Guest Post by Laurie’s client, Bram Stoker finalist Lisa Kessler, on the book birthday of her newest Moon series novel, Harvest Moon (on the day following the Super Moon no less…the celestial oomph cannot be denied!)
When I’m writing a series, I’m always thinking a book ahead as far as the characters go, because any little events in the current book, could inspire ideas and character motivations for the next book.
While I was writing Blood Moon, I knew that Jason, my Pack doctor, would be the hero of the next book, so while I wrote, he percolated in the back of my head. But before I sat down to start writing HARVEST MOON, I worried.
Jason was a doctor with baggage. So. Much. Baggage. I’d basically tortured him for the first 3 books in the series. So what would that do to a man?
I should back up a step. I’m a huge Rocky fan. Huge. Why? Because I loved the concept that you don’t always have to beat someone else to be a winner. You just have to go the distance.
I actually have a Rocky poster hanging in my office over my computer. Before I ever got published, and the rejections were coming in, I used to look up at the poster with the tagline “His whole life was a million to one shot”, and wonder if I’d ever get mine.
And then I’d hit send on that submission email again.
So while I was pondering Jason’s character, Rocky III happened to be on TV. There is a scene on the beach with Rocky and Adrian when he finally breaks down and admits he’s afraid. A boxer, afraid. And that fear make him angry. He gets in the ring and tells the other guy to hit him, and screams, “You ain’t so bad!”
And I suddenly realized that a doctor who has had his confidence in his own abilities shaken, who is afraid he’s not good enough, might be angry. Very angry.
At that moment, Jason came alive in the underground fight club. The one place he could find victory and release the bitterness. I loved seeing him find his mate and recognizing he was self-destructing. He grew so much in this book!
I hope you’ll enjoy HARVEST MOON as much as I loved finally giving Jason his well-earned Happily Ever After.
–Lisa
Some wolves were never meant for a mate…
Dr. Jason Ayers unleashes all of his rage and his frustration through fists and brute force in an underground boxing ring. The werewolf may be the pack’s doctor, but he can’t even heal his coma-stricken father after the Nero Organization’s attack stopped his heart. And as his Pack brothers settle down around him, he still refuses to believe in the fairy tale notion that every wolf has a true mate…
In hiding and on the run, nurse Kilani Akamu is a loose end that Nero is desperate to tie up. She can’t afford to be attracted to a doctor-especially one as unexpectedly hot and complex as Jason. Yet the sexual sparks arcing between them are undeniable…and Kilani’s precognitive senses warn her that temptation is inevitable.
All it takes is one touch to send Jason’s wolf howling. But even if he could protect her from Nero, he can’t protect her from himself…
