Taken by Storm by Mary Jean Schiller - Guest post

Today I'd like to welcome author Mary Jean Schiller, here to talk about her romance, Taken By Storm. Thanks for stopping by, and for being brave enough to share five things about you we probably wouldn't guess! The floor is yours.

Hi, I’m M.J. Schiller, author of Taken by Storm, released October 15th from Crimson Romance. As a way to introduce myself to you, I’m going to share five things you’d probably never guess about me. I was told they could be fun, interesting, edifying or even embarrassing, so here goes! I’m going to roll this out like a David Letterman Top Ten:

The number five thing you’d probably never guess about me is—I went about this whole writing thing backwards. And by that I mean, I sat down and wrote twelve books (not all in one sitting, I’m not a binge writer) and then decided it was time for me to learn how to write. That decision being made, I joined my local chapter of Romance Writers of America, read Stephen King’s On Writing, Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel, and several other books you’d find in any serious writer’s possession, and began attending conferences, workshops, and webinars (I didn’t even realize there was such a thing as a webinar before this. I probably would have thought it had something to do with a frog’s toes.)

The number four thing you’d probably never guess about me it—there was a time I was known as a Chronic Confessor. I once went to confession two days in a row and the priest cautioned me to not be so “circumspect” about my life. Another time when I confessed, the priest waved a hand and told me, “Ahh, that’s not a sin! You could beat yourself up over that all day. What else have you got?” I have to tell you, that one stumped me!

The number three thing you’d never guess about me ties into the previous item—once when I went to church, I had a very embarrassing situation occur. Before I left the house I was doing laundry and matching socks. You know, trying to cram one more chore in before heading out the door. I spread my socks all along the arms of chairs, and across my lap, up and down my arms, etc. So I get to church, and I am piously praying my novena. About halfway through the service my daughter taps me on the arm and says, “Mom, do you know that you have a sock on your shoulder?” I had one unmatched sock draped across my shoulder. I felt like crawling under the pew!

The number two thing you’d never guess about me—is that I’m a mother of one beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter and three fifteen-year-olds. That’s right, triplets! When I took my pregnancy test they told me I was “very pregnant.” I thought, what does that mean? I thought you pretty much were, or you weren’t? What they didn’t say is that my counts were three times what they should have been. Twenty-seven agonizing weeks later, I was strapped to an operating table. They had these little table extensions that my arms were strapped on which swung out to the sides and they tilted the table. I’m sure there was a scientific reason for this that I am unaware of, something about blood flow, perhaps, but all I could think of is that it made me feel like I was being crucified. I heard the doctor say brightly, “It’s a boy!” Then, “It’s a boy!” and I remember thinking, “There better be a girl in there somewhere!” And there was. Now I have a matched set.

And now, the number one thing you’d never guess about me—I used to be a Junior Olympic synchronized swimmer. At the time, synchronized swimming was not yet an Olympic event, so I was at the top of the game, and I have the medals to prove it. That’s right, I had those peculiar nose clips, I put clear gelatin in my hair to keep it in place, and I would scream underwater to signal the timing for each move to the team. I was the best underwater screamer on our team. So…I’ve got that going for me….

There you have it, five fun, interesting, edifying or even embarrassing things you’d probably never guess about me. (Okay, I’m not so sure about edifying, but I definitely got the embarrassing covered! Ya gotta give me that.) Thanks for having me today! It was fun!

Pick up my romance, Taken by Storm, on Amazon.com, BN.com, at Crimson Romance and other E-Book retailers! M.J. Schiller www.mjschiller.com

Taken by Storm begins as the darkly bitter Grand Vizier, Lord Boltar, is about to claim what he believes belongs to him, the rule of Avistad. The King of Avistad’s son, Prince Tahj, has just returned from a trip and senses the unrest even before his best friend and captain, Radeem, warns him. Radeem heard rumors and suspects the King’s advisor is planning to overthrow the crown. Just as Tahj discovers a “gift” from Lord Boltar, a young girl bound and gagged on the prince’s bedroom floor, fighting erupts. Tahj, Radeem, and the captive girl, Bashea, escape the castle in a hail of arrows.

Born from the fire of a coup, Tahj and Bashea’s relationship burns with a passion that neither of them quite understands. The pair is drawn closer together as they face various perils, Boltar’s soldiers, a screaming panther, even the scathing winds of a desert storm. But after what she went through at the hands of Boltar’s men, Bashea is afraid to trust. Yet it is her fiery nature that both appeals to Tahj, and drives him crazy. In fact, when Bashea’s brother, Bagrat, informs Tahj that Bashea means “lips of the gods,” he retorts, “Are you sure you don’t mean tongue of the devil?” It takes a long separation to bring them back to each other, but when Tahj does return, it is once again during a battle with Lord Boltar. But now the overlord, who has been forced beyond reason by Tahj’s success in retaking the throne, is an even more dangerous threat than before. Reunited, will Tahj and Bashea be strong enough to defeat their twisted and powerful enemy?