Spotlight & Guest Blog: Jillian Neal’s Within the Realm

“When did I become a writer?” It was certainly a fair question. The last time I’d seen this person, with whom I was currently in line behind, was in college, more years ago than I really cared to count. I was set to become a teacher, after all, and she had accomplished our mutual goal at the time.

“Uh,” I stammered uncomfortably. It was the first time I’d worked up enough pluck and grit to admit my new career out loud to anyone but my husband, my bathroom mirror, and a few select members of my family. My first novel was in the process of publication and it was high time I told people that I had a story to tell; I’d decided just that morning. “Well,” I continued to try and answer her question. I recalled afternoons of my childhood where other children talked and played all around me and I rolled my eyes and tucked further into my book. Or the horrible moment in fourth grade where I was disqualified from the spelling bee for misspelling “college.” I’d spelled “collage” instead, and then I proceeded on to my desk with my lip trembling to write the word “college” a dozen times over, so I would never forget again. I thought of the tiny notepad in my purse that I’d carried since high school where I write words that I see or hear that I think are lovely and should be used more often. My adamant love of words in the English language made the list as well. Those all seemed like they might’ve guided my steps towards authorship.

You see I never really concisely decided that I was a writer and that I was going to sit down and write this series of novels. No, I woke up one morning, perked a pot of coffee, made my children breakfast, kissed my husband good-bye on his way to work, and tried to determine why these people wouldn’t let me sleep at night. Why they so desperately wanted me to tell their story. I picked up my laptop and started to type. It flowed out of me without any real concise thought at all. I couldn’t seem to halt the outpouring. I typed and I typed without no real ending in mind. My characters very lives depended on my sitting down and typing and so I did. I couldn’t deny them; they needed me.

Well, down a few twists, and turns, and falling through several rabbit holes, I find myself with my first book published and many more to follow. It seems my characters still need me. My series of books, that tells the story of all of my beloved characters complicated lives, from multiple perspectives, begins here with my first novel, “Within the Realm.”

We follow Rainer and Emily through their often tumultuous introduction into adult life. Did I mention that all of my characters have abilities? No? Oh sorry…here let me explain. My characters have the ability to harness and bend the Earth’s energies to their will. They exist among us, the Non-Gifted, hidden in plain sight.

These abilities make every part of their fascinating lives just a little bit different. Their love lives are definitely included in this assessment. If you could see the erotic, tempting energies that accompany making love it might make the act entirely different but certainly no less magical. Ah, but the steamy love scenes are set amongst life long love, lives cut much too short, vengeance, evil, and an adoring family all rolled into one.

Join Rainer and Emily as they introduce you to “The Gifted Realm.” I do hope you enjoy the very beginning of my story!

Here is a brief Synopsis of Within The Realm along with an exclusive scene from the book only seen here:

If you’d like to hear more about my upcoming novels or my life as a writer, mother, wife, sister, daughter, and pot-belly pig owner follow my blog at http://jillianneal.com


Title: Within the Realm by Jillian Neal
The Gifted Realm Series Book One
Publisher:Realm Press
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance
Length: 423 pages

Summary:

The Gifted walk among us. They are unseen, but in plain sight. The Earth’s energies are as visible to them as the tangible world is to us and they can harness and bend these forces to their will. Atop the Pentagon resides the government of the Gifted Realm.

Rainer Lawson is set to join the ranks of Elite Officers in the Gifted Police force. With his fellow officers, they will work together, using their abilities, to try and end the most sinister criminal organization in existence. His parents fought and died to re-establish the Realm, and he won’t allow them to have sacrificed in vain.

The will to protect those he loves has always driven Rainer, but his desperation to protect Emily, the love of his life, consumes him. While passions ignite and vengeance is sought, Rainer may discover that all of his money, fame, and power, could cost him the only thing that has ever truly mattered.

Purchase Links: Kindle * Hardback * Paperback * Barnes & Noble


Excerpt

His heart still hammered every time he fantasized about that night. If he allowed himself, he could still smell the salty air, the scent of the red cedar planking of the wood deck, mixed in with the heady scent of her, and of sex, as it hung in the humid night air. His breath caught as he recalled her lit by the moonlight and the strung lights off of the pier.

He’d caressed his hands around her face and kissed her slowly and intensely as he pushed himself into her abdomen, and then she’d slipped her hand into his swim trunks. The feeling had been exquisite.

“Touch me, Rainer.” She had whispered in his ear as she’d wrapped her hand around his length.

No one had been nearby. No one was looking for either of them. Everyone was involved in something else, off having fun. It didn’t matter what anyone else had been doing. He didn’t care. In that moment, the world had existed for the two of them alone.

He’d slipped his hand up her cut off miniskirt and traced his hands under the bottom of her bikini. She’d panted; it was the first time he’d touched her there. The first time he’d felt the wet heat her body emanated for him. He’d been just about to slip his fingers inside of her when he’d heard Logan calling him.

“Don’t stop, please,” whispered from her in a heated desperate plea.

“Em, Logan’s coming,” he’d hushed in a regret filled whisper as he pulled his hand away. She’d whimpered and clung to him fiercely.

He’d wrapped his arm over her shoulders, and they’d walked to meet Logan and Adeline. Everyone had been ready to go back to the beach house.

He’d let that feeling, the feeling of her swollen and wet for him, hold him until he could feel it again. All the way back to the house, riding in Mrs. Haydenshire’s suburban, and holding Emily’s hand, he’d fantasized.

He’d laid quietly in one of the bunks that night, in the room with most of Emily’s brothers, and thought about her. The way she’d felt in his hands. The way her eyes darkened. The way her lips swelled when he kissed her. His heart had raced, and he’d ached for her.

Unable to sleep, he’d snuck down to the living room where Emily and Adeline were bunking. Adeline was asleep, but Emily wasn’t. She’d been thinking, as well. She’d tiptoed out to the decking off of the living room. She had been wearing one of his Ioses t-shirts and a pair of white cotton panties with innocent lace edgings. He’d never forget.

“I didn’t get to finish what I started on the beach,” he’d whispered. She’d trembled as she nodded.

“Will you now?” She’d begged.

Preview (First 4 chapters – PDF)


Author Bio

Jillian Neal is the author of “The Gifted Realm” series of novels. She has a passion for telling strong, character driven stories that stretch the imagination. Her debut novel “Within the Realm” was released in 2013, with the next installments of the series soon to follow.

She lives near Atlanta with her husband and children. For more information, visit her website and Facebook

1 Comment

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One Response to Spotlight & Guest Blog: Jillian Neal’s Within the Realm

  1. Timitra

    Thanks Kathy!