Vocal Expressions

This is the first contemporary romance I’ve read by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent, and I found her style to be engaging. This story is a prequel to her new Love You, Maine series. Let’s meet Kellan "Kell" Luview, an environmental policy fellow with an international NGO, the EEC, in Washington, D.C. Kell hails from a quirky small town in Maine called "Love You," where every day feels like Valentine's Day. He's romantically involved with Alissa, his confident and driven supervisor, who is also the head fellow. Recently, though, Alissa has been distant, ignoring his calls and skipping their dates.  Things unravel further when Kell’s friend Rachel—who has a bit of a crush on him—reveals that Alissa has accepted a position with MonDex, a big oil company she refers to as the "Evil Empire." Kell feels blindsided, wondering if Alissa was only dating him to connect with his Uncle Ted, Maine’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Fo...

Author’s Bio: Jeff Elkins is the author of 12 novels, 4 books on the craft of writing, and over 100 short stories. He prides himself in writing engaging stories with dynamic and interesting characters. Almost all of his stories take place in Baltimore. He podcasts and coaches writers as “The Dialogue Doctor.” Currently, he lives north of Baltimore with his wife and 5 children.   Deliah Lawrence: What inspired you to write your books? Jeff Elkins: All of my books have started with a scene. I’ll see in my imagination characters having a conversation or experiencing something emotional. Sometimes these scenes come in a dream, other times they come when I’m wide awake and working. They always carry big emotions. These scenes tend to stick in my brain for days and I can’t let go of them. First, I’ll write them as a short story. Then, if I think there is more to uncover, I’ll turn the short story into a novel.   For example, my most recent novel NRDS: National Recently De...