Julie James: “The brooding, dangerous hero… in a romantic comedy?”

FATE HAS THROWN TWO SWORN ENEMIES…

Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends in bloodshed. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and nearly ruining his career…

… INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS

Work with Cameron Lynde? Are they kidding? Maybe, Jack thinks, this is some kind of welcome-back prank after his stint away from Chicago. But it’s no joke: the pair is going to have to put their rocky past behind them and focus on the case at hand. That is, if they can cut back on the razor-sharp jibes—and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension…

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I’ve said it before, I find Jack Bauer from 24 very sexy. Kiefer Sutherland doesn’t do much for me, but give him a gun, the ability to choke bad guys with his feet, and the task of saving the world, and I’m smitten.

Another brooding tough guy I love? Jason Bourne. Car wrecks, gunshots, broken bones, nothing stops this guy. But hidden deep beneath the action hero surface there seems to be a softer, sensitive side that makes him that much more complex and appealing of a character.

When I came up with the idea for Something About You, and realized my hero was going to be an FBI Agent, I originally envisioned him as a wry, devil-may-care type. Almost immediately, I realized that wasn’t going to work. See, the hero, Jack Pallas, had this backstory where he worked undercover for two years for an organized crime syndicate. And that backstory left Jack with some scars—both the mental and physical kind.

The problem that arose after I decided Jack was going to be a brooding, dangerous type was that I wanted Something About You to be a lighter, funnier contemporary romance. Sure, there’s a suspense element, but that’s just a subplot—the driving force that brings the hero and heroine together. And I first thought to myself, “You can’t put an edgy, action-hero in a light-hearted story!”  But then I wondered, hmm… or can you?

These musings helped to shape my new release, Something About You. I like to think of Something About You as my “What if somebody dropped Jack Bauer into a romantic comedy?” book. Which means that my hero, FBI Special Agent Jack Pallas (who pretty much can kill people with his thumb) is running around all dark and scowling and trying to save the day, while everyone else is cracking jokes.  What’s fun about Jack is that we get to see him slowly warm up throughout the course of the book as he begins to fall for and trust the heroine.

And another great thing about putting the brooding tough guy in a lighter contemporary romance is that—gasp!—he can actually get the girl in the end. Jack Bauer, Jason Bourne, Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, name your brooder—they all appear destined to spend their days (or in Angel’s case, millennia) by themselves. My hero, on the other hand? Well, let’s just say there’s at least one tough guy who gets his happily ever after in the end.

But enough rambling from me…  who’s your favorite tough guy hero? (Books, film, TV). Whoever he is, can you picture him in a romantic comedy? One randomly selected person who comments below will win a copy of Something About You.

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Thank you, Ms James–being a diehard Bourne fan, now I’m dying to read Something About You!

So, ladies and gents, leave a comment answering Ms James’ question and be entered to win the book! Good luck to all.