Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine NK LCM February 2018 Anniversary Issue | Page 34

Intimate
Chat with
D. Mason
J. D. J. Mason
Beverly Jenkins
Beverly Jenkins: I’m here! Hi everyone. Thanks for
the invite
J. D. Mason: We’re slated to discuss Destiny’s
Embrace for this chat, but you have so many books
that people love, we’ll have to work hard to stay on
task.
Beverly Jenkins: Glad you’re in charge not me. Going
to be like herding balloons. :)
LaCeasha Banks Turner: I am a recent fan and you can
thank Naleighna Kai for that. I love your writing.
Beverly Jenkins: Why thank you. Welcome to the BJ
family.
Shannan Harper: Welcome. The way these two
characters are acting towards each other is hilarious.
I just love all the history we glean from reading your
books. Especially about our history
Beverly Jenkins: Great way to learn African American
history.
J. D. Mason: Who actually inspired this story? Mariah
Cooper or Alanza Yates? Because they both were
fabulous female leads with incredible stories.
Beverly Jenkins: Actually Queen Latifiah. Maria
Cooper followed. Had no idea the state was named for
a mythical Black Amazon queen.
Sam Cherry Erkard: Wow, that’s interesting. I must
say that I’ve been hooked on your novels every since I
read the first one which was, “Indigo”
Beverly Jenkins: That’s a favorite of everyone’s,
including mine.
J. D. Mason: I loved the fact that you included such a
strong Latina character. Was she modeled after anyone
or a particular event in history? Or was she just made
34 | NKLC Magazine
up (Alanza)?
Beverly Jenkins: She was made up. Los Angeles was
founded by mixed African American and Latins so I
wanted to bring that history forward.
Christine Pauls: Was writing always your desire? What
other professions, if any did you have?
Beverly Jenkins: Had no intentions of being a writer. All
I ever wanted was to work in a library. :)
Sam Cherry Erkard: For someone just getting into Historical
Romance which of your books would you recommend to
start with?
Beverly Jenkins: I always go with publication order - that
way you get everything in the right time frame and don’t
miss anything. So Night Song is first.
Venise Jacobs: Was it your intention to connect the
characters of your historical fiction novels to those of the
Blessings series in present day Henry Adams?
Beverly Jenkins: After we decided to do the series, yes,
but the question became: would it be Henry Adams or
Grayson Grove where Vivid was set.
Anita Roseboro-Wade: What is your favorite novel that
you have written?
Beverly Jenkins: Hard to choose. It’s like asking a mama
to name her favorite child.
J. D. Mason: Did it ever occur to you to make that momma
do a 180 and regret the error of her ways?
Beverly Jenkins: No. That would have been the
conventional/easy way out. I try to avoid what readers
might expect. :)
LaCeasha Banks Turner: What was your inspiration for
this story?