Authorpreneur Dashboard – Kris Jayne
Chasing You
Romance
Thirsty Hearts Series Book 4 -- Alexa Stevens doesn’t do commitment. The ex-model turned personal trainer and gym owner lives a jet-set life. With all the exciting adventures to have in this world—especially of the masculine variety—why get tied down? Keeping it light suits Graham Ryan just fine—especially since mixing business with pleasure is bound to cause complications he doesn’t need. When her old flame Adam Gadsby arrives in town to win her heart, suddenly Alexa's take on long-term love starts to shift. Graham sees her drifting away and wonders if he doesn’t want more. Adam knows what he wants — if only he can convince Alexa she wants the same. For Alexa, the question is: how do you know who’s the one? With two men chasing her, can she make the right choice before it’s too late?
Book Bubbles from Chasing You
Opening gambit
"They" say never start a book with someone waking up, but I wanted to start my story with a heroine coming to after a wild night. And I don't care what "they" say. It's maybe my favorite book opening in the series so far.
Who's your boyfriend?
Adam is back, and Alexa is all in--enough with Graham and his player ways, right? She's totally over it, right? Hmm...
Charming You
Romance
Thirsty Hearts Series Book 1 -- Micky Llewellyn has trusted men before—with disastrous results. Now, she’s focused on her career, her friends, and making sure she doesn’t let another charming man lie to her and break her heart. Nick Halden’s life has unfolded according to plan. He’s on track to a partnership at one of Dallas’ premier law firms, and he’s marrying a woman who has the beauty, smarts, and connections to be the perfect wife. Or he thought he was. Fate and a dead car battery throw Micky and Nick together, forcing them to question what they want. Nick’s charm makes Micky’s heart pound with desire and her gut twist with mistrust. Micky’s fire awakens a passion in Nick that flips his world upside down. With his personal and professional lives colliding in chaos, Nick has one way to make sure he gets what he wants, but it means betraying the woman he craves. In their struggle to balance love and ambition, Micky and Nick will have to decide what they want and at what cost before they lose the one thing that matters.
Book Bubbles from Charming You
Meet the Morans
This scene is the first time in the series when you see the Morans' mansion and sit through an uncomfortable, but elaborate and elegant, dinner there. We see the Morans' repeatedly, and every character in this scene -- even clueless Emily -- comes back in books two and three. I love a tense family dinner. To get a feel for the layout of the mansion (and many of the other homes in my books), I often surf real estate sites and snag pictures, floor plans, or links to video tours so I can have a clear picture in my head of what they look like. The model for the Moran mansion was on sale in Dallas, and ultimately, it sold for almost $24 million.
Airplane haves and have nots
I have flown business class internationally once or twice, and the difference between the front of the plane and the back of the plane is stark. I always thought it was horribly unfair that on your way to steerage, they make you trudge through business or first class where sometimes they're already handing out champagne.
Taryn
Taryn is one of my favorite characters. She lets nothing get in her way. Her story continues in the second book of the Thirsty Hearts series, Choosing You. And her cousin Alexa is my heroine in book four, Chasing You.
T-Rex arms
I went to dinner once with my mom and my brother, and when the check came, my brother picked it up. My mom and I pretended that we would pay, and we barely stuck our hands out. From there forward, we joked about having T-Rex arms when the check comes. Alligator arms also works.
The Real Andy
A few years ago, my friends and I would frequent a bar in Dallas with an Andy the Bartender. He didn't own the bar, but he knew his way around a cocktail. He could make any drink you wanted--better than you'd ever had it--and mix up drinks on the spot based on what you liked. It was a sad day when we went into the bar and found out that Andy had moved on.
What drives Nick
Nick's relationship with Tom is a measuring stick for his growth as a character and his ability to manage the insecurities of his past. In a way, he's more engaged to Tom than he was to Vivienne. Tom Moran is a key character. He'll show up again in future books.
A kernel of an idea
When I started writing, I knew I wanted to use an actual jump start to get my heroine interested in the hero. A little "knight in shining armor" action to get her going.
