Seven years ago Jenna Farley left her hometown of Cedarville, Indiana and vowed never to look back. She created a thriving business and a quiet life on the sunny beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. But seven years and hundreds of miles can’t keep the nightmares of her past and visions of a hellish future from plaguing her dreams.
With the fate of her first love resting solely in her hands, Jenna must go back to the town she despises and risk everything for a man who is not at all pleased to find her on his doorstep talking about a murderer on the loose and asking him to trust her.
Nathaniel McGregor has put many years and many women between him and the memory of the only woman he ever loved. Now she’s back and doing what she does best – turning his life upside down and warning him of an obsessed pyromaniac hell bent on killing him. Can he trust her? Does he even have a choice? The clock is ticking, both their lives are on the line and they must work together to stop a determined killer or die.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What are the main themes of your book?
Flames is a romantic suspense novel that revolves around lost loves, second chances and a fight for survival in a small Midwestern town.
Who or what inspired your story?
Anybody who knows me knows that I am the kind of girl who gets completely lost in crime dramas. I think it’s hereditary. Every generation of my mom’s side of the family has been involved in law enforcement in one way or the other, so talking about criminals, what motivates them and how to catch them is something we’re often doing around the dinner table. The psychic element is something I’ve always been interested in too, especially how psychics are sometimes used in the police force. Now I don’t know if psychics are legitimate. Personally I am of the belief that there are some things that just can’t be explained. The beauty of fiction though is that anything is possible, so luckily I get to add the psychic element I enjoy most to my novels.
What do you like best about your primary characters?
Nathaniel is a lot like the guys I knew from my hometown; smart, loyal, close to family and a real country boy. I tried to add some of the elements of the guys I always respected from my hometown into Nathaniel. And as long as we’re being honest, I modeled a lot of Nathaniel’s qualities on my husband too, but I’ll leave just which of those qualities to your imagination.
Jenna is someone who had a lot on her plate but I loved that she was able to kind of pull herself up by her bootstraps and create a life for herself. I’ve known a couple of women like that and have always admired those qualities in them. It takes a certain amount of strength and I liked how she was able to cultivate those strengths to overcome some of the issues in her past. It’s not easy to hold on to your beliefs when everyone around you is telling you that you are wrong.
What are their worst peculiarities?
It is definitely their inability to trust and their inability to let things go. Both of the main characters struggle with that. It all stems from them not wanting to get hurt which is something I think a lot of people can relate to.
How do your main characters evolve?
Jenna has always struggled with being who she is and accepting her psychic abilities. In the beginning she would much rather pretend like that part of her didn’t exist. By the end of the novel though she is unapologetic for her gift and how others feel about it. And by accepting that part of herself she ultimately saves the person she loves most.
Nathaniel evolves in his willingness to believe in Jenna’s abilities and trust that Jenna won’t hurt him again. Letting go of the pain and accepting a person back into your life that had hurt you (albeit unintentionally) is not something that is easily done. Couple that with Jenna’s supernatural element and that’s a lot to ask of a person. But by the end of the novel he was able to master those trust and acceptance issues.
What’s the principal message you want to send to your audience?
Flames is a book about overcoming your past and learning to trust again. It also touches on overcoming biases in small towns. A lot of times it can be tough being different in a place where everyone is expected to walk a certain path and live a certain type of lifestyle, add a sadistic serial killer and murder mystery to the mix and you have a lot of tension building up between the characters. Each of the characters are struggling to be what is expected of them without losing who they really are in the process. I really tried to show in this novel that sacrificing your true self and true love just to appease others will never be worth it.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about your book?
“In my top three of favorite books, I have never finished a book in one day but this one I couldn’t put down! Can’t wait for more from this author.” To be a first time author and have somebody choose your book to be in their top three- I mean come on! Can it get any better than that?
Where can we purchase it?
Flames can be purchased on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica F.F. Evans lives in a quiet village in rural Indiana with her husband, daughter and crazy large family. She spends every chance she gets on the Gulf Coast and when not writing she likes woodturning, hiking and passing on her love of reading to her daughter.
Her novels include: Flames (On Sale Now), Predator (Coming out in September 2013), Under the Cajun Moon (Coming out in December 2013) and Lessons Learned from Arnold St. James (Coming out in June 2014).
To find out more, visit Jessica’s website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
