It’s been a little while since I’ve done an author spotlight, so I’m thinking it’s time to get back into the saddle 🙂
This week’s author spotlight is on my friend and fellow indie author, J.J. Ellis.
J.J. and I have gotten to know one another through the Anything Goes Author Group (goodness, I make a lot of friends through there!) and she’s a fabulous author. She’s a prolific writer, having released a number of books in her own name, and she has also worked with her partner, T.A. Ellis on a number of collaborative books.
JJ Ellis is first and foremost a mom to five kids, four girls and one boy, ranging in age from 3-18. After that, she is a physically limited wife, blogger and now an author. She holds a degree in Communication Studies (Public Relations) from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas but never thought she would chose writing as a career, especially at the age of 42. She once wanted to be a publicist in the entertainment industry, but never a writer. Then one day when she was in her mid thirties she was going through what can only be described as an early ‘midlife crisis’ and ideas just started to come to her and she felt compelled to write them down. She finished her first book relatively quickly, but life got in the way and it took her eight years to revisit it and then publish her first novel. She can honestly say that now she is finally right where she wants to be.
JJ has been married to her college sweetheart (and romance novel hero) for nineteen years and they reside in Casper, WY with their kids and one crazy mutt named Kreuger. She enjoys reading, writing, blogging, computing, and graphic design. She will try anything that will allow her creativity to be released.
Contact JJ:
JJ’s Books:
Until Next Time
A humorous, insightful, sometimes poignant account of being a wife and mother with physical limitations. JJ Ellis manages just fine to raise happy and healthy kids and have a wonderful life despite a few hardships.
Virgin Voyage (Mari’s Story)
WARNING: This is not your typical angst ridden, modern romance. It is a funny, sad, enlightening journey through family, community and relationships.
THIS IS A STAND ALONE SERIES – Each novel is about a different character in the Mannon Family and can be read individually or in order.
Nurse Mari Mannon put her life on hold for Firefighter/Paramedic Graham Blake one too many times. He’s out of her life for good now that he decided to never love again. She decides to start fresh, with a new attitude. First objective: Seduce a stranger on her family’s annual vacation – this year, a cruise to Alaska. She has this pesky problem called virginity that she really needs to get rid of, with no prospects for a man in her life.
Matchmaking Mamas Charlotte Mannon and her best friend Eleanor Blake want their kids together. Mari and Graham always loved each other, they just didn’t have the sense to keep life from getting in their way. A surprise meet up on the Sunset Destiny cruise ship is the plan and it goes off without a hitch.
Mari is upset that she might have to ditch ‘the seduction’ until she realizes that seducing Graham would be even better than seducing a stranger. She wants one night but with the help of two matchmaking old women and Graham’s daughter Sarah – who really wants Mari to be her mommy – she just might get a lifetime of happiness. Will they rediscover the love they once had while exploring a passion they’ve never known or will they end things for good this time.
Meet the entire Mannon and Blake families and fall in love with a new kind of romance. Real characters, real situations. Extraordinary passion. True love. An Adult Romance with family, drama, comedy, sex, tragedy and most of all love. (May not be suitable for all readers – Ages 17 and over)
Alaskan Ambush (Olivia’s Story)
Olivia Mannon had a perfect life. She’d made sure of it. Hard work and perseverance had her climbing the ladder of success and she was only a few years away from meeting her ultimate goal. A new house on the golf course or maybe overlooking the lake was next in her sights and nothing would stop her from getting it. Her sacrifices for a sense of stability and peace of mind were many, including true happiness and Alex, the love of her life.
Alex Paige had a ‘great’ life. Best of all, he didn’t have to be locked up in an office or a storefront all day. He truly felt free flying float planes through the Alaskan wilderness and running the tour business his uncle left him. There was only one thing missing, the one thing he could never have, the love of his life, Olivia.
Matchmaking Mama Charlotte Mannon was determined to help her daughter find true happiness and give up her warped sense of what life should be. And she knew, only one man could accomplish the near impossible task. Some research, a tour brochure and a phone call starts her plan in motion. Alex and Olivia will meet again during the family’s vacation on the Sunset Destiny cruise ship.
Will Olivia be able to merge her “suite at a five star resort” lifestyle with Alex’s “camp outdoors” way of life. Or will they lose each other all over again…this time for good.
Meet the entire Mannon and Paige families and fall in love with a new kind of romance. Real characters, real situations. Extraordinary passion. True love. An Adult Romance with family, drama, comedy, sex, tragedy and most of all love.
Stormy Seas (Abigail’s Story)
Abigail Mannon has been through the unthinkable. The victim of a life changing trauma, she shuts herself away from her friends, her family and the outside world. Her work becomes her safe haven and she likes it that way.
Marketing intern Sam West was hired as her assistant and through the years became her source of strength, her window to the outside world. But even then she couldn’t completely let him in.
Amateur matchmaker Charlotte Mannon misses the woman her daughter once was and has decided it’s time to help Abigail to live again. All she has to do is get her onto the Sunset Destiny cruise ship for their family vacation, with Sam in tow. Not an easy task to arrange, but she manages to pull it off without a hitch
Forced into close quarters Sam begins to teach Abigail about the joys of living. She might deny it, but she has fallen in love with her younger, very handsome assistant. Sam doesn’t deny anything, he has loved his boss since the day he first saw her, all bruised and battered.
