Juliette calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana home where the landscape curls into her imagination, creating mystical settings for her stories.
She has a B.A. in creative writing from Louisiana State University, a M.Ed. in gifted education, and was privileged to study under the award-winning author Ernest J. Gaines in grad school.
Her love of mythology, legends, and art serve as constant inspiration for her works. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance--brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes.
Even then, she not only longed to read more novels set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.
Website
Blog
Goodreads
Tensions are rising in the Gladium Province. The boundary between humans and Morgons has begun to blur. While the human aristocracy strives to maintain distance between their daughters and the dragon-hybrid race, fate has other plans.
As the daughter of the corporate king, Jessen Cade is duty-bound to honor her arranged marriage to a man she detests. Feeling trapped by family duty and a loveless future, she longs for more, straying to the Morgon side of the city.
Lucius Nightwing is the eldest son of the powerful Morgon clan, and the greatest enemy of Jessen’s father. When a bar-room brawl thrusts Jessen into his arms, his dragon roars to the surface, craving to sate his carnal hunger in the brown-eyed beauty. The beast in Lucius recognizes her as his own, even if the man refuses to admit the truth.
Available at Kensington
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
JC: I’d decided I wanted to write a story set in a completely new fantasy world, particularly with dragons, as they hold such a mystical allure. I searched dragon images and was flipping through different paintings when one stopped me dead in my tracks. It was a beautiful, dark-haired woman with magnificent dragon wings standing next to a dragon. That’s when I got the spark of the idea of a dragon-hybrid race. I mused about how it would be cool if this race lived alongside humans, then I started considering plotlines. I realized racism between the two species would make for a good conflict, and the perfect setting for star-crossed lovers. That’s when Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet popped to mind, so I molded the story to fit the classic tragedy, but of course changing it to a happily-ever-after.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
JC: About a month. It’s novella length, about 32K, but even so the story poured out of me as did the next two. I don’t know. I opened up a door into the Morgon world and, fortunately, the ideas keep coming. J
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
JC: When my muse hits me strong and a story fills my imagination till it’s on the page. The excitement of a new, fresh idea being born is one of the greatest feelings.
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
JC: Editing. Editing is the hardest part, because you sometimes must work and rework the same scene or paragraph or even sentence over and over until it’s right. I love and adore my editor, Corinne Demaagd, for making me edit till it’s the best I can do. The hard work pays off in the end, because I produce something I’m proud of, even if it’s never perfect.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
JC: Hmmm. J. K. Rowling, I think. I’d love to see the world with her imagination. I also love that she’s become so famous and managed to maintain a somewhat private life. I’d also just love to live in England. Haha!
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
JC: I think it would be a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette dressing. It’s probably four-six months old. It sounded good when I bought it, but I tend to stick to my Caesar or Ranch dressings. (Word to the wise: don’t go shopping when you’re having weird cravings. And no, I wasn’t pregnant when I bought it.) Thanks for the reminder. I think it’s time to toss it.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
JC: Well, 2015 is shaping up to be a big year. I’ll be releasing the next two Nightwing novellas—Windburn (Feb. 2015) and Nightbloom (Sept. 2015). I’ll also be releasing my first book in a spin-off series called Vale of Stars. Waking the Dragon (June 2015) will be the first novel of many to delve deeper into rising conflicts and ultimately war in the Morgon world. I also have a demon hunter series, The Vessel Trilogy, coming out in 2015—Forged in Fire in January, Sealed in Sin in April, and Bound in Black in July. One thing I’m really looking forward to is attending the RT Convention in Dallas in May. I can’t wait to hang out with so many of my friends in the book world. Hope to see some of you there!
