Jill Shalvis always wanted to write a sitcom.
Every book was small-town in some fashion, wherever they were across the world.
But my daughters moved to San Francisco, and I fell in love with the city.
Credit: Avon Books
It was like a whole city in one building.
you’ve got the option to live in this huge, big city, and youre anonymous,.
you’re able to go to the grocery store and never see another soul.
Avon Books
When you pitched it, did you envision a certain number of books and now youve added more?
What is the family you have when you dont really have family?
He was my first sexy, geeky billionaire.
Id never done that before.
I didnt think I would.
For instance, Archer runs a security company.
That isHot Winter Nights.
One of your secondary characters, Haley, is gay.
Will she get her own book?InPlaying for Keeps, I give her a secondary love story.
Thats important to me.
I have done secondary gay characters before, in myAnimal Magnetismseries.
InPlaying for Keeps, the heroine is a tattoo artist and has a very rough past.
Hes this big, burly guy, and hes gay.
He has a secondary love story as well.
It should just be a fact of life.
No one should blink at that.
Sadie has a troubled past.
Shes a great self-made, tough young woman whos doing the best she can with what shes got.
She has some trust issues, and so she needs those barriers broken down.
She sounds rougher around the edges than some of your heroines.Yes.
What I wanted to do was two opposites meet, so we have the guy who she calls Suits.
He and Sadie have run into each other, and had real, instant dislike.
Then, they argue because they both want to adopt this dog.
These two strangers end up adopting this dog and co-parenting like a divorced old couple.
She thinks she would never judge anybody, but shes totally judging him.
The art department has always been amazing.
They show several concepts.
Theyre kind enough to let me have some input.
I said, She has purple streaks in her hair, so we need to do that.
They said, Ok, no problem.
They were really good about it.
You mentioned this dog and your books always feature lovable creatures.
Are you a big animal lover yourself?Always.
Weve always rescued animals and we have rescue animals now.
Animals are part of our life.
I like to make them characters.
I dont want them to take over the story.
We can reveal a lot about a character through how they treat animals.
All of the characters in this series have interesting professions.
I did go into tattoo parlors and got all nosy and asked a bunch of questions.
Youre writing a romance novel?
Do I really want to talk to you about a romance novel?Its a love story.
Who doesnt want a love story?
If I lose this gig, Im going to be knocking at Target or Taco Bells door.
Its my fantasy living out all these professions of things I would have loved to have tried.
I would be a rock star if I could, but I cant sing.
I cant hold a tune.
So this is my fantasy life.
Im never going to leave.
you’re able to have more flaws and you have more time to see a journey.
it’s possible for you to have more people and more relationships.
InRainy Day Friends, its a sisters thing, theres a bromance, theres two romances.
I have the time and the pages to explore all these different things and connect them all.
I love big family sagas.
Sometimes in romances, as much as I love them, you want to write more people.
You want to expand.
The world is open to hear more love stories.
Love is love is love, so let everyone have their happily-ever-after.
