The Story Behind My Blog's Title

The Story Behind My Blog's Title
Why is my blog named "My Father's Oldsmobile"? Click on the car and find out.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Meet Author Jillian Chantal


I'm excited to introduce Jillian Chantal today and her book, The Gambler. I had the privilege of meeting Jillian last week at RT. It's a real treat to be able to host her so soon after that meeting.

Thanks to Shawna for inviting me to be here today on her blog.  I love to hang out with my Desert Breeze Publishing house friends. We are a pretty tight group of writers and have great fun talking about books and ideas.  I recently met Shawna in person and she's adorable and a wonderful person to be around.  I'm visiting today to chat a little bit about my newest release, The Gambler.  This is the first book in a series of three which will be released over the next year, with this book being based in 1937.

The Gambler is the story of Dirk McSwain, a man who has been responsible for the care of his mother and younger brother since the death of his father.  He has a talent for playing cards and winning so he's made his living with that skill since he had to leave his legal apprenticeship once he had dependents as his apprenticeship didn't pay enough to support a family.

Dirk meets three Irish sisters on the ocean liner, the RMS Queen Mary. Two are twins, Lilith and Eve and the third is their older sister, Eden.  Since her sisters were born, Eden has lived in their shadow as they are beauties. During the course of the ocean voyage, Dirk is accused of cheating at cards.  The next day, the accuser dies.

Eden and Dirk team up to figure out what happened to the man and if his death was from natural causes or something more sinister.  Along the way, Dirk helps Eden to see that she is a valuable person and has a lot to offer to the world.

As I wrote this story, I realized about two thirds of the way through it that it was actually a variation on the Cinderella theme. I didn't start out with that in my mind, but that's where this story went as I created it. I hope those who read it find the parallels like I did.

Thanks again to Shawna for having me here. It was fun! 

Come by my blog sometime to say hello.  My website is http://www.jillianchantal.com 


12 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me here today, Shawna. I just saw it on the google alert - I had it on my calendar for tomorrow. OOPS- sorry I'm just now popping in! I'm happy to be here! It was great fun to meet you in person!

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  2. It's neat when themes emerge in stories like that. Cinderella--sounds like a great twist!

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  3. Hi jillian! *waves excitedly* It's great seeing you online, but even better to meet you in person.

    Congrats on The Gambler!

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  4. Already bought the Gambler. Can't wait to read it! Love your books, Jillian!

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  5. Thanks, Patty! I was very surprised when that dawned on me.
    Waving madly back at you, Lynn! It was awesome to meet you, too. Thanks for the good wishes!
    Sandy- thanks for being my super, supportive friend who is there for me through thick and thin. Love you!

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  6. sounds like a cool story ... and that time period (the years leading up to WW2) are very interesting to me.

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  7. AW geez, everybody had a party and I wasn't there!
    Next time...
    Great post, Jillian. Looking forward to diving into The Gambler.
    ;)

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  8. thanks, Jeff. I love the 20s and 30s- a unique period in history.

    Liv- we'd never have a party without you!! I hope you like the story!

    Thanks to all for popping in and keeping Shawna and me company!

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  9. Sounds like an interesting story. And all this talk about RT is making wish I was there. Boohoo.

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  10. Thanks Tina. I wish you'd been able to come to RT as well. I sure would have loved to meet you in person!

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  11. Great post, Jillian. Maybe the DBP authors ought to stage a coup and have their OWN get together. Anyone wanna come to Maine? LOL. Every time I see the title of your book, Kenny Rogers starts singing in my head!Wishing you huge success, Jillian.

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  12. Thanks Sadie and Sophie! I think a DBP even would be amazing. Such a fun group of people we'd have. I'm sorry about Kenny Rogers. LOL! He's not in this book.

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