Tell us about yourself:
Hi, I’m Melissa. *Shakes hand* This is one of those questions where I tend to stumble a bit. I can tell you I was born in Texas, and now live in sunny, celeb crazy Southern California. If you’ve read any of my books, or happen to catch me watching any period movie or TV show, you’ll find out I’m a history nerd, and not afraid to yell at the people on screen when they get it wrong. I also love antiques, dragons, (although my family won’t let me have one as a pet) and crafting. I’ve worked in public relations for over 15 years, mostly non-profit and entertainment clients, including the Playboy Jazz Festival. Yep, that Playboy.
Tell us about your book:
Time on Her Hands is the third book in my Lineage time travel series. Don’t worry, you don’t need to have read the other two to enjoy this one, but I’ll recommend them. Small little promo.
The Lineage’s job is to correct anomalies or problems in the timeline, making the world, if not a better place, at least a familiar one. Sarah James, my heroine, is an experienced agent, calm, cool, and with a few secrets to hide. Derek Massey, the hero, and oh so frustrating head of the Lineage, is someone who never lets anyone close. He makes the hard decisions, and boy, do a lot of people not like him. But the course of history and love never does run smooth, and when a traitor throws everything into chaos, Derek and Sarah will wind up in a race against and through time to stop him. And of course, saving the world from going boom.
What inspired you to write Time on Her Hands?
In Past Her Time, the first Lineage book and In His Own Time, the second, both Sarah and Derek played minor roles. However, they really needed their own story. I spent a year in Italy, mainly Florence, and fell in love. My mother’s family is Italian, and we even have a Palazzo named after us, the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. I also visited Pompeii, and my parents had a book on it that I devoured growing up. So of course I had to send them back to the last days of that city, and then to Renaissance Florence.
As I said, a lot of Lineage agents clashed with Derek in previous books. I wanted to show the man behind the desk, someone who was bound by duty, but that’s not who he really wanted to be. As for Sarah, her story is tied up in the founding of the Lineage, but more than that is SPOILERS!
How much time per week do you spend writing/editing your work?
I know I should answer that I dutifully spend X number of hours per day writing. However, that would be a lie. A sad lie. I generally write in bursts, and always do better with a deadline looming over me and my muse with a gun to my head screaming “Damn you, write! Faster!” *Cracks whip* I also spend a lot of time researching, since if I write “She lay down on the mattress,” well, wait a minute. Did they have mattresses in ancient Rome? Or beds as we know it? You can see the rabbit hole this becomes. Pretty soon I’m ready to lecture on furniture styles during the Roman era. Classes fill up quickly, so register now!
What are you working on at the moment?
Okay, I’ll tell you, but then I have to send out a cyber virus to everyone that reads this post. I’m working on an urban fantasy about ghosts. When I was pregnant, I heard a lot about “what’s gotten into her?” Well of course my writer’s brain, after I finished strangling the person who asked, thought, “Maybe not what, but who.” Thus was born the Ethereal Protection Agency, with ghosts assigned to possess people to help them at major crossroads in their lives. It makes a LOT of sense when you think about it.
Title: Time on Her Hands
Author: Melissa Jarvis
Genre: Historical Time Travel Romance
A race against time, to save the world.
Derek Massey is the enigmatic head of the time travel agency The Lineage. He makes the difficult choices, ones that have isolated him from everyone. Sarah James is an experienced Lineage agent, the one others look to for help. She hides her secrets and past well. Only one man has ever caused her to lose her temper.
But when the timeline is betrayed, Sarah will have to work with Derek to solve the biggest anomaly of all, one that threatens to destroy not just the Lineage, but the world itself. Their journey will take them to the last days of Pompeii and to Renaissance Italy, to a familiar traitor and a pocket watch that could be the key to everything. Sarah and Derek also discover each other’s vulnerabilities, behind the confident agent and the inscrutable leader. Danger ignites the passion between them.
When the truth is finally revealed, both Sarah and Derek’s secrets, about their past, their families and their own feelings will come to light. Each has to make a terrible decision. Can a new love stand against years of duty? Or will one of them choose the ultimate sacrifice? Only time will tell.
We all have two sides…Melissa Jarvis is a mild-mannered publicist by day, and action-packed writer by night. She writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and cites Anne McCaffrey, Robert A. Heinlein and Robert Asprin among her influences. Melissa lives in celebrity-friendly Southern California with her husband and son. A native of Texas, you might hear the word “y’all” a lot from her, and watch out, it’s catching.
For over 15 years, she has also worked in the public relations industry, with clients ranging from the Playboy Jazz Festival to the Los Angeles Mission to JVS, as well as indie film directors and comic writers. She’s won numerous awards from the Public Relations Society of America LA Chapter for her efforts. And she’s survived with most of her mind intact!
When not writing or trying to convince her family to let her have a pet dragon, she loves antiquing, crafting, and of course, reading.
Links
http://www.melissajarvis.net/
http://www.bookstrand.com/book/time-on-her-hand