to thank you profusely, with my sincere hope that you’ve found what you’re looking for or, perchance, you’re looking for something new from me. If that’s the case then you must find my blather at least entertaining, so rest assured there’s more in the works. And to that end…

Even though Wanted: Wife is my debut novel with Avon/HarperCollins, I’ve actually been around  awhile in other forms, and have a backlist that’s yet to be mined. (You feeling lucky?) There’s a sampling of it up top, so please be my guest and have a look. Or if you’ve just finished WW and need more of Andy et al, there’s a “deleted chapter” which is actually a prequel in Andy’s POV, and the first chapter of WW’s sequel starring Marcel, Andy’s brother (still on the drawing board, so sit tight). But there’s actually more to me than just Iron Bog, as you’ll see with a sampling of my Women’s Fiction. It’s just so hard to hold all this talent in check!

Kidding, of course. Because no one was more surprised than me to find WW was #13 on bn.com’s Nook bestseller list last night, and for a fleeting time, actually #1 in Romance (as of this writing I’m #14 and #2 respectively–which still goes a long way to blow my mind.) Also know I didn’t get where I am (wherever that is) by myself, but purely by all those people who took a chance on me, no matter what professional or personal form they took. But most of all, it really comes down to the readers who thought I was worth the coin. Sounds sappy but it’s so damn true–if it weren’t for you guys I’d still be playing those endless games of Free Cell instead of at least trying to make myself useful.

Anyway, just let me say thanks again for reading, I hope the coming 2014 is even more awesome than this one, and that I continue to be worth your time in both pixels and print. Happy New Year everyone!

Gwen