The Evans Trilogy
by Jennifer Collin
GENRE: Chick Lit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Book 1:
Set me Free
Disastrous
love life aside, Charlotte Evans is rather content with her life. Her quaint
little art gallery is plodding along nicely, and her sister Emily’s artistic
career is about to take off, thanks to her tireless promotion. She even gets to
see her best friend every day and drink his delicious coffee in the café next
door.
But when dastardly property developer Craig Carmichael comes along, threatening to demolish her gallery and take everything away, Charlotte has an unexpected fight on her hands. Not only is she battling to stop Craig’s development, she’s also struggling against the mysterious magnetic pull that has her on a collision course with Craig himself.
Craig Carmichael is fighting the Battle for Boundary Street on more than one front. The tenants of the building he wants to knock down are mounting a strong case against him and in a hot-headed moment he put his career on the line for a project that is threatening to fail. If the project doesn’t succeed he will lose everything, but for some reason he’s having trouble maintaining his focus.
As their worlds begin to unravel around them, anyone could win. It’s what they might lose that has Charlotte and Craig wondering what it is they really want.
But when dastardly property developer Craig Carmichael comes along, threatening to demolish her gallery and take everything away, Charlotte has an unexpected fight on her hands. Not only is she battling to stop Craig’s development, she’s also struggling against the mysterious magnetic pull that has her on a collision course with Craig himself.
Craig Carmichael is fighting the Battle for Boundary Street on more than one front. The tenants of the building he wants to knock down are mounting a strong case against him and in a hot-headed moment he put his career on the line for a project that is threatening to fail. If the project doesn’t succeed he will lose everything, but for some reason he’s having trouble maintaining his focus.
As their worlds begin to unravel around them, anyone could win. It’s what they might lose that has Charlotte and Craig wondering what it is they really want.
Book 2: Open My Eyes
Everything
happens for a reason, they say. And sometimes the reason is you're stupid and
make bad decisions. Sleeping with her sister's best friend is one of the dumbest
things soon-to-be divorcee Emily Evans has ever done. But she's determined to
put it behind her and move on. She's walked away from her cheating husband,
managed to make a new friend, and found herself a real job and somewhere to
live so she doesn't have to couch-surf any more. Everything should be falling
into place but for one problem – there are some mistakes from which you can't
move on.
Meanwhile,
Ben Cameron is getting on with his life. After all, it's the only thing to do
once your heart has been stomped on by the woman of your dreams. Expanding his
business and getting cosy with the girl next door are proving welcome
distractions. He's even happy to babysit his nephew, as long as he can to hand
him back when he's done! And thankfully, Emily Evans, the woman with the heavy
boots, is avoiding him like the plague.
But
Emily can't avoid him forever, and when she drops a bombshell that turns Ben's
world upside-down, suddenly, getting on with his life takes on a whole new
meaning.
Book 3: Bring Me Back
Andy
Evans is on the move. For six long, lonely years, he’s been running from his
past, leaving his family and his life as a drug-addicted rock star far behind.
His latest move takes him to the sleepy seaside town of Oamaru, New Zealand, to
sell cigar-box guitars to tourists. The only running he’ll need to do will be
training for the half-marathon in nearby Dunedin. But when Andy sets eyes on
Steampunk HQ, Oamaru's main tourist attraction, he realises his days of running
might not be over, especially if a certain Steampunk fan from his past catches
up with him.
Annie
Martin is on the cusp of great success. Her career as a Steampunk academic is
about to take off, as long as she can convince one disagreeable, New
Zealand-based Professor to sign up to the anthology she’s putting together.
Thankfully, Annie is a master at maintaining her poise and few people, no
matter how nasty, can rattle her. Not any more. In fact, it’d been a good six
years since anyone had gotten under her skin, after her best friend’s brother
had vanished into thin air.
When
Annie finds her future career on a collision course with her secret past, Andy
Evans is the last person she expects to find tangled up in the mess. With a
vengeful drug-dealer or two hot on his heels, and a vindictive academic
determined to ruin her credibility, can Annie bring Andy back to his family
before it’s too late? Annie and Andy are used to being alone, but if they don’t
work together, there’ll be much more at stake than her livelihood and his
sobriety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book 1 Set Me Free
Excerpt:
The Evans Gallery was his last stop before he called it a
day.
A little golden bell above the door tinkled daintily as he
walked in. He noticed two things immediately: the intriguing painting on the
wall to his right and the beguiling woman smiling lazily at him from behind a
sleek-looking asymmetrical 1960s Danish-styled desk. Unsettled by the pair of
slightly smoky grey eyes that came with the lazy smile, he moved directly
toward the painting to take it in.
The canvas was large; it took up almost a quarter of the
wall. The image was a view down a narrow alley corralled by stark grey
skyscrapers that, thanks to the wash of the paint strokes, appeared to be
crumbling. At the end of the alley, a small dog with a broken tail lay beside
an old-fashioned dustbin, chewing a small, bright red ball.
‘Hi,’ welcomed the woman behind the counter. Her voice was
as tired as her eyes and smile, but there was still something smouldering under
the surface, like a combusting rain cloud. ‘Can I help you with anything in
particular or would you just like to browse?’
‘Can you tell me anything about this piece?’ he asked,
unwisely. She stood up to join him, swinging her hips as she walked, subtly but
hypnotically. This might turn out to be the hardest conversation of them all;
particularly given he was struggling to keep his eyes on her face and off those
swinging hips. He looked up. Nope, no respite there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talking with author Jennifer Collin!
Who is your perfect hero/heroine and why?
What type of book have you always wanted to write?