Cherishing You
Romance
Thirsty Hearts Series Book 3 -- New job. New address. New name. Shannon Clifton has one focus. After missing most of the first seven years of her daughter’s life, she’s getting her life together to be a good mother to Olivia. She’ll prove to her ex-husband and the world that her past of drug addiction and crime are history. Jonah Moran hasn’t struggled for much. He has a cushy job at his father’s billion-dollar company, a string of socialite girlfriends, and anything money can buy. One night, Shannon’s past confronts her in a dangerous encounter that brings Jonah her rescue. Shannon and Jonah begin a relationship that offers something new for each of them. Shannon’s never had a man sweep her off her feet with elegant charm. Jonah’s never had a woman who appreciates each joy like it’s her first. Drawn together in a novel passion, they find solace in each other’s worlds even as their differences threaten them with ruin. Jonah’s family has no intention of welcoming Shannon, and Shannon fights to stand on her own feet for the first time in her life. Can Shannon and Jonah push through the barriers and find lasting love?
Book Bubbles from Cherishing You
Awkward "first" date
I gave my heroines a favorite cocktail (part of the Thirsty Hearts). Micky likes slightly dirty vodka martinis. Taryn loves champagne. Shannon ends up drinking a lot of soda (plain or cola) with lime. Working to overcome her past drug addiction takes drinking off the table, and having to explain this to Jonah makes her uncomfortable. But what I love about Shannon is that when it's time to fess up, she does it. Chin up. Shoulders back. She's turned into the person that will have the tough conversations.
The Attendant
Bathroom attendants have always creeped me out. I don't understand why some restaurants and bars feel the need to have them, and I don't understand who is using that sad, half-empty bottle of community mouthwash on the counter in a public restroom. And those tiny paper cups? How long have then been sitting there? So strange.
Finishing up the book
The last couple of chapters were the hardest to wrap up, and I finally got them finished while stuck on a plane from New York to Dallas that was re-routed to D.C. because of a medical emergency. Something about being stuck in a steel tube with no Internet (while on the tarmac at Dulles) really got me to the end. Everyone else was REALLY irritated. Maybe the angry energy helped me close out the final scenes of the book.
Jonah the bad boy
In this scene, you see what Jonah wants from a relationship from Shannon in the beginning. Maybe he is a bad boy in his own way. He and Shannon come from two different worlds--one more refined than the other. They each make assumptions about the nobility, honor, and trustworthiness of people in the other's social sphere. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Does social class have anything to do with it? Shannon has to figure this out to get over the insecurities she has about her past, and Jonah has his own baggage to resolve.
Picking the hero
Mid-way through book two, I realized that I wanted to continue Shannon's story and give her a hero of her own. I went back and forth in my mind about whether to introduce a new character to be her hero. At the time, I was also editing the first book in the series, and I decided that the Moran drama might need to continue as well. You never quite know what happened with Jonah and Tom Moran in book one. The two ideas come together in Thirsty Hearts book three.
Choosing You
Romance
Thirsty Hearts Series Book 2 -- Taryn Lieber has a date set to marry a man beyond her dreams. Jeff McConnell, and his feisty daughter, Olivia, transformed her life. She never thought she’d want a ready-made family. Now, she can’t wait. The only good to come out of Jeff McConnell’s first marriage was his curly-haired daughter and the unfulfilled desire for a woman to stand with him as he conquered the world. When he met Taryn, he knew instantly she was the one. Taryn and Jeff have plans for marriage, adoption, and a life together, but those plans fall apart when Jeff’s ex-wife shows up, wanting to be part of Olivia’s life. What does the woman want? Taryn’s instincts tell her Shannon Nelson is an unreliable, scheming opportunist. Jeff’s compassion compels him to find a way for Olivia to reconnect with her biological mother. Conflict, mistrust, and danger follow as Taryn and Jeff try to hang on to the love that brought them together and make it down the aisle.
Book Bubbles from Choosing You
Taco Tuesday takes a turn
This dinner scene during their regular "Taco Tuesdsays" shows the different ways that Jeff and Taryn view the return of his ex-wife. In his quest to make sure that Olivia can build some kid of relationship with her mother, Jeff cuts Shannon a lot of slack--maybe too much. That's how Taryn sees it. Whatever Shannon's excuses are, the next Mrs. McConnell isn't impressed.
