THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
What made me write Now is our Time?
Love never runs smoothly, in real life or in fiction. My first two novels are contemporary romances and their stories are all about the heroine’s first big love. But what happens when the first ‘big’ love gets away? I’ve always wanted to write a second chance love story and this time round I wanted my heroine to have lived a little more - for it to feel a bit more ‘real’.
Now is our Time reflects the lives I see around me. Friends have married, started families and some have sadly divorced. But divorce doesn’t mean it’s all over and that’s what my heroine Claire explores. She found her first love, lost it and years later, whilst she might think it’s too late, perhaps it isn’t…………………no spoilers here!
This story is part set in London (where I live) and part set in San Diego, California, where I holidayed last Easter. I fell so in love with it (as did my children) that it felt like the perfect place for the American hero of the story, Jonah Kennedy, to come from. Heck, I’d like to live there too!
I really hope you all enjoy it and that, if necessary, you get your second chances, third chances, fourth chances………..
Click on the link below to return to Jo's website
www.jokessel.com
Monday, 29 September 2014
Friday, 26 September 2014
Play list: Now is our Time
- Daft
Punk – Get Lucky
- Lily Allen – Somewhere Only We Know
- School of Rock – School of Rock cast
- Katy
Perry – Roar
- Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory – Pure
Imagination
- Pharrell
Williams – Happy
- Coldplay
– Magic
- Snow
Patrol – Just Say Yes
Tempt those taste buds: Now is our Time food and drink list!
1.
As a Taurean I’m passionate about food and fine
cuisine. Bottom line – I love to eat and I love to include food and drink in my
writing. So when I was trying to decide what career the heroine of Now is our Time – Claire de Klerk - would
have, it was easy: a Nutritionist! Claire actually started out as an aspiring
artist, but like so many of us, after having children she chose to pursue a
different path. Claire (like me) had always been a foodie and becoming a Nutritionist
felt like a natural step. Food and drink is important in
this novel – pivotal even – but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. Suffice
to say that Claire puts a lot of thought into her recipes, both for work and
for feeding the men (and children) in her life. It gives her a lot of pleasure
and I thought it would be fun to share a few of those recipes with you. They
are all easy and most don’t even require a set of measuring scales – just trust
your judgement.
Drinks
- Chardonnay - Jonah and Claire drink a lot of wine - this is one of their favorites.
- Sauvignon Blanc – this one's from Hawk Watch Winery, a small California winery, one of Jonah's favourites.
- California smoothie – a blend of strawberries, lemon yoghurt and orange juice mixed with crushed ice. Jonah makes this drink with great panache and it's a hit with all the ladies!
Recipes
Gooseberry Yoghurt Fool: This is actually the recipe that launches
Claire’s career as a TV nutritionist. And she hilariously messes this one up –
heck, all cooks can get it wrong!
Serves Four
450 g gooseberries, topped and
tailed
1 tbsp custard powder
150ml semi-skimmed milk
150ml plain yoghurt
*Put the prepared gooseberries in
a saucepan with enough water to cover the base of the pan. Simmer over a low
heat until soft. Puree in a food processor.
*Mix the custard powder to a
smooth paste with a little of the milk.
*Heat the remaining milk to just
below boiling point. Remove from the heat and slowly stir into the custard
powder. Stir in the sugar.
*Return the mixture to the pan
and simmer over a low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Allow to cool.
*Mix together the gooseberry puree,
yogurt and cold custard. Add more sugar to taste if necessary.
*Pour into a serving bowl or
individual dishes and chill before serving.
Curried Pasta Salad
Serves six
– a very easy recipe!
Boil
enough pasta for six people and leave to cool.
Make a
dressing using three tablespoons of mayonnaise and three tablespoons of
honey. Add
a pinch of curry powder. Mix the dressing with the cooled pasta…..et
voila!
Potato Salad with
Caramelized Onions
Serves six – another simple
recipe.
Boil new
potatoes with skins on and leave to cool.
Dice a
couple of large onions and fry till very brown. Mix the potatoes with a little
yoghurt
and mayonnaise. Put in a serving bowl and sprinkle the caramelized onions
on top.
Mackerel Pate
This looks
posh but is incredibly easy and healthy too. Soy yoghurt can be used to
make this
a dairy-free dish.
Use as a
dip or spread on thin toasts.
Ingredients: small tin mackerel, half a lemon, small pot of plain
yoghurt, ketchup.
Drain the mackerel and put in a
bowl. Add the yogurt, lemon juice and a touch of
Ketchup
and blitz it with a hand-whisk.