Top 3 things on your bucket list?
What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talking with author Jennifer Collin!
What is your writing
environment?
I
share my home office with my husband. We’re both creative and therefore messy
people. It’s a disaster! Throw our equally messy children in to the mix and
it’s a wonder I get anything done. Thankfully, I thrive in chaos.
Who is your perfect hero/heroine and why?
I
like beta heroes. Guys next door who are emotional intelligent, with respect
for women. I don’t like alpha males who plough on through telling everyone
around them, including their love interest, what to do.
I
like strong, sassy heroines who are independent and capable, rather than
vulnerable and insecure ones.
What type of book have you always wanted to write?
I’m
very character driven. To me, the best books are the ones with the most
intriguing and well-crafted characters. Some of my favorite characters I’ve met
through Wes Anderson films, particularly The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand
Budapest Hotel. I’d love to write the kind of book that could be turned into a
Wes Anderson movie, full of quirky and original characters. I write very
descriptively and visually, and given the sets are such a critical part of Wes
Anderson’s movies, I think I’d fit right in.
Top 3 things on your bucket list?
- To write a book that could be
turned into a Wes Anderson movie!
- To visit St Petersburg, Russia. I
meant to go there when I did my back-packing trip around Europe when I was
younger. But on my very first day on European soil, I was told it’s not
the kind of place a young woman should go on her own. So I didn’t go, and
I’ve regretted it ever since.
- To one day take a leap of faith and
quit my job to concentrate on writing full time.
How did you get the
idea for this particular series?
The
series was born out of a job I had many years ago, where I was working with a
lot of town planners putting together transport plans for my city. I learned a
great deal about urban design and found it a fascinating subject. I realized if
urban development is done well, it can transform cities into something
wonderful and I wanted to capture this in a story. So I created Craig
Carmichael, the developer with a heart of gold and the hero in the first book
of the Evans Trilogy, Set Me Free. His love interest, and the pivotal character
of the whole series, Charlotte Evans, came next and from there it simply
snowballed. I didn’t set out to write a series, but as I was developing Craig
and Charlotte’s supporting cast, I found her sister Emily needed a story of her
own. And again, in developing Emily’s supporting cast, I needed to give their
little brother, Andy, his own story as well.
What is your favorite
scene in your latest release?
There’s
a scene about mid-way through Bring Me Back, the final book in the trilogy,
where the lead female character, Annie, is chasing Andy down a beach. Andy has
just run a half-marathon and he’s exhausted, so Annie is gaining on him. She
throws one of her shoes at him and it hits him in the head, knocking him off
balance because he’s so spent. He lands face first on the beach and she jumps
on his back so he can’t get away again. The sexual tension between these two is
off the charts, so when Andy musters the energy to roll onto his back beneath
Annie, she shoots off him like a rocket, scalded by the sudden intimacy. I love
this scene because they’re both so annoyed with each other at that moment, but
the sparks of attraction are flying regardless.
What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?
It’s
a secret, but I can tell you I’ve been researching Medieval Europe. If anyone
knows any good Medieval romances, let me know! I’m trying to immerse myself in
the era, but apart from Lynn Kurland’s divine heroes, the male leads all seem
to be overbearing jerks!
As
far as when it will be available… I’m not sure. My job took all of my energy in
2015 so my writing didn’t get a lot of attention. My new year’s resolution is
to make sure I get back into the grove in 2016.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I
have two beautiful girls aged 9 and 7. During the school term, when I’m not
writing, I’m spending time with them and my husband, or I’m fast asleep in
front of Netflix. Life is at its most mundane during the term, so we make up
for that by taking the girls on adventures during the school holidays. My kids
are well-travelled, having been to Europe and closer to home, New Zealand and
Vanuatu. Our next big trip will be the west coast of the US.
What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?
I’m
good at reading maps. My husband calls me “The Navigator”. He’s the rally car
driver.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jennifer Collin writes quirky, and
sometimes gritty, love stories about ordinary people dealing with what life
throws at them.
She
lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, two noisy children and a
cantankerous cat.
She
used to party, but now her idea of a good time is an uninterrupted sleep. These
days, her characters do her partying for her, and she doesn't necessarily let
them sleep.
Links:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY:
Jennifer
Collin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the interview. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteIf you could join any past or current music group which would you want to join?
ReplyDeleteHi Mai,
DeleteAt the moment, I'd just want to play with David Bowie :(.
Let us know when you fill #3 on your list.
ReplyDeleteHaha! Will do, Misty!
DeleteI liked the interview.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rita ;)
DeleteSounds like an awesome series! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Victoria :)
DeleteI enjoyed the excerpt and interview, sounds like a wonderful trilogy, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Eva :)
DeleteAll three books sound great. Loved the excerpt from no.1
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane. Set Me Free is my first book and she has a very special place in my heart.
Deletethank you for the excerpt and sharing -- sounds like a very interesting series
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanne ;)
DeleteRussia would be great to visit. I like your bucket list.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary, I am so keen to see Russia. Would have to be in the summer, though!
DeleteSounds like a great book-can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Betty!
DeleteIf you could live in any age when would it be?
ReplyDeleteI love 1950s style, but maybe not so much some of the cultural elements of the era. I think I would have made a good suffragette, so maybe early 20th century...
DeleteI have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Patrick ;)
DeleteThis book sounds great and I would love to rea it. ty.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bridgett ;)
DeleteEnjoyed the excerpt, sounds like a great read. Entering under the name of Virginia
ReplyDeleteThanks and good luck!
DeleteThanks for having me, Sue! xx
ReplyDelete