Becoming Jolie
Author: Monique O'Connor James
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: January 9, 2012
Blurb:
Jolie Bourque wanders into the small town of Folette, Louisiana
hoping to wrap up her thesis. The place has suffered a rash of missing
children and is now plagued with ghost sightings. Jolie, the spoiled
child of adoptive parents, goes into the town believing the residents
suffer from mass hysteria, and she wants to finish her paper and get
back to Baton Rouge before the place rubs off on her.
The town's
people turn out to be none to ready to spill their stories to an
outsider, except one Hutch Landry. Through stories from Hutch and his
brother Tucker, Jolie learns the horror that has befallen the town and
begins to feel attached to its people. Not only does she realize that
she may have personal strings that tie her to the place, but she finds
herself smack in the middle of a love triangle with the two brothers.
Will
she be able to find the monster who is preying on the young teens and
still stay sane as she pieces together her own past? Will she be able to
sort through the nightmares she's begun to have during her time in
Follette? Will she choose between the two brothers she never thought she
could have feelings for in the first place?
All of these questions are just part of the road she has to take while she's becoming Jolie.
Thank you so much for having me as a guest on your blog! I thought
I’d share with you how real life influences my writing and novels.
My
mother died of breast cancer in 1998. Her death has probably impacted
my writing more than any other event in my life. Looking at my work,
you can see a running them of bringing back the dead. I’m obsessed! My
shrink would have a field day with this bit of information. Don’t you
think?
My first novel, The Keepers, was completely inspired by my
life. The main character’s mother also dies of breast cancer. That
wasn’t the only connection, though. Everything from the cars the
characters drove to their personal stories was rooted in truth.
Jamais
Vu and Déjà vu were much more fictional, but they came from a very real
experience. My mom was playing with a loaded gun, when I was a
toddler, and accidentally shot herself - from this horrific incident,
sprung the idea for these two novels (and soon to be a third).
Becoming
Jolie, my latest novel, is probably the furthest from truth, but the
setting and characters came from the real life diversity of the State of
Louisiana.
I think that I trickle a bit of myself and the
people I love into all my stories. I hope I can always say that is true
and that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them!
Cheers!
Monique O’Connor James
Thank you Monique for joining us today on my blog & sharing your thoughts with us!
About the Author:
Monique is the mother of two beautiful
children and lives in a small community outside of Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. She currently works full time as an insurance agent, but her
favorite jobs are mother, wife, and author. On her ninth birthday, her
mother bought her a journal and said, "Write whatever you want. Just
write". And so, a love affair with words was born.
She wrote
poetry and short stories in high school and college, until 1993 when her
mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her mother's death in
1998, deep in depression, she found herself unable to write. Nine years
passed, and only on rare occasion did she attempt to write. Finally, in
2007, under the urging of friends, she sat down and pecked out her
first novel. It was raw and unpolished, but the process had been
unquestionably cathartic.
The next three years were spent
filling her hard drive with seven complete manuscripts. At the beginning
of 2011, Monique decided it was time to edit the work and share it
with the world. She hopes you enjoy the ramblings of a truly southern
girl raised in a state rich with heritage and love.
In June of
2011 her first book, The Keepers, was published by Astraea Press and it
has been a world wind of excitement ever since. Please check out her
website and feel free to contact her at any time via her email, Facebook, or Twitter.
Connect with Monique:
Thanks for having me Steph!
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