Kristine Cayne’s Author Spotlight: Wendy Ely, author of Jesse’s Brother

Everyone, please help me in welcoming Wendy Ely, the author of Jesse’s Brother. I read this book a few months ago and found it to be a very entertaining read so I’m super excited to hear all about how Wendy came up with the twist to the familiar love triangle trope. Take it away, Wendy!

Inspiration for Jesse’s Brother
One thing I can’t deny about Jesse’s Brother is that there is one breath-taking love triangle between the pages. Let me tell you how the idea for the story formed…

Several years I dated two guys at the same time. For the sake of their privacy I’m going to name them Jared and Corey. I liked both of these men for different reasons. Jared and I both had two kids, so I could relate to him. He was in the military, which I admired, and planned to remain in for fifteen more years. Yes, he was stable. He was also sweet and charming. Then there was Corey—younger, sexy, and loads of fun. He made me weak in the knees.

Anyway, one night I was on a date with Corey, who had gone to the bathroom, when Jared called. I answered his call but told Jared that I couldn’t talk because I was out with Corey. The next day Jared had flowers delivered to me. Corey saw the flowers while picking me up for another date. After that, Corey brought me flowers. It seemed that they were in competition with each. My thought: Holy crap! What if this happened to my character…

And then came the love triangle plot for Jesse’s Brother.

Here is another confession about this book: I don’t plan out the story before I write, so I began with the premise that she’d have a love triangle. Yep, that simple. Once the basics of the characters were figured out, I started playing “what if” as I wrote. My “what if” game went something like this:

What if: She’d known one of the men for a long time… Nevermind. That wouldn’t work because she rebelled against her family/past. Okay, so she has to meet both men when she returns home for the summer.

What if: One of the men works for her father? She has to see him every day. Yes! That fits.

What if: The other man lives in another town but close enough to spend time with each other… and the men know each other! Yes. And are related somehow? Perfect…

And then I had to make each man appeal to her inner struggles. She didn’t want to love Noah because he represented her past that she left behind. She wanted to love Jesse because he was a symbol of the future she was trying to achieve.

I wrote the first draft not knowing who she’d pick by the end. I just wrote what came to mind but quickly realized that both of the men were so lovable that I had to change one of the men’s personalities so the readers would have an easier time rooting for a hero. I ironed out the wrinkles in the final draft and Jesse’s Brother was born.

Jesse’s Brother Teaser
Getting involved with someone was complicated enough, but with the boss’s daughter? Probably not a good idea. The fact that Frances hated the very air he breathed made the situation worse.

“I never take the easy road,” he grumbled as he wiped the sweat trickling down his cheek.

What was Samantha doing now? His eyes switched over to the door. It would be nice if she’d come down to the barn.

Available from: Amazon

Wendy On-Line
You can find Wendy Ely at the following Internet locations:

Email: authorwendyely@gmail.com
Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wendy-Ely/159969607422152
Amazon author page: http://amzn.com/e/B008SA6TJK
Twitter: @wendyelyauthor
Blog: http://www.wendyely.blogspot.com/