Uncaged welcomes Jillian Eaton Welcome to Uncaged! You released Bewitched by the Bluestocking with Dragonblade Publishing in January and it’s the first of a series. Can you tell readers more about this book and what will be the underlying connection for the series? Thank you for having me! I’d love to tell you more about Bewitched by the Bluestocking. It takes place in 1870 (five years after the end of the Civil War) and follows Joanna Thorncroft, the eldest of three American sisters whose parents have passed. Struggling financially, they decide to sell their mother’s ring…and when it’s abruptly stolen and taken across the Atlantic to London, Joanna and the middle sister, Evie, follow suit! Joanna utilizes the services of a sexy, brooding private investigator (as one does) to track down the ring and without any money to pay him, more-or-less hires herself as his secretary. But the more they find out about the ring and who might have stolen it, the more questions Joanna has…about herself, her family, and what matters most! Each book in the series will feature a different sister, along with a cousin they discover in London. A prevailing theme throughout the series will be what, exactly, defines family – is it just blood, or something more? Along with the romance, I’ve enjoyed exploring the bonds of sisterhood, how much the past can shape the future, and all of the rippling effects that can be caused by one small, seemingly insignificant decision. How many books are you planning for this series? There will be four books. Bewitched by the Bluestocking, Entranced by the Earl (which has been written, and is with the editor now!), Seduced by the Scot, and Wooed by the Wallflower. Each book will be a full-length standalone, but readers will definitely get the best experience if they read them in order.
What have you found the hardest to cope with during the pandemic? What are you looking forward to when a lot of restrictions are lifted? Such a good question! My family and I have been very fortunate in that both my husband and I have been able to work from home and our three boys (a 4-year-old and 2-year-old-twins) are young enough so that this hasn’t been completely lifechanging for them. That being said, the hardest thing to cope with has definitely been finding quiet time to write while being in the house with my husband and three rambunctious children! When the restrictions are lifted, I’m looking forward to getting together with family and friends. Having a “real” birthday party for the boys. Getting a coffee at Starbucks and being able to smile at the barista without a mask on. Simple things that I definitely took for granted before this all began. What do you have coming up next that you can tell us about? I’m currently working on Book #3 for this series, Seduced by the Scot. On the backburner I have Book #6 in a different series, the Bow Street Brides, which revolves around the Bow Street Runners in Regency Era, England. Lots of adventure, lots of dashing detectives, lots of steamy romance! Do you edit out anything substantial in your novels in the editing process? Do you make that extra content available in any way to readers if you do? Typically, no. But with Bewitched by the Bluestocking I actually ended up cutting out over 20k words when I took the book in a direction that it really didn’t want to go. Deleting that many chapters was SO hard for me! But it made the book stronger in the long run. I haven’t made the extra content available just because I don’t want it to detract from the original story. Issue 56 | March 2021 | 21
