Guest Author and Give away: Jessica Barksdale Inclan

My novel The Only Thing I See started as many of my books have—through my experiences.  When the photographer came to shoot my then fiancé (now my husband) and me, I was impressed by her ability to “see” us through the lens.  As she shot and clicked and moved us around the backyard of our home, I really felt as though she were capturing us in a way that was real and true.  When we received the proofs of the shots, I realized that my gut feeling was true.  She had seen us, the core of us as a couple.  What shone through in those photos was who we are together.

But later, I started to imagine what it would be like to see the other side of things, the couples who are not happy at the core, the inside of a relationship that is not working at all.  What would that feel like—worse, what would that look like?  And how would a wedding photographer feel about taking photos of a couple that seemed doomed from the get go?  Would she feel a responsibility to tell them to just shake hands and move on?  What would that mean about her job and her own relationships?  Would that be projecting her feelings onto them?  Or were those impressions correct?  And are those feelings just plain nuts? 

With this idea in mind, I started writing The Only Thing I See.  My main character Annabelle Cousins is a wedding photographer, a good one, and when her own relationship changes—her boyfriend Drew proposes—she begins to look at couples in a different way.  She actually begins to see when a relationship will go bad.

This sudden, upsetting new ability throws a monkey wrench in things, and with the help of her Tarot card reading mother and best friend (and wedding planner) Khalie, she navigates the line between intuition, faith, and trust.  When she meets Robert and Nadine at a photo shoot, she tries hard not to see what she sees when looking through the lens, but in a way, she’s happy to finally see Robert.  But all the relationships in this novel go through a sometimes wild but always needed transformation.

Of course you can see that it was useful as a writer to write about a wedding photographer with a wedding planner best friend in the year of my engagement!  I did use my own wedding as my research, as I was thinking quite a lot about photographers, venues, dresses, cakes, caterers, vows, and, most importantly, life commitments.  I was surrounded by the markers and details of the promise a relationship and marriage can bring as well as the reality that we can throw this amazing party and later, well, things might not work out.  Moreover, weddings are a great setting for most any story, as we bring those most important to us in one place and make one of the biggest life transformations we can in public.  Why not let characters have at it? 

The Only Thing I See is about really seeing what is in front of you instead of hiding behind what you think you should do or who you think you should be with.  It’s a story about friendship and mothers and daughters and, most importantly, love amidst the weddings.

Give away! Give away! Give away!

The author is giving away 3 ebooks of her latest novel, The Only Thing I See and 2 paperback copies of Being With Him to 5 lucky winners and this is an INTERNATIONAL give away for ebooks and US only for paperback copies.


All you have to do is follow me, leave a comment with your name and email or if you don't want to leave your email, just comment and send me your email here : kaori.books@gmail.com with the subject "Jessica Barksdale Inclan give away". This give away will end on January 3 and winners will be announced on January 4.

Goodluck!!