Deliciously Sinful (25 page)

Dear Reader,

I’ve received many, many letters regarding the leads in my latest book, HEAD OVER HEELS. Sawyer and Chloe—what a combo. We start off with a bit of a wild heroine. Add to the mix a reformed bad boy hero who now wears a gun and is on the right side of the law as the town sheriff. Explosive chemistry.

The thing about Sawyer is that he thinks his life is just right. A job. A house. Two best buds. The occasional woman warming his bed… Yeah, he thinks life is good.

But then Chloe blows into Lucky Harbor like a good-time girl. A one-time girl. Only problem, one time isn’t enough. And Sawyer starts to understand that he might never be able to get enough of her.

Problem. A big one.

It was for me too. I like it when people get along, when there’s no tension and friction. But I’m telling you, these two have tension and friction in spades. It was an interesting book to write. To practice keeping that tension high, I pretended I was a wild child. The research was lots of fun. I’m back to being myself now, and that’s fun too. Because now I get to present you with HEAD OVER HEELS.

Happy reading!

www.jillshalvis.com

Dear Reader,

If you’ve read any of my books, you might have noticed I have a thing for food. Eating is one of my favorite pastimes, and I don’t think I’ve ever written a book without at least one food scene. I am a person who strongly believes a person should live to eat, not the other way around. Food can define culture, history, relationships, and family.

So I tend to write scenes that involve food and eating. To this day, I still get emails from readers about the infamous strawberry scene in my book
Bound to Please
. It seems anyone who read that book can’t ever look at strawberries the same way again. And in
Dare to Surrender
, I had a lot of fun writing about my heroine’s best friend, a culinary student in San Francisco. They had all kinds of fun in the kitchen.

It seems no matter what story I write, I need to include scenes involving eating. Sometimes they’re sexy scenes, sometimes not. Food inspires me on a lot of levels. I once hopped on a plane to Madrid because I wanted to eat tapas. I got more than little plates of food—I experienced an entirely different culture that inspired me to have more fun in life. While on a trip to France, I stayed with families so I could eat home-cooked, seven-course meals. I always eat street-food in Mexico—and my next vacation destination is Vietnam because I love spring rolls.

Obviously, I really like to eat!

I got the idea for Phoebe and Nick while staying in a small town in Northern California. While driving from San Francisco to Portland, I stopped at a small café that served only organic, natural food. Most of the cuisine was vegetarian. It was a small café, but the dishes were mouth-watering. There was something so satisfying about eating locally grown, organic, earthy food that I wanted to try everything on the menu. Obviously, the food was scrumptious, so scrumptious it inspired me to create a story revolving around my delicious experience.

Some of my fondest childhood memories come from our dining table. While writing DELICIOUSLY SINFUL, I dug out my grandmother’s copy of Julia Child’s
Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Published in 1966, it has my grandmother’s notes penciled in the margins and little squares of cutout recipes tucked in between pages. That cookbook sat on my desk the entire time I wrote DELICIOUSLY SINFUL. It is the one thing I inherited when my grandmother passed away. I cherish it.

I’ve always thought that food has many meanings. It creates and brings back memories, it writes stories, it brings people together. Every week while I was writing DELICIOUSLY SINFUL, I tried out a new recipe. It reminded me of my mother, my grandmother, and dinners of the past. And every week, I would pick out a recipe, shop for ingredients, cook, and invite my friends over for dinner. I’ll admit some of my culinary attempts were…not so good. But it didn’t matter. I put love into those meals, just as I put love into this book. I hope you enjoy DELICIOUSLY SINFUL as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Love,

Bound to Please

Dare to Surrender

“4½ Hearts! An erotic love story that will keep you turning the pages. If you love a sexy read…laced with love and romance, you will enjoy
Dare to Surrender
.”

—FictionVixen.com

“5 out of 5! Ms. Feisty has a way with her characters. The sex scenes were scorching hot. This is a must read. Do not let this one pass you by. Seriously.”

—Examiner.com

“A truly magical and sinfully irresistible erotic contemporary novel.”

—RomanceJunkies.com

“Hot enough to melt more than a few icicles.”

—
RT Book Reviews

“An erotic yet very romantic love story…The sex in this book is smokin’ as only Lilli Feisty can write…She writes…stories that are so much fun to read you have to call your girlfriends to chat about them. I’m ready for more.”

—SmexyBooks.com

“4½ Stars! TOP PICK! Red-hot!…Believable characters, realistic dialogue, and well-written sex scenes make this a must read.”

—
RT Book Reviews

“Terrific…Fans of realistic erotica will enjoy
Bound to Please
.”

—
Midwest Book Review

“Sexy…don’t let this one pass you by!”

—TheRomanceReadersConnection.com

“Well written…the characters are vivid…if you want an erotic romance, emphasis on erotic, this is your book.”

—LikesBooks.com

“Feisty did a great job melding in everyday life, everyday issues, and hot sex and you can be sure I’m going to be rooting out all her other books.”

—RipMyBodice.com

“I loved this book…a great piece of erotic romance.”

—TheBookBinge.com