And then, of course, there's the BBQ: marinate chicken thighs, sausages and burgers and chill in
fridge for two hours. To make marinade, mix olive oil, rosemary, finely
chopped garlic and lemon
juice and stir. Grill on the barbecue and serve with curried pasta salad
and green salad.
Other recipes which feature and which you can try at home are melon
smiles, celery
boats with cream cheese, American and British cooked breakfasts and pasta with cheese and spinach sauce. My sister Karen who is a superb cook made up the cheese and spinach sauce recipe and at the moment the family secret is being kept under wraps........!!!!
Happy eating........
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Friday, 19 September 2014
A titillating excerpt!
A new excerpt from Now is our Time to whet the appetite and make you reach for a bottle of fine champagne!
Jonah approached Claire with sexy, mischievous intent in his eye, snatching her mobile phone from her hand and turning it off. As a quid pro quo she was about to snatch the towel from his body but was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Room service,” a man called. Jonah let the man enter and the waiter wheeled in a trolley loaded with an ice-filled champagne bucket, two crystal flutes and two glass bowls filled with strawberries. “Just leave the trolley outside when you’ve finished with it,” the waiter said before closing their door behind him.
Jonah wasted no time in picking up the champagne and tearing the gold seal off the top of the bottle. Claire quietly watched every movement of his arms at work as he untwisted the wire and pulled at the cork. The honey colour of him, the chiselled contours of him, the height of him, the breadth of him, always made her long for him, to touch him, to feel him. She waited for the cork to pop and for the two glasses to be filled and then she padded towards him, wrapping her arms around him from behind and pulling gently at the towel until it unravelled and fell to the floor. She kissed his back as her hands explored his chest, travelling lower until she found the huge size of him and held its pulsing hardness in her clasp.
“I love this bit of you,” she said, still kissing his back and then sliding her hands slowly round to his tight buttocks, “and this bit of you.”
Jonah whipped around, the sharpness of his movement causing his temporary turban to join his other towel in a heap on the floor. He placed his hands on Claire’s long dress, lifting it in one swift movement until she compliantly raised her arms so he could remove it entirely.
“As usual,” he kissed her neck as he unclasped and took off her bra, “you’re overdressed.”
He pushed her playfully backwards until she fell on the bed.
“Take your panties off,” he commanded as he picked up the champagne bottle. She did as she was told and as she lay naked she watched him pour champagne over the strawberries in the bowl. She couldn’t believe how far she’d come. A fortnight ago she’d been utterly embarrassed by her body and now she felt so free and easy within her skin. He’d done a wonderful job of making every single tiny inch of her feel beautiful. Jonah poured so much champagne onto the strawberries that it was almost sloshing out of the bowl as he climbed onto the bed lying on his side like a Roman and balancing the bowl of strawberries and champagne on her stomach.
“That’s going to spill everywhere,” Claire objected.
“Only if you don’t stay still,” Jonah laughed.
“If you could choose between Kate Middleton and me, who would you pick?” she asked, trying to ignore the strawberry Jonah was teasing her with and most definitely trying to ignore his hand moving across to her breast and the urge she had to pull him on top of her and feel his hardness between her legs. He dipped the strawberry back in the bowl again, leaving a trail of champagne dropping onto her stomach as he brought it back to her lips and finally allowed her to eat it. He carelessly served himself a strawberry, spilling yet more champagne onto Claire’s stomach.
“You ask a lot of stupid questions,” he replied, feeding Claire another strawberry. “I’ve only got room for one Duchess in my life and that, my love, is you. And by the way, this is your punishment for your stupid question.”
Jonah started tickling Claire’s stomach gently with two hands. At first she was able to stay still, but then it became too much and her giggles made the bowl topple a generous helping of champagne onto her, trickling in all directions. She squealed for him to stop and he finally removed the bowl and set it on the bedside table. He then set to licking Claire’s skin clean, his hands never losing contact with her breasts as his mouth lapped at the champagne trailing down towards her belly button and beyond. As his mouth found her mound which was moist from desire and champagne, he slipped a finger inside of her. Claire moaned loudly.
“Duchess,” Jonah whispered, “By the time I’ve finished with you, our neighbours are going to be bashing on the walls to get you to turn down the volume.”
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Monday, 15 September 2014
GWYNETH PALTROW & CHRIS MARTIN - CONSCIOUSLY UNCOUPLING DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK!
