Jill Blake: Oh Baby!

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Jill Blake will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Author Interview with Jill Blake

1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book?

As a teen, I cut my teeth on Johanna Lindsay—so of course I had to try my hand at writing historical romance. That didn’t work out too well. All that buttoning and unbuttoning…

Then I moved on to Nora Roberts, Jill Shalvis, Jennifer Crusie. I started writing contemporary romance, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Oh, Baby! addresses an issue that is particularly close to my heart. Specifically, the difficulty of achieving work-life balance.

Doctors spend years in school and then in training before becoming full-fledged attending physicians. During this time, we often work 80-120 hours a week, sacrificing our personal lives and relationships in the process. In some medical fields, this kind of brutal work schedule persists well beyond the training period.

Oh, Baby! deals with the consequences of this unforgiving lifestyle. The heroine, Lena Shapiro, is a successful surgeon who suddenly realizes that she’s thirty-nine, single, childless, and facing a very lonely future if she doesn’t do something drastic to change her life. Assigned to mentor a visiting colleague, she finds herself falling for the man instead. But Adam Sterling is all wrong for her: he’s too young, too arrogant, and too willing to push personal and professional boundaries. And he’s leaving town in a few months to pursue a job on the opposite coast.

This is a romance, so Lena and Adam eventually get their happily-ever-after. But how they get there is a whole other story…


2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a first born, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world?

First-born. Like Lena, the heroine of Oh, Baby!

There’s a scene in the book where she and the hero are discussing birth order, and this part is definitely autobiographical:

“We each have our assigned roles,” Lena said. “Doesn’t matter what else is going on, or how old you are. When it comes to dealing with family, you keep slipping back into those roles, you know? I’m the first-born. So…”

Adam nodded. “The classic overachiever. Bossy, know-it-all—”

Responsible,” she said.

“Yep,” he grinned. “Definitely bossy.”


3. Where is your favorite place to write?

In bed. I have a laptop desk, plenty of pillows, and a gorgeous view.

4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains?

I’m with William Faulkner and Stephen King on this. A good writer has to recognize and eliminate whatever bits of writing don’t contribute to the overall work. And the “darlings”—those bits you love the most—are often the ones that need to go. I cut and paste them into a separate “outtakes” file for every book I write, with the idea that maybe I’ll find use for these snippets elsewhere. Someday. And if not, I could always submit one or two to the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest, which challenges writers to come up with the most atrocious opening line for a hypothetical novel.


5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?

Nora Roberts. How do you do it, for so long, so consistently, and so well?

6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows.

I love musicals. In fact, the only songs I know all the lyrics to are from the various musicals I saw, heard, or accompanied (on piano) during my misspent youth. Evita, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables. My kids probably have nightmares from the “bedtime lullabies” I used to sing. (“Sing you fools, but you got it wrong. Enjoy your prayers because you haven’t got long. Your queen is dead, your king is through. She’s not coming back to you…”) Seriously, why would you want to hear plain old lullabies when you could listen to that?


7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company. What three items are in your survival pack?

  • military rations (food/water)
  • solar powered satellite phone
  • solar powered tablet with 2 things on it: Scrivener (so I can finally write uninterrupted!) and the unabridged works of Shakespeare


8. If you could have one super power in your existence, what would it be?
The ability to write smart, funny stories quickly, easily, flawlessly, on the first try.

9. Favorite snack?
See’s chocolate.

10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit?

Before the days of GPS, my husband would always ask me: left or right? And then he’d promptly turn in the opposite direction. Because between my sense of orientation and my famously faulty memory (at least when it comes to geography), if I try to point you toward New Jersey, you’ll likely end up in Ohio. dpr

Oh, Baby!

by Jill Blake

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

BLURB:

Lena Shapiro. Successful surgeon. Dutiful daughter. She sacrificed her personal life to build her career and take care of her mother and sister. Now thirty-nine and single, she watches her peers pairing off and having kids, and wonders if she missed out on her own chance at happiness.

Assigned to mentor a visiting colleague, Lena finds herself falling for the man instead. But Adam Sterling is all wrong for her: he’s too young, too arrogant, and too willing to push personal and professional boundaries. And he’s leaving L.A. for a job on the opposite coast.

With the date of Adam’s departure looming ever nearer, will Lena retreat to the safety of her familiar solitary life, or will she take a chance on an uncertain future with the man who might make her dreams come true?

(Please note: This is a steamy contemporary romance that contains mature themes and explicit content, meant for adults 18 and over. It is a stand-alone novel, with no cliff-hangers, and a guaranteed HEA.)


Excerpt

Copyright © 2019 by Jill Blake

“The thing about Westport,” Adam said, “is that no one outside of Connecticut’s ever heard of it. And people from outside the U.S. are like, Connecti-what? So in the end I usually say I’m from just outside New York, because everyone knows New York, right?”

She paused, chopsticks halfway to her mouth. “I’ve never actually been to New York.”

“You’re kidding,” he said. “Never?”

“We didn’t have the money growing up. And once there was money, I didn’t have the time.”

“But…what about vacations?”

“Welcome to my world. It’s called private practice. You eat what you kill—or rather, don’t kill.” She smiled and shrugged. “I’ve taken a few weekends here and there. Santa Barbara, San Diego. Local stuff.”

If his brows climbed any higher, they’d disappear from his face. “Damn,” he said. “We’ve got to broaden your horizons.”

Lena didn’t answer. Travel was something that other people did. Classmates who didn’t need full scholarships to Harvard-Westlake, who skied every winter in Aspen and Telluride, and split their summers between Europe and Hawaii. College roommates who could spare a gap year to explore Indonesia or climb Kilimanjaro.

In school, and later in residency, she’d promised herself: someday she would see the world. Or at least some small portion of it beyond California.

And now, here she was, a decade later, on the cusp of a major life change that would make travel next to impossible.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A native of Philadelphia, Jill Blake now lives in southern California with her husband and three children. During the day, she works as a physician in a busy medical practice. At night, once the charts are all done and the kids are asleep, Jill writes steamy romances with smart heroines, sexy heroes, and guaranteed happy endings.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Website: https://www.authorjillblake.com/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/UMZZ9

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/jill.blake.3386

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00B1ZIHKS

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6899971.Jill_Blake

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jill_blake_

BUY LINKS: Book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour

Oh, Baby! (A Prescription: Romance! Book) – https://amzn.to/2SLCaZ2

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In The Key Of Love

I should have known I would end up here... Give me a good book and I'm in heaven. Especially romance, mystery, mayhem, the fantastic and the fey. Give me a laptop and I'm writing any one of these, and not in any particular order.

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