Guest Author (+ a Giveaway): Jessica Scott

Today we have contemporary romance author Jessica Scott back to celebrate her latest release, Until There Was You (available now from Loveswept).

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 I’m super excited to be here at Book Binge. So much has changed since the launch of my first book last fall but so much has stayed the same. I’ve learned so much about how publishing works and how the process has changed how I write.

My biggest lesson learned were two fold. I learned to plot and I also learned to write a synopsis. I had to. Editors don’t want to read a 15 page synopsis they want the meat of the story, the emotional arc between the hero and the heroine.

The way I learned to condense my long rambling synopses was to focus on strictly the hero and heroine. What are their goals. What are their wants and why can’t they have it?

Granted, my synopsis skills are not my strength, but I’m working on it!

The other thing that I learned to do was to really focus on the central conflict and capture the essence of what the issue was between the hero and heroine. For my two main characters in UNTIL THERE WAS YOU, Captain Evan Loehr and Captain Claire Montoya have completely differing views on what it means to be an army officer. And that’s just for starters! These two have been at each other’s throats for quite a while.

Below is a scene from unit there was you that sums up the entire conflict between the hero Captain Evan loeh and the heroine captain Claire Montoya.

Evan winced and shifted his assault pack to the opposite shoulder as he studied the only woman in the room wearing a military uniform. Glancing at the other woman’s name tag as he approached, he recognized Captain Sarah Anders, the support company commander. But Evan couldn’t take his eyes off Claire. A woman who ate napalm and pissed razor wire and inspired Evan to want to throttle her every time they were in the same room together.

An officer who could not spell doctrine if it was stapled to her forehead.

A woman he could barely be in the same room with without watching her body move, without wondering if she was as wild in the bedroom as she was on the battlefield. He stopped and looked down at her where she sat, next to the massive fireplace in the center of the lodge with the support company commander. “Why are you in uniform?” His words came out too sharp, but then again, what else was new.

Claire raised both eyebrows. “I’m working, ergo I’m in uniform,” she said. “Is there a problem with that?”

“You’re in a civilian ski lodge, off-post, after duty. You should be in civilian clothes.”

She smiled coldly. “That’s rich, coming from you. You’ve practically got ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ tattooed on your ass.”

Evan sighed and shifted his pack to the other shoulder. “Fine. Sleep in your damn uniform if you want.”

“What crawled up your ass?” she said. “You’re not usually this charming until day four of a field problem.”

“Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Evan sighed hard. “I have more important things to do on this mission than argue with you.”

“I would have thought you had more important things to do in, oh say, Iraq, but you still managed to argue with me all the time over there.”

He pinned Claire with a deadpan look. “Are you trying to piss me off?”

She smiled sweetly. “I don’t actively have to try, now do I?”

I’m giving away a digital eARC of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU to someone today! 

Leave a comment for a chance to win. Contest ends 8/13 @ 11:59pm. Please note: This contest is for an e-ARC (ebook). You must include a valid email address with your comment to be eligible.

 From the back cover: Jessica Scott returns with an all-new contemporary eBook original romance, following last fall’s release of her sizzling debut novel Because of You. He plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .

A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.

Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye.

He’s more than the rank on his chest; he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.

You can order UNTIL THERE WAS YOU at these ebookstores or wherever ebooks are sold! B & N | Amazon | Powell’s| iBookstore

 BIO:

Jessica Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats, three dogs and two escape-artists hamsters, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She has commanded two companies, served in Germany, Korea, Fort Hood and Iraq, and been lucky not to get fired. She is a terrible cook and an even worse housekeeper, but she’s a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house. You can find her online at Website: http://www.jessicascott.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jessicascottauthor
 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessicascott09
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5131118.Jessica_Scott

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