Beverly Jenkins, the USA Today bestselling queen of African-American historical romance, is back with a tale fans have been demanding for years.
“Forbidden is a historical romance set in 1880s Nevada. Our hero is a wealthy man named Rhine Fontaine who is passing as white, and our heroine is Eddy Carmichael, a cook heading to California to establish her own restaurant,” Jenkins said. “I wrote the story because my readers have been bugging me since 1998 to tell Rhine Fontaine’s story. He made a cameo appearance in my novel Through the Storm and grabbed readers in such a way that they’ve been asking about him ever since.”
Jenkins has published almost 40 books and has a legion of devoted fans who stay abreast of her daily activities via social media.
“Interacting on social media is important because it gives me access to the readers who love and support my work, and it gives them access to me. It’s a relationship developed over time that began in 1995 with the Beverly Jenkins Fan Club,” she said. “(My fans) are loyal because I make a point to visit with them via social media at least once a day. They know when I’m writing, what I’m working on, when to pre-order, new book drop dates, and what they can expect from me in the future. It makes them feel as if they are part of my family, and in many ways they are.”
Family has always been important to Jenkins, and over the years, just like other moms, she has learned how to juggle raising her kids with pursuing her dreams.
“Trying to carve out writing time when they were young and I had a job and a husband was much more difficult. But hubby’s in heaven and I have the house to myself now, so if I want to write at 3 a.m., I can and often do,” she said.
She is a living witness that the juggling is worth it.
“I’d just like to encourage the moms out there to keep moving forward on those dreams. Don’t give up. Ever. Even if no one believes in it but you, keep going,” she said. “Make time whenever you can. When my kids were with me, I wrote sitting in the car during band practices, I wrote after they went to bed—sometimes before they got up. If you can only take 15 minutes out each day to pursue your dreams, you’ll have a good chunk of time invested by the end of the week and an even larger chunk by the end of the month. Sometimes life only gives us baby steps to walk that dream road, so take them when you can.”
To learn more about Beverly Jenkins, visit www.beverlyjenkins.net.
