Jeannie Moon on Librarians and Romance Novelists

I’ve been writing a lot and haven’t had as much time to read as I’d like, but at the top of my tbr is Jeannie Moon‘s Daring The Pilot.  It’s no secret I love the fictional town of Marietta, Montana and Tule’s new Men of Marietta series has to be one of my favorites.  I roped Jeannie Moon into sharing with us more about her new release in this series.  Please join me in welcoming Jeannie to JaneBlog!

What happens when you cross a librarian and a romance novelist?

You get me and one of my books.

I love writing. Truly. Developing characters and stories is an incredibly good time. But I have this problem. Deep inside me is my other half.

Yep.

MY librarian half is always waiting.  And she researches topics to death.

I raised three children. My two oldest, my daughters, majored in hard sciences.  Julie has her doctorate in Physical Therapy.  Katie is a civil engineer. I know…they’re no joke.  Needless to say, I love girls who love science, and Keely is not the first scientist I’ve written. But she’s the definitely the most intense.  In order to make her true to life, I had to learn about geology. And geophysics. And volcanoes. And mountains.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at US Geological Survey maps and reports about the mountains around Marietta. That’s where Keely was going to be working and studying for the next year, and I needed to know the age, the composition and how the mountains were formed. I also wanted to know if the area was seismically active…and guess what?  Marietta sits right near Yellowstone and it turns out Montana is one of the most seismically active areas of the United States. That was the payoff.

All of this may seem dry, but as I built my character, I started to appreciate the area much the way Keely did. A born science girl, the only thing Keely wanted was to know more than she did the day before. Sometimes she took risks, but in the end, Keely never regrets getting one more piece of information.

This is part of why Jonah falls for her. He’s a straightforward guy. Smart and focused, he’s one of the best pilots around, but when it comes to Keely, her brains are the biggest turn on for him. He loves her curiosity. He loves how she thinks, and how she processes information. Sure, she’s pretty on the outside, but what finally gets to Jonah is how much her work matters to her. How much she’s given up for it. Her dedication and her smarts make for a perfect package in him mind.

I get questions sometimes about why I write the brainy heroine. No one wants to say it, but there’s an underlying question about whether smart and sexy go together. I can tell you, after writing teachers, nurses, engineers, psychologists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, artists, librarians, and yes, geophysicists, that sexy is a state of mind, and smart is very sexy.

In the end, what does all that research do?  It helps me build realistic heroes and heroines who are smart, funny, and focused.  It allows them to go beyond the confines of what I know into the realm of what I can learn. It gives them depth. It gives them a something to care about.

In turn, the readers care about them.

Look for Jeannie’s Daring The Pilot at these online retailers:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | GoogleAmazon UK

Jeannie, thanks for a wonderful book in a great series! You’ve tempted me to do nothing all day but stay lost in the joy of reading.  I do have a fun prize for you all! Leave a comment for Jeannie and you’ll be entered to win a Marietta Montana book girl prize – Books, gift car, tote bag, fun stuff and so much more!  Contest ends Friday with winner announced Saturday.

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