Serendipity by Janet
Nissenson Media Kit
Virtual Book Tour
Dates: 1/22/14 - 2/19/14
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic Romance
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic Romance
Book blurb/synopsis:
Was meeting
again an unfortunate twist of fate? Or was it just serendipity?
Julia McKinnon was
convinced she’d found the one – the man of her dreams, the most seductive,
experienced lover she’d ever known – and the night they’d spent together in New
York was the stuff erotic fantasies were spun from. But with the dawn of a new
day came only heartache and betrayal, and her dreams were snuffed out like so
much fairy dust.
Nathan Atwood felt like
the lowest sort of life form after seducing the incredibly beautiful girl he
met in New York, only to break her tender heart with the confession that he was
already involved with someone else.
Leaving Julia was the hardest thing he’d ever done, and the memory of
their passionate night together haunted his dreams for months afterwards.
Now fate has brought
them together again, and they are forced to work alongside each other. Will
Julia be able to put aside the feelings she still has for her handsome boss and
forge a new life for herself in San Francisco? And how long will Nathan be able
to resist the gorgeous woman he’s never really stopped thinking about or
wanting?
Excerpt:
“How did you find me?”
Julia’s head swung to
meet his gaze in disbelief. “Excuse me?”
Nathan leaned back in
his desk chair, regarding her across the wide expanse of mahogany, with an
expression of barely checked anger. “Come on, Julia. You don’t really expect me
to believe that you working here is some sort of wild coincidence, do you? The
only logical explanation is that you somehow found out who I was and where I
worked, and was lucky enough that there was a job opening. The only real
coincidence is that you happen to be an interior designer and that I co-own an
architectural design firm.”
She stared back at him,
appalled by his arrogance. “Are you kidding? Even assuming that I was able to
figure out who you were – Mr. No Last Name, No Occupation, No City of Residence
– why would you think I’d want to see you again, much less work with you?”
He shrugged, but his
composure looked a bit less cocksure than it had. “Revenge, obsession. Maybe a
little of both.”
Julia smirked. “Really?
You think I somehow managed to find out your name – by what means I have no
idea – then stalked you several thousand miles across the country because I
wanted to get back at you? Or worse, because I craved another fuck? Sorry, you
weren’t that good.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed
and shot out sparks of light blue fire. “That’s not what you said that night.”
Enraged, she got to her
feet, leaning over his desk. “As I recall, both of us said a lot of things that
night. But one of us intentionally neglected to say the one thing that would
have instantly put a stop to everything else – something along the lines of ‘by
the way, I’m already spoken for’.”
He winced at the angry
lash of her words. “I deserve that, I suppose. But that still doesn’t explain
how you found me or why you followed me cross country.”
She let out a rather
undignified hoot of laughter. “For real, Nathan? You’ve still got me pegged as
some Fatal Attraction-like stalker? Well, think on this one. I’m normally not a
vain person, but I’m not naïve, either. I know I’m hot. Men have been telling
me that since I was twelve. If I wanted a man that badly all I’d really need to
do would be to walk inside the nearest bar or club or even a grocery store, and
let nature take its course. It would take little to no effort on my part to get
whatever man I wanted. And he sure as hell wouldn’t be one who’s already
taken.”
Guest Post:
The Joy of Writing
If I stop and think about it, I’ve probably been writing for
nearly all of my life. I attended
Catholic schools for twelve years, back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and writing
was always stressed in my English classes.
I think learning to write in your formative years has a real impact on
you for the rest of your life, particularly when it comes to learning grammar,
punctuation, and spelling. Probably the
most significant memory I have of this is during my senior year of high school,
when I took Advanced Placement English.
To prepare for the AP exam that would give me several units of college
prep English if I scored high enough (I did!), I was basically reading a book
about every two and a half weeks. And
these were some pretty heavy duty texts – Steinbeck, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Dickens, Kafka.
After reading the book we were then required to dissect, analyze, and
write, write, write. I think after
surviving that class, my writing skills were pretty well honed though I tended
to shy away from most classics for a while!
I probably started dabbling in writing
fiction when I was in my twenties, with a notebook and pen always close at
hand. I made one serious attempt at
getting published, going through the futile process of sending out query
letters to publishers and agents, and getting rejected time after time. I actually did engage a literary agent at one
point but nothing ever came of it, and like so many other authors I gave up in
frustration. I continued to write,
filling up notebooks with story ideas and outlines, but never had the heart to
resume the disheartening process of trying to get a publisher interested in my
writing. In addition to my dabbling in
fiction, I did a great deal of technical writing for my job and later on a
volunteer basis for various running organizations I was involved with, mostly
articles, procedural manuals, and business correspondence. So I was always writing, though not
necessarily the type I wanted to do most.
