I'd rather JM use her time on Jess' story than Nicki's story.
-------------------- SL
"It is better to have lived one day as a lion, than one thousand days as a sheep." Posts: 4654 | From: In the arms of Matt Farrell | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
Maybe Judith could use the time travel story and send Jess back into Nicki's story and he come out of it with a wife. LOL
Posts: 75 | From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I would love for Jess to get his own story.
-FMV
-------------------- Life is a tapestry woven by the decisions we make. -Acheron Parthenopaeus Posts: 1905 | From: Michael's Penthouse | Registered: May 2003
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Making a decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. - Elizabeth Stone Posts: 1201 | From: Connecticut | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Yes, I think Jess has a lot of potential as a hero.
-------------------- ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ Jenny ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ Posts: 587 | From: Vale of Avalon, home to Raffles green tea | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
OMG, for the love of all human and animal kind,
YES!
I'm such a broken record. Every time I see Judith, I plead and beg to give Jess his happy ending. He has so much potential, and it's killing me that such a great guy could go to waste. He's handsome, a great friend, confident, great at his job, good with kids, and just damn sexy!!!! It's a good thing he's had me for seven years by his side to comfort him. He definitely is due for his happily ever after, whether it be as a secondary story in one of Judith's future books, or in a short story, or whatever it takes. He is just soooo overdue his story!
Ok, Judith says we're sex starved. Yeah, I'd sure love to read about a handcuff scene in the bedroom, I fully admit it!
Loyal Mrs. Jessup
-------------------- "The fact is, sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun."--Carrie, Sex and the City Posts: 3663 | From: Under the covers cuffed to Jess | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
I havent read NW, I'm not much into contemporaries, so I cant say yes or no but I wanted to put my two cents in-personally, I'd rather see Nicki get his full story, but I wouldnt be mad if JM decided to write Jess' story for those of you who'd like it. Like any of us could be mad at JM anyway but still
posted
LOL. I can't help thinking someday, we'll see a scenario like this on the board.
"Dear Ms. McNaught, I adore Nicki DuVille. He had such huge potential to be one of the JM heroes. The novella MIRACLES simply wasn't enough!! Nicki deserved more than that. Please consider giving him the full length story he deserves. -- Your ever faithful fan"
Pro-Jess-Anti-Nicki Response #1: Nicki already had his story, short or otherwise. Please consider spending your time on Jess Jessup instead.
Pro-Jess-Pro-Nicki Response #2: Oh, I'd love Nicki to have his story! Jess would be a fantastic hero too!
Anti-Jess-Pro-Nicki Response #3: Frankly speaking I believe Nicki deserved more than Jess, because we see so much of him in the other books. He is such a prominent character and yet that novella just doesn't do him justice! Please don't abandon Nicki!
Anti-Jess-Anti-Nicki Response #4: I'll rather read a whole new story.
But my take on Jess is yes, I'll like to read his story too. But if I have to choose, I'd rather read on Nicki.
-------------------- Jen Posts: 1238 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Ok, I just finished NW! Wow! I can't believe it has taken me this many years to read it! I think I was a bit wary of moving to "mysteries" ... and while I still love the romances ... Yup, I'll read anything that Ms. McNaught chooses to write. LOVED Noah, loved Paul Richardson ... and YES, loved JESS!! I can't believe he doesn't have his own happy ending ... And really, this is a testament to Ms. McNaught's writing since I'm automatically suspicious of anyone in a police uniform -- in real life, and in books! :-)
Ok, so to summarize:
That's a YES for Jess! YES, for Courtney and her own story (time travel sounds good to me)! And I don't remember the Nicki stories too well, but sure, YES, give him a story too!
Posts: 37 | From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Aug 2005
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-------------------- ***Formerly known as Sharon Sandini***
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time but to leave unsaid the wrong things at the tempting moment." -Anonymous? Posts: 2952 | From: Here, There and Everywhere | Registered: May 2003
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let's say that Jess is really Nicki reincarnated. LOL. I mean, they both are great friends of the main heroines, but all women love them.
Jess has always felt like he had unfinished business somewhere else...well, on the job he is shot on the beach and falls into a coma and finds himself back in the regency era as the infamous Nicholas Duville standing on the docks of London looking out, pondering his life..... He lives his life as Nicki finding happiness and true love, which enables him to return to his now life of Jess and when he wakes up the love of his life (who didn't realize it until he was shot) is waiting for him to wake up.
And since the accident happened at the Beach and he resumes his life as Nicki on the docks...we could name it "THE WATER'S EDGE"!
What do ya think???? LOL.
Truthfully, I would love to see Jess have his own story. I loved him in NW.