The whole idea for my latest novel Now is our Time came after a friend told me a story. It was a real-life tale about a divorce which became ugly and acrimonious because, let’s face it, not all marriages can end amicably. Not all couples can ‘consciously uncouple’ like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. In this instance a British guy had married a New Zealand girl. They’d had three children and lived in the UK. Ten years later they split up. The New Zealand girl wanted to go back home and take the children with her. The English guy battled to prevent that from happening. He didn’t want his children spirited to what is literally the other side of the world. So began an ugly custody battle.
Now is our Time explores the gritty reality of love, marriage, divorce, children, when it works and when it doesn’t work. And yes, there is a custody battle at the heart of it. Here the relationship is transatlantic, between British Claire and American Jonah Kennedy. As I was writing it Gwyenth and Chris split up. Before I wrote it Madonna and Guy Ritchie split up. There must be hundreds of other less high-profile couples like them. Whilst the adults might find it easy to move on, what about the children? That is also explored in Now is our Time, when multi person POV’s allow the reader to get into several of the different characters’ heads. San Diego and LONDON
are not exactly round the corner from each other. It’s a long way for Mom or Dad to go visit for the weekend.Everyone will have a different opinion on what the final outcome should have been for the New Zealand girl and the English guy – I’m not at liberty to divulge, but in the end a court and Judge did come to a decision. Everyone will have an opinion on what the final outcome should be for Claire and Jonah. Their case also ends up in court, but I’m not going to give any spoilers! If you do read the book, however, I would love to hear your thoughts on how Claire and Jonah’s story does finally end……………
Check it out and let me know your thoughts:
UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-our-Time-Jo-Kessel-ebook/dp/B00NH20XM8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1410422296&sr=1-1&keywords=Jo+Kessel+now+is+our+time
US link: http://www.amazon.com/Now-our-Time-Jo-Kessel-ebook/dp/B00NH20XM8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1410422557&sr=1-1&keywords=now+is+our+time+jo+kessel
To return to Jo's website please click on the link below:
www.jokessel.com
Friday, 12 September 2014
Be in it to win it - Now really IS our time!
The day has finally arrived - my third novel Now is our Time has been published - I'm very excited! I fell so in love with the hero Jonah Kennedy as I wrote this and I hope you do too.
For your delectation here is a new excerpt:
Jonah’s back was to her and she took the opportunity to observe him for a couple of minutes transfixed, watching his muscular arms at WORK, picking up the tongs and turning the chicken thighs and burgers over. She’d always loved every glorious inch of his body, warts, scars and all, but if she had to choose her favourite part, it would be his strong, sportsman’s arms. She could feel her breath quicken. She wanted to touch them. She needed to touch them. She tiptoed barefoot towards him and caught him unawares, pinning her stomach against his back as she ran her hands up and down his triceps. Half a minute later he spun round to face her and they stilled, their foreheads touching as the tips of their noses performed a languorous Eskimo kiss.
, picking up the tongs and turning the chicken thighs and burgers over. She’d always loved every glorious inch of his body, warts, scars and all, but if she had to choose her favourite part, it would be his strong, sportsman’s arms. She could feel her breath quicken. She wanted to touch them. She needed to touch them. She tiptoed barefoot towards him and caught him unawares, pinning her stomach against his back as she ran her hands up and down his triceps. Half a minute later he spun round to face her and they stilled, their foreheads touching as the tips of their noses performed a languorous Eskimo kiss.
“Do you know what?” he said, his forehead still glued to hers.
“What?”
“If it’s possible, I think you’re more beautiful now than you were when I last knew you.”
“Rubbish.”
“It’s not ‘rubbish’,” he mocked her accent, wearing a playful smirk on his face. “It’s the truth. I think thirty-seven must be the perfect age for a woman. You’re coming into your sexual and physical peak.”
He trailed his hands to the hem of her black vest t-shirt and wormed his way underneath, stroking her bare back before teasingly slipping his hands towards her front, tickling the sides of her waist as his fingers continued on a northbound trajectory, lightly grazing her breasts. Claire’s breath hitched.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me? What you’ve always done to me?” Jonah asked.
Claire shook her head, but really she did have a very good idea. And if she could have taken her mind off his travelling fingers she might have found the courage to admit that he made her feel as nobody else had done and how her body ached for him. She floated her hands from his biceps to the back of his neck and pulled his mouth urgently to hers, whimpering as he parted her lips with his tongue, her whole body tingling with desire.
“If we wait a bit longer,” Jonah whispered with their mouths still meshed, “it will be even more sensational.”
Claire was pretty sure he wasn’t talking about the chicken. She nodded in agreement, pulling away with a smile.
“I think we should eat then,” she suggested.
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