The age of self-publishing was like a
re-awakening of my dream. Whether or not
I was successful, just seeing my words in print (or in this case on a Kindle)
was the realization of many years of hoping and dreaming. I think self-publishing has allowed readers a
much wider variety of books to choose from, not just the lucky ones that were
chosen by an overburdened editor at a publishing house. We are able to select
books that might never have gone to print or been available to us
otherwise. That’s not to say that
everything being self-published is Pulitzer Prize material, but a lot of stuff
in print isn’t necessarily of much better standards, either. I think being able to realize your dream is
something to be encouraged, and I applaud the various platforms that have let
so many people like myself finally do just that.
Building The Perfect (Book) Cover
I did quite a bit of research before contracting out the
design for the cover of Serendipity. I knew I definitely didn’t want to use a
stock image that numerous other books had already used (hello – how do you
distinguish between the five books currently out that used the exact same
image?) And since I have zero skills at
any semblance of art or graphic design, coming up with my own cover wasn’t even
on the radar. I know that new authors
are on a limited budget but some of the covers I had seen either looked like
someone’s ten-year-old child had designed it on Photoshop, or that they had
persuaded their brother or boyfriend to pose for a not-always-flattering
shirtless photo. I knew that first
impressions meant a lot when it came to marketing a book by a brand new author,
so having a professionally designed, original cover was just as important to me
as the content inside the cover.
I wound up using the services of Damon at Damonza Book Cover
Designs and I have never regretted the decision. He was prompt, professional and very
helpful. He suggests on his website
keeping covers simple and straightforward, and more or less discourages using
character images. I thought this made
perfect sense, given the success of such series as Fifty Shades, Crossfire, and
Twilight to name a few, all of which have a very simple, basic image on the
cover and no attempt to create images of the characters. Not to mention the fact that I had very
specific images of real life people/celebrities in mind when I created the
characters in Serendipity, and getting permission to replicate their images
would have either been cost-prohibitive at best or impossible at worst.
So many thanks to Damon for his great advice, and I would
encourage more authors to follow suit.
Having a professional, original book cover is definitely an investment
but if it’s in your budget I would absolutely recommend it.
Author Bio:
Janet is a lifelong
resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, and currently resides on the northern
California coast with her husband Steve and Golden Retriever Max. She worked
for more than two decades in the financial services industry before turning her
focus to producing running events. She is a former long-distance runner,
current avid yoga practitioner, is addicted to Pinterest, likes to travel and
read. She has been writing for more than three decades but Serendipity is her
first official published work. She plans five more books in the Inevitable
series, with each one a standalone with new lead characters, so no
cliff-hangers or waiting months to see what happens next!
Author Links:
Website/blog –
http://www.janetnissenson.com
Goodreads -
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7375780.Janet_Nissenson
Twitter -
https://twitter.com/JNissenson
Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Janet-Nissenson-Author/229816550510513
Pinterest -
http://www.pinterest.com/janetnissenson/serendipity/
Review:
What does "Serendipity" mean? According to my Google search, it means "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way." So, meeting the person you are supposed to be with by chance, at a work convention is serendipitous, right? BUT, it really sucks when one of them is engaged to another. How will these two be together? Can they possibly work together after their fantasy-laden chance meeting?
Serendipity is well written, has a great story line and {most importantly} is H-O-T! I very much enjoyed how the two had to figure out how to be together. Their life together wasn't just handed to them. Janet Nissenson is very descriptive and reading her book was very easy. The whole story was expertly described that you could visualize everything that was happening.
I recommend Serendipity to anyone who likes are good romance/erotic book. You will be surprised by how good it is!
Giveaway:
What does "Serendipity" mean? According to my Google search, it means "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way." So, meeting the person you are supposed to be with by chance, at a work convention is serendipitous, right? BUT, it really sucks when one of them is engaged to another. How will these two be together? Can they possibly work together after their fantasy-laden chance meeting?
Serendipity is well written, has a great story line and {most importantly} is H-O-T! I very much enjoyed how the two had to figure out how to be together. Their life together wasn't just handed to them. Janet Nissenson is very descriptive and reading her book was very easy. The whole story was expertly described that you could visualize everything that was happening.
I recommend Serendipity to anyone who likes are good romance/erotic book. You will be surprised by how good it is!
Giveaway:
Author Janet Nissenson
is giving away a total of six prizes! One winner will receive a $15 Amazon gift
card, and five readers will get an ebook copy of Serendipity. Ends 2/20/14 at
12 A.M. Eastern time. Open
internationally to readers 18+. Enter through Rafflecopter.