"A lady never pours her own drink."
I used to work for a French company and traveled to Paris occasionally on business. My boss organized a cruise down the Seine for the team, and we ordered bottles of wine for the table. My glass emptied, and I reached for the bottle to refill it only to be told by a French male colleague: "A lady doesn't pour her own wine." In my head I thought, "If a man thinks that, then he should make sure a lady's glass is never empty." Of course, I didn't say this out loud. I smiled and made a comment along the lines of, "Uh oh, I pour my own wine all the time. Now I'm worried." I say, get your own drinks if you want one. Who wants to wait around for someone to notice your empty glass?
Thought behind the scene
I always loved the scene in "While You Were Sleeping" where Bill Pullman's family sits around at a holiday talking about a thousand different topics at once, and his mother keeps talking about the mashed potatoes. "These mashed potatoes are so creamy." That inanity of line still makes me laugh as much as Sandra Bullock did in the movie.
Eww...Kid
Writing this scene with Shannon and Kid, I knew I wanted to Shannon's character to evolve. Kid is just too awful. She's at a crossroads in her life, and that was incredibly interesting to me. I started wondering if she shouldn't have her own story. Originally, I planned for book three to belong to Taryn's cousin, Alexa, but I changed my mind.
Enter Shannon
I wanted Shannon to be trouble from the very beginning. She has a chip on her shoulder, an agenda, and underneath it all, a real yearning to belong. I also wanted to make sure we got a sense of Jeff's irritation, but also how much he holds back from letting Shannon have it. He still feels sorry for her--after all she's done and all the time that has past.
Her London Fling
Romance
A Thirsty Hearts Novella (Prequel to Book Four): Alexa Stevens lives for the new, the exciting, and what’s next. So when she visits a friend in London to cheer her through a divorce, she’s intrigued the handsome Adam Gadsby. The heat between them chases away the November chill and has him thinking long-term. Her trip draws to a close, and Alexa figures she’ll fly home with fond memories of her London fling and nothing more. Adam has other plans. Can Alexa open herself to the possibility of love?
Book Bubbles from Her London Fling
Tindering Abroad
This scene is based on a couple of experiences traveling with friends and surfing Tinder. While in Barcelona, I came across the profile of a man (probably a Jordy, so many Jordys in Barcelona) with a photo exactly as I described: naked lady, lasers, the whole thing. I showed my friend, appalled, and she took the opportunity to swipe right. Ahh! Luckily, there was no match. Now I just have to live knowing that naked-lady-laser guy didn't want me.
The Grenadier
The Grenadier is a great, if hard to find, pub very close to Harrod's. I'm not sure it's really haunted, but the burger there did look delicious. I didn't have it, but I didn't have a salad either. I was on a tour of fish and chips. You can leave a dollar or other paper money behind with a note, and they'll post it on the ceiling.
Sticker Shock at Harrod's
On a recent trip to London (research for this novella and a future novel), my friend and I went shopping at the famous Harrod's of London. We bought zero clothing. I searched and searched and found only ONE price tag on a skirt. It was a $600 ultra mini. Near as I could tell, you wouldn't know what the damage was to your wallet until you checked out with your items. Kind of Russian roulette with your credit card. Yikes. Alexa is braver than I.
Get Ready for the Chase
Her London Fling is a prequel or long prologue for the next book in the Thirsty Hearts Series. I'm still in the middle of writing Chasing You and deciding where Alexa goes from here!
Losing the Baggage
Alexa is a character who definitely likes to "travel light" through life. She avoids getting to attached and is always looking for the next new experience. But in addition to that: She shares my personal belief in literally traveling light. I had luggage delayed at Heathrow on my way to Greece, and I was sweating bullets hoping they'd deliver my suitcase before I had to get on a boat for Santorini. The next year, when I went to Spain, I packed for two weeks in carry-ons only. That might have been a little extreme.
