📚 Up Close & Personal with 'Hush Hush City' Jo Denning #upcloseandpersonal @jo_denning

 

 

Up Close & Personal is one of The Writer’s Life newest features. Here we feature authors who don't mind spilling the beans and telling what it's really like to write, get published and sell that book.  Today's guest is Jo Denning, author of the fantasy romance, Hush Hush City.

Jo Denning is the author of the Saoirse Reilly series. She has spent her career as a behavioral health therapist supporting kids and teens who struggle with addiction. Jo began writing supernatural crime thrillers as a way of processing the traumatic things she has seen and heard. Her characters may be supernatural but their stories, their fear, and their pain are real. So, too, are the triumphs over impossible odds.

When she’s not writing, Jo enjoys baking, drawing, and watching trashy reality TV. She makes her home somewhere in the contiguous United States with her husband, one fluffy cat, and one barely domesticated cat.

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On Writing…

I began writing Dead Blood City, the first book in the Saoirse Reilly series, while working in a psychiatric hospital at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the death of a thirteen-year-old patient by suicide. The magic and monsters in Reilly’s world are metaphors for the very real evil and darkness that exists in our world. The painful experiences of my characters are things that real people go through every day. Unfortunately, treatment is not always enough to help them escape the darkness inside their own minds. When I have hard days at work, I’m grateful to be able to escape into my writing. Creative outlets have always helped me process my emotions.

On Being Published…

I am shocked and amazed by the reception Dead Blood City received. Over a hundred readers ordered a copy within the first month and now hundreds of people have read it. It may not seem like much compared to the best-selling authors but I never imagined so many people would read this book. I am grateful to every reader and reviewer. Thank you so much!

Writing Hush Hush City, the sequel to DBC and second installment in the Saoirse Reilly series, allowed me to continue a journey of healing and self-forgiveness that I started in my first novel. Reilly is on a treacherous and painful path but we are all walking it together. When I was working on DBC at work, in waiting rooms, at airports, and on my couch, I often wondered if there was any reason for it. And, sometimes, I felt very alone in a very dark place. Now the sun is shining through my windows and I’m publishing the sequel. I hope that you, too, will read and grow.

On Publishing Industry…

I chose to self-publish because it gave me full creative control over the series. Honestly, I don’t know much about the publishing industry. They have their process and I have mine.

On Marketing…

Marketing is a tough one! I’m a big proponent of ARC readers. Voracious Readers Only has helped me find most of my core ARC team. I’ve also worked with a few different book tour companies and really like Pump Up Your Book. These are helpful to get your book title and your name in multiple places. Less helpful for actual sales. But, for me, marketing starts with SEO. Basically, the more hits that are my name, my book, and my series, the better. I’m on all types of social media, too. I’ve had the best luck with BookTok, making videos with short excerpts of my books set to viral sounds.

My biggest mistake early on was spending too much time (and money) on social media and marketing activities. The best advice I can give aspiring authors is to WRITE. Do some marketing, but focus more on writing books than selling them.

On Goals and Dreams…

I’m hard at work on the third book of the Saoirse Reilly series, Black Sight City. My short-term goal is to bust that out. The entire series will consist of eight books so my long-term goal is to write until it’s done. I’m not too worried about success beyond publishing the entire series. That is my goal and anything else is an enjoyable side benefit.

 

 

Title: Hush Hush City
Author: Jo Denning
Publisher: Leabhar & Fola Publishing House
Pages: 330
Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy Romance

Cruel Prince meets Law & Order in Hush Hush City, the thrilling sequel to Dead Blood City and second installment in the Saoirse Reilly series! Saoirse Reilly, police detective and wayward psychic, is still reeling from the events of Dead Blood City. Her lies are piling up but there’s no time to deal. She and her loved ones are in danger once again. While investigating the murder of a Boston blueblood, Reilly is drawn into a supernatural power struggle centuries in the making. 

Ancient monsters are prowling the streets and Domenico Alderisi, newly installed vrykolakas master, needs Reilly’s help securing his territory – which just so happens to be her hometown. Alderisi, once her enemy, may be the only one who can save the city. But he has his own agenda and a taste for Reilly’s blood. The only way for Reilly to protect all she holds dear may be to rely on her two-faced teacher, Dr. Emrys Somerled. The criminal psychologist and occult expert is something more than human. If anyone can take on monsters, it’s him. And he’d like to get closer to Reilly than ever before. There’s just one problem. Somerled is keeping secrets, too, and there’s nothing more dangerous. After all…

Stepping out of the silence is scary but secrets can kill.

Will Reilly escape the web of death and deception?

Find out in this urban fantasy meets gritty noir detective novel featuring imperfect heroes and slow burn dark romance with beautiful monsters who can’t be trusted.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/41Z1UUq

 

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