Jaycee Jarvis Interview
Welcome to Ink & Magick. I'm your friendly neighborhood witch. What kind of spell can I get for you (or your character) today?
I would really like a love potion to use on my characters! Sometimes they are so uncooperative about realizing how perfect they are for each other :)
Unfortunately, it is not appropriate to perform a love spell directed at a specific person (or character). You must trust that those who are meant to be will be. However, since you are writing these characters, I have full faith that they will find their way by your guiding hand. In that vein, tell us about your fantasy romance novel Taxing Courtship (The Hands of Destin, #1).
In a sultry magical realm, an enchanting Lady ensnares a virtuous tax-collector into her dangerous double life.
Lady by day, lockpick by night, Em has some serious misgivings about her latest sneak job. It stinks of espionage, and she’d be more comfortable with straightforward theft. Her intuition proves right when she is confronted by her client, a sweet and sexy mind-reading tax-collector named Quintin. The job turns sour when they are discovered by his blackmailing boss. Posing as lovers to throw off the scent, their passionate embrace haunts Em even as she returns to her brittle facade as a pampered Lady of the Realm.
This double life is further threatened when her criminal contact is thrown in the stocks, leaving her in danger of exposure, and even worse, with no way to support the temple that has been her responsibility since her mother’s death. In desperation, she seeks Quintin out and is horrified to discover he is a Hand of Destin, marked for service to the Troika by a feline familiar. Hands are loyal and true, defenders of the weak, upholders of the law, notoriously honor-bound. In short, everything that she, a willing outlaw, is not.
Despite their differences, the attraction between Em and Quintin only grows stronger, even as she seeks out new ways to earn the beans she needs for her temple. When Em’s father starts talking marriage settlements with a wealthy, but odious, suitor, Em realizes just how much Quintin means to her. But can she find a way to save her temple and still marry her poor but perfect tax collector?
Teaser:
Han-Auditor Quintin nearly choked on his own panic. They were doomed. “The Bursar’s coming!”
“What?” the lovely thief whispered. “How do you know?”
“We have to hide you,” he told her, though he had no idea where.
She took a step back toward the room with the trunk.
“Not there.” He dug his fingers into her elbow. “That’s his office.”
The sparsely furnished warehouse offered no better options.
Hurry! A thought belonging to another whistled through Quintin’s mind. Boss at door. The front door rattled ominously.
He froze like a rabbit spooked by an owl. This was a disaster. The bursar was about to find him skulking around the Tribute Office with a professional thief. He would be dismissed in disgrace, his honor and standing as a Hand called into question. His friends would be shamed to know him and his mother—
The thief pushed him.
He staggered into a pile of goods and sat with a thump on a barrel. His staff clattered to the floor.
Before he could recover his balance, she straddled his lap. “Trust me.”
He opened his mouth to speak.
She sealed it shut with her own.
Oh my! Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me? *fanning myself* OOOOOOO, You're cover looks like the story takes place in India. I love Bollywood! Tell me about your setting and what inspired you to choose it.
Bollywood is awesome, but my story doesn't take place in India. The fantasy setting is a nation of my own creation called Destin, originally inspired by the Incas, though it doesn't really bear much resemblance to any place on earth. I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to world-building, with an attraction to shiny bits of ancient technology, unusual legends, cool fashions, and even weird or interesting animals. I weave it all into a cohesive, original world and have a lot of fun traveling down research rabbit holes along the way.
Kudos for finding your way out of the research rabbit hole enough to bring us this story! Talking about your cover art, it is absolutely gorgeous. Give a shout out to your graphic artist.
I am so delighted with my cover!! The artist perfectly captured the feeling and theme of my story, and made it look fantastic. Eerilyfair Design did the design, and I could not be more pleased!
I will certainly be checking them out. Thanks for sharing. Your blurb touches only briefly on the magic of your world. Tell us a little about that.
The universe of Destin has an elemental magic system with a twist. There are only three elements (air, water and earth), which can combine in equal parts to create fire. Most ordinary people are balanced and can do a little bit of fire magic--though they don't call it magic since it's ordinary for them! In Taxing Courtship, Quintin has a gift for air, which gives him limited mind-reading abilities, along with a few other fun tricks. Quintin finds it unusually easy to connect mind-to-mind with Em, which leads to some interesting relationship issues.
Intriguing. Which one of your characters surprised you?
I would have to say the main villain surprised me the most--I don't want to say too much, but I had been envisioning them one way. But about 3/4 through my rough draft, it was like they stepped out from behind a curtain and said, "Hey, this is who I really am!" It led to some major revisions but in the most wonderful way!
I love when characters do that. Who is your favorite or least favorite character and why?
I love all my characters, so it's hard to pick a favorite. Quintin has a cougar-sized feline sidekick named Elkart, who was really fun to write. Because of Quintin's air gift, they can speak mind-to-mind, and Elkart's pithy take on human foibles reflect a bit of my own snarky humor.
I love it. What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?
Reviews and word of mouth are so vital to authors, and help other readers, too! I always appreciate honest reviews, especially on Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub.
Absolutely! What can we expect from you next?
I'm currently working on Book Two in the Hands of Destin series. Deadly Courtship is a second chance at love story featuring Madi, one of Quintin's closest friends from Taxing Courtship. I don't have a release date from my publisher yet, but I'm crossing my fingers it will be late in 2018 or early 2019.
We will have to keep a look out for that. I hope you will come back and tell us about it!
Jaycee Jarvis has been an avid romance reader since devouring all the Sweet Dreams books her middle school library had to offer. Also a fantasy fan from an early age, she often wished those wondrous stories had just a bit more kissing. Now, she writes stories with a romantic heart set against a magical backdrop, creating the kind of book she most likes to read.
When not lost in worlds of her own creation, she resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three children, and a menagerie of pets.
Jaycee is a Golden Heart® finalist and author of the Hands of Destin series. The first book in that series, Taxing Courtship, released on June 20th 2018.
And you can get your copy of Taxking Courtship on Amaxon