Barb
[ August 15, 2005, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: Countess of Thurston ]
-------------------- **We can't all be stars, but we can all twinkle!** Posts: 1847 | From: from St. Louis but staying at Mr. Darcy's playpit in Pemberley | Registered: Feb 2004
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-------------------- ***Formerly known as Sharon Sandini***
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time but to leave unsaid the wrong things at the tempting moment." -Anonymous? Posts: 2952 | From: Here, There and Everywhere | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I agree with Sharon, I like that scenario and Jen, your statements about being "anti-jess" or "anti-nicki" or whatever someone's position may be were great
I just saw the latest "edit" Barb and I love, love it!
Jen, that "something" seems interesting, hhhmmmm.
LOL!!!
Sharon
-------------------- ***Formerly known as Sharon Sandini***
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time but to leave unsaid the wrong things at the tempting moment." -Anonymous? Posts: 2952 | From: Here, There and Everywhere | Registered: May 2003
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Pro-Jess-Pro-Nicki Response #2: Oh, I'd love Nicki to have his story! Jess would be a fantastic hero too!
The truth is that I remember very well starting Night Whispers and thinking Jess was the hero !!. I was sure he was going to be the hero, I even started to love him the way I love JM heros ...and suddenly I realized he would not be, and was very disappointed !
So YES for me !
Corinne
-------------------- "There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me-- not forever, but periodically." Janet Evanovich Posts: 2732 | From: FRANCE | Registered: May 2005
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I have not had a good night's sleep since reading NW and have been unable to get him out of my mind!! (Okay, a slight exaggeration!!). I had hoped he would be in STWOM and I am still hoping he will appear.
ARE YOU READING THIS THREAD, JUDITH?
Barb
-------------------- Barb
**********************************
~"I came here," Zack said, "because I can't live without her."~ Perfect Posts: 2339 | From: Michigan | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
YES PLEASE!!! I would looooooooovvvveeeee for Jess to have his own story. Especially if his leading lady was Sara, Sloan's best friend in NW. Jess and Sara totally had some serious sparks flying between them. I think a story for them would be funny and fabolous.
-------------------- "I don't want you to do it if you don't want to." If he took me at my word, he knew he was disappointing me, but if he did take me dancing, he had to pretend he was enjoying it. This is one of the ways women get back at men for not having periods. Posts: 487 | From: B.C. Canada | Registered: Jun 2005
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I loved Jess, and I originally planned to resolve his romance with Sara before I ended NW (in the same way I resolved Julie's brother's romance with his ex-wife in PERFECT).
I changed my mind about Jess and Sara however because I honestly couldn't sell myself on the idea that Sara would ever have been completely content living in a small town as a cop's wife on a cop's salary. They were clearly attracted to each other, and very strongly, but I think she would have been very unhappy in time, and if so, she would have made Jess unhappy.
I loved Sara but as an adult, she seemed like a woman whose childhood left her with a lot of insecurities and an abiding need to prove things to herself by bettering her lot in life. I'll bet most of you know or have seen what happens when a woman marries a man she loves but who can't give her the life she really wants and needs.
As the years go by she becomes increasingly discontented, increasingly difficult to satisfy--and increasingly difficult to like. We start feeling sorry for her husband, actually.
In order to negate the likelihood of that happening had Sara "settled for" Jess, I would have had to completely re-write her and she worked so well in her original personna in NW that I wasn't inclined to go to all that work just to match her up with Jess in a few pages. She was very believable the way she was, I thought.
At this point, the only way I can foresee ever writing a book with Jess as the hero would be to send Sara off for several years, let her chase her dreams, find out the reality wasn't all that satisfying, and then return her to her hometown (and Jess) as an older, wiser woman.
That would make a really good story in another writer's hands, but if you think about it, I never write boy-next-door love stories or what is called in the publishing business "blue collar romances." I love reading them, but I can't write them convincingly because that's a little outside the scope of my real life experiences.
So, to answer your question, there is very little chance Jess will ever be the hero of his own book.
There's not much chance Sara will be the heroine of her own book either, but for a different reason: Although I love to write about dark, "troubled" heroes, I veer away from heroines with serious hang-ups, no matter how justified those hang-ups may be.
Can you guess why I veer away from writing about heroines like that?
The answer is because as women, we/you are instinctively less tolerant of annoying or unattractive behavior on the part of members of our own sex. You'll make allowances for Jason's or Nick's heartlessness, but if I tried to sell you a heroine who is callous and self-centered, you wouldn't sit still for it.
I might be able to persuade you to bear with me through the book, and I might be able to persuade you to understand and forgive her for it by the end of the book, but 98% of you would never really like her very much, regardless.
Writing is very difficult for me as it is; I'm disinclined to deliberately take on a heroine who will make my job even harder. Besides, I'd rather write about women we can all like and enjoy right from the outset.
JM
Posts: 1019 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: May 2000
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On behalf of the others, all I can say is: BooHoo!!
And thank you for answering our question about Jess & Sara. That you spent so much time answering and helping us understand your motivations.
You could have just given a flip answer and/or ignored the post. That is what makes you so special to us. You give of your time to instruct and enlighten. I am certainly grateful for that.
posted
Thanks for responding to the question, Judith. I have to admit I agree with you about Sara. Although I always thought her heart was in the right place, she definitely had some insecurities to overcome and I didn't see Jess as the kind of character to put up with it for very long.