Unbeknownst to anyone, his tragic past is irrevocably entwined with hers. When they find out, will their past tragedies bind them together or tear them apart? Meet the entire Mannon and West families and fall in love with a new kind of romance.
Wild Waves (Vanessa’s Story)
Vanessa Mannon and Thomas Paulson have a tumultuous past that began in elementary school and peaked in her parents’ pool house in their late teens. Years of misunderstandings, anger and stubborn denial makes it impossible to act on their truest desires. When Thomas nearly loses his life in the war in Afghanistan they both realize they need to pursue what matters most – their love for each other.
Vanessa’s matchmaking mother Charlotte knows the pair will find their way together, eventually. But while she’s helping her other kids with their love lives, she figures she might as well give the couple a little extra push. One quick phone call leads the two to meet again on the Sunset Destiny Cruise ship bound for Alaska – The Mannon’s family vacation.
Vanessa’s past wild child ways and years old betrayal of Thomas’s trust combined with his flashbacks, physical injuries and memory loss might just be too much for the young couple to overcome, or it may just teach them an important life lesson. A lesson in forgiveness and redemption.
Deception in Denali (Jackson’s Story)
Jackson Mannon’s first love, Deborah, left him heartbroken when she disappeared without a trace. They were just sixteen and his life plan changed in the blink of an eye. Eight years later he learns she’s still alive and that she gave birth to his son.
Deborah Sharpe loved Jackson with all her heart, but with her life in danger she ran as far as she could go. Pregnant with his child, she wanted nothing more than to be with him. But to protect their baby she accepted her fate; she absolutely had to stay in hiding.
On a mission to reunite Deborah with her dying mother Jackson tracks her down, slowly uncovering all of her secrets. He finally makes her feel safe again, and in the process he starts to dream of the future they were denied so long ago. But there is so much they must overcome to be together again; guilt, death and the ultimate deception.
Is their past strong enough to allow a future? Can they revive the love they once had to become a family?
JJ’s Books With Her Writing Partner, TA Ellis
The Heart of Alaska
Two couples, one unforgettable summer.
Charlotte and Ethan – Fate brought them together as children and phone calls and letters solidified their bond. When tragedy struck, they were torn apart until one fateful summer morning when they meet again. Will they be able to acknowledge the love that fate decreed, or will they let the opportunity of a lifetime slip through their fingers?
Francesca and Jackson – They met as children and became a couple as teens. At twenty she must let her one true love follow his conscience into war. Can their relationship stand the test of time and bring them to the happily ever after they’ve always dreamed of, or will their perfect world be shattered?
Join two amazing young couples as they learn to live, laugh and love while working at The Heart of Alaska Lodge in the summer of ’69.
Russell’s Return
Home was the last place he wanted to be.
Single father, Russell Harper, would do anything for his troubled nine-year-old daughter Miranda, including returning to the suffocating small Wyoming town he fled at eighteen. Meeting up with childhood friend, licensed counselor Emily Zane, helps father and daughter come to terms with their new life. When the past thunders into town, threatening to destroy everyone it its path, the Harpers could lose everything.
Home was the only place she could truly breathe.
Emily Zane left Harper’s Rock, Wyoming as fast as she could, for the city life she’d always dreamed of. When circumstances take away what she holds dear, Harper’s Rock offers the safety and shelter she needs to heal. A chance meet up with her childhood friend, restaurateur Russell Harper and his troubled little girl, renews her confidence in her abilities. But when the past comes bearing down, it threatens to take everything she holds dear…again.
Logan’s Leap
He believes that love is for fools.
Logan Harper’s motto – stay away from people and you won’t get hurt. He has a successful business, his family, and a few casual friends. That’s more than enough to keep him happy. When Jayna McIntyre comes to town seeking out the Harper family, Logan is the one who comes to her rescue. What harm could come from helping a single mom? He’s an expert at knowing how to keep other people’s drama from invading his life, so helping her and sending her on her way should be easy.
She’s never stopped believing in love.
Jayna is nine months pregnant and running for her life. Her best friend’s husband sends her to his family in Harper’s Rock, Wyoming. She was expecting to find the motherly Evelyn Harper, but instead she wakes up in sexy Logan’s arms. The self-described loner truly does have a heart, as she witnesses with her newborn baby and his willingness to put their safety before his own. Forced into close quarters, with a madman on the loose, Jayna and her knight in denim armor create a bond, but it may not be strong enough to override the past.
Dylan’s Desire
Warning: This work contains material that some may find offensive.
Dylan usually gets what he wants…except for Nicoletta.
Resident bad boy and wilderness guide Dylan Harper lives life on his own terms, until one fateful night when an accident leaves him broken and rethinking his life. The man with one regret will come face to face with it when he least expects to. The only girl to tell him no, Nicoletta Ballas, is hired to help him with his recovery and is the only one who could destroy his heart and soul.
Nicoletta seems to always choose what isn’t good for her
Widowed nurse Nicoletta Ballas comes home after college, a disastrous marriage, and working for three years on a cruise ship. She is immediately thrown into the world she had run from when she left for nursing school at 18. Bad boy Dylan Harper was her childhood best friend but his promiscuity came between them. As they begin to reconnect, they are faced with a mysterious piece of her past that she thought was dead and buried. They and their love may or may not survive the pure evil that haunts her.
D.S. Williams 