Last chance for Goodreads reader choice award/Marshal

I’m up to about chapter 13 in the FISTFUL OF CHARMS read along.  [ Take part at Goodreads ] Jenks is human-size, finding out Rachel can hear his internal dialog that he’s been whispering all this time. We’ve been power-shopping so Jenks looks fi-i-ine, and spent some time embarrassing the woman at the check-0ut with allusions to pudding and sexual exploits.  We’ve rescued Jax and Rex both, and it looks like there’s going to be a new cat in the church.

But it’s started to get serious, and Rachel is on the island where they’re keeping Nick, and Jenks thinks he’s dying from a small scratch.

I’ve never been scuba diving, only snorkeling, but my father used to, and I leaned upon him when I wrote the chapter where Rachel and Jenks swam to the island. In truth, the straits are probably too cold and dangerous to dive on, hence the need for the warmth amulets. (Which I duplicated for FOC’s freebies. I’ll be giving some away at the end of the read-along.) Along with the warmth amulets came Marshal.

I’m going to have a small confession here. I don’t really like Speedos, but there was a bit of pressure from my editor at this point to describe some of the men Rachel runs into in more detail. Physical looks are not where my descriptive techniques naturally go. Nick was more study than stud-ly, Kisten was absent, and Jenks–though fun to look at–was not an option. I’ve gotten some complaints as the books progress that Rachel seems attracted to everything with an XY set of chromosomes, and part of that might be some overkill for me. But hey, she is a twenty-somethign witch, and she’s going to notice these things. I never intended Marshal to be more than a one-chapter character, so I made him sexy.

Personally, I like Marshal because he is the first professional witch that we see Rachel interact with. Nice looks aside, what she enjoyed most was discussing the charms he made. Yes, it took time for him to take her seriously, but when he did, he helped her above and beyond what they’d agreed upon, leaving extra warmth amulets and a dive suit for Nick before swimming back to his boat and leaving her to her business. That, too, was something she appreciated.

Like he said, “You’re not a professional diver, but you’re a professional something.” That, I think was the beginning of Marshal becoming more than a one-chapter character for me. Rachel appreciates being taken seriously almost as much as I do. –laugh–

Today is the last chance to vote in the second round of Goodread’s reader choice awards. If you haven’t voted THIS WEEK, you can pop on over and make your voice be heard in a bunch of categories. I’ve got friends in there, so it’s all good! [ Goodreads choice awards ] I’ll let you know Monday if EVER AFTER makes it to the last round of voting.