Knowing Jack by Rachel Curtis
Publication date: January 17th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
I am not a slut, although I’ve been called one often enough. Yeah, I spent three months screwing one of my college professors, but I was crazy about the guy. Then he broke up with me.
I am not a bitch, although people like to say I am. I kept our relationship secret. I’m not responsible for telling the university administrators about it, but a lot of students still blame me for getting their favorite professor fired.
I am not a drama queen, although everyone thinks I am now. When I got a few nasty messages, I just deleted them. When I got the threat, I assumed it was someone being stupid. I still think that’s all it was. My parents worry, though, so they hired me a bodyguard. Now Jack follows me around, intimidating everyone who approaches me and looking obnoxiously hot.
This is what I am. I’m Chloe. I’m a twenty-year-old art history major. Kind of shy, although I pretend not to be. Stubborn enough to stay here for my senior year, even though everyone hates me.
And I’m stuck with Jack.
He calls me “Princess,” but I’m not a princess either.
Knowing Jack is a New Adult contemporary romance and includes adult content and language. The plot of the book is fully resolved at the end, but the last page includes a hanging teaser for the next book in the series.
I am not a bitch, although people like to say I am. I kept our relationship secret. I’m not responsible for telling the university administrators about it, but a lot of students still blame me for getting their favorite professor fired.
I am not a drama queen, although everyone thinks I am now. When I got a few nasty messages, I just deleted them. When I got the threat, I assumed it was someone being stupid. I still think that’s all it was. My parents worry, though, so they hired me a bodyguard. Now Jack follows me around, intimidating everyone who approaches me and looking obnoxiously hot.
This is what I am. I’m Chloe. I’m a twenty-year-old art history major. Kind of shy, although I pretend not to be. Stubborn enough to stay here for my senior year, even though everyone hates me.
And I’m stuck with Jack.
He calls me “Princess,” but I’m not a princess either.
Knowing Jack is a New Adult contemporary romance and includes adult content and language. The plot of the book is fully resolved at the end, but the last page includes a hanging teaser for the next book in the series.
Excerpt:
“Now
would you please get out of here?” I say, raising my voice to make
sure it carries appropriate authority. “In case you haven’t
noticed, I still have to get dressed, and I’m already running
late.”
Let’s
not forget that I’m still wearing nothing but my favorite bra and
panty set—which I put on a few minutes earlier to give me courage
to face the day.
“Yeah,
I did notice that.”
There
is no reason for such harmless words to make me flush so hotly. They
do, though. I have fair skin, so I blush a lot. It can be very
annoying.
Jack
is big—tall with amazing broad shoulders, flat abs, and lean hips.
He suddenly seems to fill up all the space in my bedroom. My whole
body reacts to his presence. I can’t seem to think of anything
else. Just him and his body and his hot blue eyes.
“Be
careful of the broken glass,” he says, some sort of rough texture
in his voice that makes me want to shiver. “You’ve got bare
feet.”
“I
know I have bare feet. Now get out.”
“All
right. But first tell me this.”
“What?”
“Why
do you have naked babies on your underwear?”
“They’re
not naked babies! They’re cherubs. And if you weren’t such a
hulking Neanderthal you’d recognize Michelangelo when you saw it.”
I
was absolutely thrilled earlier in the year when I found in a New
York boutique this bra and panty set with details from the Sistine
Chapel ceiling on them. They were absurdly expensive, as you might
imagine, but I couldn’t resist buying them anyway.
Jack
stares down at my bra. “Michelangelo?” He sounds rather dazed.
“Yeah.
From the Sistine Chapel. Look, here’s where God’s hand meets
Adam’s. Everyone recognizes that much at least.”
He
clears his throat. “Uh, princess, you might think you’re showing
me a famous work of art, but what I’m seeing is…”
“What?”
“The
most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
CREATING
CHARACTER CHEMISTRY
By
Rachel Curtis
I
think the best chemistry in stories happens in the tension between
everything that’s pulling the couple together and everything that’s
tearing them apart. The stronger that tension, then the more powerful
the chemistry between the characters can be.
For
Chloe and Jack, they have a lot that’s driving them together. Their
physical attraction is off the charts—they want to tear off each
other’s clothes when they’re together—but they also have
increasing emotional connection and are able to meet needs in the
other. Chloe is vulnerable because of her situation at school, and
Jack meets her need by protecting her physically, supporting her
emotionally, and spurring her on to be stronger. At the same time,
Jack is haunted by a failure in his past, and Chloe answers that need
in him, giving him reason to be move forward, to see himself as
worthy, and to do something worthwhile with his life. So both
physically and emotionally, they’re being pulled together
irrevocably.
At
the same time, there is a lot tearing them apart. They are from
entirely different social worlds. Chloe is used to dating privileged
men and academic types, and Jack is all rough physicality. Jack is
her bodyguard, and that makes a relationship between the two beyond
the boundaries of his professional position. Chloe is on a
“man-fast,” taking a break from dating all together, after the
way she was hurt by the professor she slept with. Plus, Jack is so
burdened by his past that he doesn’t believe he’s good enough for
anyone, much less someone as amazing as Chloe. So all of these things
are holding them apart.
So
the chemistry comes in the clash between the two—the battle between
attraction and resistance. The more the attraction wins, the deeper
the relationship gets, and the more invested the characters and the
reader are in reaching a resolution when the couple is happy
together.
AUTHOR BIO:
Rachel is a writer, a teacher, a romance reader, and a dog-mom. She loves animals and art and hot men with soft hearts under a tough exterior. She tries to write love stories that feel real, even in unlikely circumstances.
Thank you for hosting Knowing Jack and Rachel Curtis!
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