The Do It List by Jillian Stone Interview, Excerpt & Kindle Fire HD7 Giveaway

The Do It List

Book 1

Jillian Stone 

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Publisher: Jillian Stone

Date of Publication:  June 19, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9963459-1-0

Number of pages: 334

Word Count: 90,000

Cover Artist: Jillian Stone

Book Tagline: 10 sexual encounters. No strings attached.

Book Description:

Hotshot copywriter Gracie Taylor-Scott has a reputation—for her artfully edgy ads. A rising star at Darcy Wexler Dean, New York, the long hours are perfect cover for Gracie’s fear of intimacy issues.

Great job. Great pay. No life—including her on again off again sex life. Then one night, she is plunged into darkness with a handsome stranger.

Bradley Craig is the new head of DWD’s research division, and this ad man has secrets of his own. Much lauded in his field of consumer behavior, there’s a darker side to the attractive ad man—his erotic, list-maker side.

Gracie and Bradley are assigned to work on the biggest new business pitch Darcy Wexler Dean will be in all year, and the two tangle immediately, battling copy concepts and focus group findings along with their explosive attraction to each other. 

Bradley has a proposition: they make a list. Ten erotic sexual encounters, no strings attached. What’s at stake? Two Super Bowl spots and two fragile hearts.

Excerpt:

“Close the door, Gracie.”

I checked the hallway through the floor-to-ceiling glass by the exit. No one was about. Coworkers were in their offices, filling out time sheets, getting ready to call it a day.

I shut the door with a soft click.

“I believe there’s a light switch on the wall.” He used a huskier voice, more like the elevator Bradley.

I pressed the controls, and the conference room dimmed enough not to be seen by passersby, as long as we kept things quiet. Nose to the door, I stared at the smooth, matte-black surface.

“I know things got a little heated––” I stopped myself and cringed. Was I talking about last night or the testy words between us several minutes ago? And since when weren’t things heated between us? I sucked in a calming breath and exhaled silently.

It occurred to me, this attraction to Bradley might well be the hottest, most erotic experience of my life. I pivoted away from the door to face him.

“Sorry I can’t be more enthusiastic about creative testing, it’s just that I’ve been screwed by research in the past, and not in a good way.”

Bradley flopped down on the sofa and raked me over with his gaze. He patted the seat next to him. “You and I need to build some trust.”

I approached slowly. “Have you any idea how many focus groups I’ve sat through where smirking research geeks underlined every word or phrase that didn’t test high enough—some of them the best words and phrases I’ve ever written in my life?” 

About the Author:

Jillian Stone was born a storyteller. A skill that got her into considerable trouble as a youth until she solved the problem by becoming an advertising creative. And the career did seem to suit her as she won many national ad awards including the Clio and the New York Art Director’s Club Gold. What more could she ask for? Create her own worlds? Become goddess of her own universe? Yes! So, she began to write fiction. Her Victorian Romantic Suspense novel AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY won the 2010 Golden Heart and sold to Pocket Books. Her sexy, controversial steampunk novel THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK won the 2010 Romance Through The Ages Erotica category and sold to Kensington Brava. Jillian lives in California and is currently writing a new spin-off novel to the Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series as well as book #2 in the DO IT LIST series.

Interview

Where are you from?

I was born on Long Island, New York, but I have I lived most of my life in Southern California. I currently live in Highland, California.

Tell us your latest news?

THE DO IT LIST, my first contemporary erotic romance, released just last week. I come from historical romantic suspense so this is a departure for me. I’m looking forward to making new friends who read contemporary romance.

When and why did you begin writing?

I have always been a storyteller. When I worked in advertising I told little thirty second stories and I always had a script or novel hidden away on my laptop. It just took me a few decades to finish something.

When did you first consider yourself a writer? 

I still have moments where I question whether or not I’m a writer. I have to remind myself that I’ve written seven full-length books and two novellas. I don’t think any creative person should ever get too cocky, but I also dislike fake humility. Steve Jobs closed his Stanford commencement speech with the words: Stay hungry, stay foolish. I think that’s where I’m going to stay.

What inspired you to write your first book?

One day I woke up and decided to get serious. My goal was to finish a book––one book. I figured if I could do that, I could write more of them.

Do you have a specific writing style? 

Editors and agents tell me I have a unique voice, something that can’t be taught. They imply that I’m a natural of some kind. I see myself as a primitive––I make up my own grammar and punctuation. I drive copy editors wild.

How did you come up with the title?

The protagonists meet as strangers during a black out in Manhattan. Eventually they agree on ten erotic sexual encounters, which becomes THE DO IT LIST.  It seemed like a pretty natural title since the list is one of the primary engines that drive the story.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? 

Rather than a message, I think I’d like the reader to experience the journey. Both main characters come with a full compliment of flaws and issues. When I set out to write an erotic love story, I wanted real––like this could really, actually happen. Gracie and Bradley agree to the list of sexual encounters––no strings attached. And then fairly quickly they become entangled in a relationship of profound intimacy, something they’re not prepared for.

How much of the book is realistic?

I think readers need a sense of taboo, abandon and fantasy in any erotic novel, but what I set out to do in THE DO IT LIST is to take two independent, intimacy phobic people and give them what they think they want––a pure sex, no strings attached arrangement, and turn it upside down on them, which brings a sense of reality into the love story. Like, be careful what you wish for…

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

The book takes place in New York City––Gracie and Bradley work for an advertising agency looking for a merger to global. I was able to pull heavily on my experience working for large advertising agencies. Many of the supporting characters are compilations of people I have known in advertising. I am hopeful that it gives the book an extra sense of authenticity.

What books have influenced your life most?

Too many to list––but TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD has to be my all time number one favorite.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?  

Harper Lee (see above).

What book are you reading now? THE BOOK OF PAUL by Richard Long.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?  Gillian Flynn and Ransom Riggs.

What are your current projects? Book Two in THE DO IT LIST and I’m starting a new spin-off series to The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard, first book CODENAME: DRAGON releases at the end of this year.

What would you like my readers to know?

Enough about me­­––how about a brief, but lively excerpt from THE DO IT LIST? A few parting words, so to speak.

     His gaze traveled up into a sliver of night sky. “Now there’s a rare sight,” he mused aloud.

Stars twinkled high above darkened buildings. “Bradley,” I sighed, “you know we’re not good for each other.”

He returned to me eyes blazing. “On the contrary, we’re more than good. We’re smoking hot, you know we are.”

Website: http://jillianstone.com    

Twitter: @gJillianStone https://twitter.com/gJillianStone

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JillianStoneBooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4946569.Jillian_Stone

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