As for "blue collar" romances, I have to say that although they were not the main characters in NW, I thought you told the story of Mac and Sam beautifully. Even though they were secondary characters, the build-up and culmination of their romantic tension was exceptional. I remember having butterflies in my stomach during the scene at Sam's apartment. Well done!
Barb
-------------------- **We can't all be stars, but we can all twinkle!** Posts: 1847 | From: from St. Louis but staying at Mr. Darcy's playpit in Pemberley | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Barb, I was totally entralled with Mac and Sam and I shamefully admit--very proud of myself for pulling it off.
However, now that we've commended me for pulling off a really compelling "blue collar romance," I can't honestly accept credit for it, because I didn't actually accomplish that.
Loosely defined, a "blue collar romance" means that the hero and heroine will have to live happily every after on a very modest income, in a small home, while shopping at K-Mart, worrying about their budget, and eating out infrequently at inexpensive restaurants.
With that in mind, notice the little subtleties I instinctively threw into the mix for Sam and Mac that gave them options for a better lifestyle if they chose:
1) They were both college educated. 2) Sam had money of her own. 3) Mac was a "legend" at NYPD 4) Mac was obviously going to be offered a Captain's position after his success with the Valente/Trumante case. Perhaps this time, he would have accepted that position. 5) But even if he didn't, I alluded very clearly to the fact that Mac already had a very lucrative and high-level position waiting for him at Interquest. Since he was already talking about retiring from NYPD, this is the position he would most likely take.
I can't help myself. LOL.
It isn't that I want my hero and heroine to live lavishly. I could easily end a book with the h/h living happily in a little cottage somewhere because that's what made them happy. However, I don't want that to be out of necessity.
True "blue collar romance" is what Janet Evanovich's Stephanie and Joe Morelli have. As I said, I love reading this kind of romance, but I just don't like creating it. Posts: 1019 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: May 2000
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posted
And before anyone points out that I managed to pull off a very nice blue collar romance in PERFECT, between Julie's brother and his ex-wife, Katherine...
Actually, I didn't do that there, either. LOL
Although I made it very clear that Julie's brother (a small town police officer) would never have lived on any of Katherine's money, I also threw in one little mitigating factor that completely eliminated their income issues.
Can you think what it was?
The answer is...Julie's brother was getting his Law Degree!
posted
Judith, thank you so much for your insight into Jess and Sara's characters.
All I see is Jess, who happens to be this hunka-hunka burning love of a man and instantly want to read about his own HEA. What can I say? I'm weak. LOL.
With all your insights and reasonings behind your characters and plots, I realize that I should pay more attention and dig a little deeper instead of reading whats on the surface of the page.
Thank you.
-------------------- ♥ JJ ♥ Posts: 5558 | From: Troubleshooters, Inc. | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Judith, how about this: It's seven years later. Jess has now become a legend in West Palm Beach. He's made detective and mostly likely captain. The FBI want him! He's moving to DC! He meets someone else. They fall in love. He makes enough money to buy her all the shoes she wants!!! I've fallen in love with Jess all over again.
-------------------- "The fact is, sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun."--Carrie, Sex and the City Posts: 3663 | From: Under the covers cuffed to Jess | Registered: Apr 2000
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-------------------- "The fact is, sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun."--Carrie, Sex and the City Posts: 3663 | From: Under the covers cuffed to Jess | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
I'll be starting the campaign for tossing out Sara (she was great for what she was, but not for Jess). The idea of Jess going FBI could be very intriguing for a suspense romance Judith. I'm loving this idea. lol
Jess and Karen..it's perfect or rather "Flawless". lol
-------------------- "We can't all come and go by bubble." Elphaba from Wicked. Posts: 5453 | From: Claymore with my beloved Royce | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
If it is time to decide what we would like for Jess story, I would suggest : he meets his Karen in Paris !!! A contemp love story between FIB hero and French business woman. Tired after a difficult quest he decides to have dinner at "La Villa Corse" near the Eiffel Tower. He has always wanted to eat in this so famous restaurant. And then, next to his table, he can see the beautiful Karen, who seems to need help !
Ok ok I stop it now !! But as far as I remember I think all of JM stories take place either in England, either in the US, nowhere else...What about some change ?
-------------------- "There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me-- not forever, but periodically." Janet Evanovich Posts: 2732 | From: FRANCE | Registered: May 2005
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I have been saying that Jess should have his own story ever since I finished Night Whispers. JM started the book with such great descriptions of the handsome Jess Jessup and really built up his character to just leave him hanging like that. I'm the type that needs closure, and Nicki already got his happy ending with his short story, now it's Jess' turn.
I expected him to be a cop in STWOM, I thought he maybe would get transfered to NY or something.
~Tara
Posts: 1134 | From: the city that never sleeps | Registered: Oct 2001
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