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Q&A with Jill Shalvis, Author of Love for Beginners

Q&A with Jill Shalvis, Author of Love for Beginners

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Jill Shalvis is the author of Love for Beginners.

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. According to her official bio, any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental (love it!). Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning novels wherever books are sold and visit her website, jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Let’s get to know Jill as she talks about becoming an author, writing a series, what’s she’s working on next and more!

What are some of your favorite novels?

The Harry Potter series, mostly because I got to read them with my girls, and it became a wonderful way to be together and read and make memories.

When did you know you wanted to become an author?

I was always a storyteller. I think I was telling stories before I could hold a pencil. But it wasn’t until I was pregnant with my first child, when I ran out of things to read, that I decided to give writing a try. I started out to entertain myself, so it’s a wonderful, amazing thing that readers have come along on the journey with me!

What do you like best about writing books for a series? 

I love creating a world and living there for awhile. I love revisiting favorite characters from previous books and finding out what they’re up to. 

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

I try really hard not to do that. I think fiction is far more interesting than real life, lol. But sometimes, I think pieces of people I meet sneak their way into my books. 🙂 Love for Beginners started out as me being inspired by a story I read of a woman who’d been in a coma. I wanted to explore what would happen if you had the chance to start your life completely over. 

What do you hope are some of the key takeaways from your stories?

That we all deserve a happy ever after, whatever that looks like for you.

What are you working on now?

I’m putting finishing touches on The Family You Make (Jan 22), which is the story of two people stranded on a gondola in the middle of a crazy storm… Clearly I enjoy torturing my characters. 🙂

Click here to order Love for Beginners on Amazon.