Author Spotlight: Janice Whiteaker & Jemma Westbrook & Josie Watts

Sep 4

It’s kinda cool that I get to read and write about so many amazing authors. I truly have so many favorites. And yes, I can have as many favorites as I want. Who created the rule that you can only have one favorite of something. That’s ridiculous. I’m ignoring that rule. And as such, I have lots of favorite authors. And I kind of get to skirt that rule anywhen when three of my favorite authors are actually the same person.

Ok, hang with me here. Janice Whiteaker is also Jemma Westbrook and Josie Watts. For sake of ease, unless I’m talking about a specific set of books, I’m going to call her JW.

I actually found Jemma first. I was firmly entrenched in my joy and love of military romantic suspense, and this ad for Loss Recovery kept coming up on Facebook. I think it was Facebook. Maybe it was Amazon. Jemma was one of the first authors I read after Brittney Sahin, so it’s been a while. And while the memory of how I found Jemma is hazy, the results are really clear in my mind. Mind Blown!

At the time I started reading Jemma’s Alaskan Security series there were only four books out (and the prequel novella). But I binged them hard! And then I rebinged them! And I’ve read every novel in the series since then. Most of them more than once. They’re intense, and steamy, with solid plot lines and beautifully well-developed characters. And besides the swoony heroes, and yes we’re talking serious levels of swoonworthiness, her heroines are fierce and independent and as much a part of the story as the men on the covers! Jemma’s Alaskan Security Girl Gang is a staple element of the novels. Not only are the heroines solid, strong characters themselves, they form solid strong bonds with the other female characters. There is no drama llama competition between or among them.

Those of you who know me well, know I do not do angst well. And I think that may be why I love Jemma’s books. They’re suspenseful, don’t get me wrong, but in the save-the-world-and-get-the-girl way. Not the are-they-ever-going-to-get-their-HEA way. And I love that focus on the external forces so much in a romantic suspense novel. The angst in their stories comes from external sources and creates a beautiful bond among the characters—the main characters and everyone on the team who supports them.

Of course after reading a few of the books I had to join Jemma’s reader group on Facebook, and that’s when I discovered there was way more than meets the eye here. People were talking about multiple series that I was not finding under Jemma’s name on Amazon. And then someone clued me in that Jemma was also Janice. Or Jemma was actually Janice? Janice Whiteaker is Janice’s real name, and she writes under her real name and the pen name Jemma Westbrook. And while Jemma writes military suspense, Janice writes contemporary romance novels. And boy was that a rabbit hole bingefest I wasn’t expecting but will be forever grateful for!

Because within Janice’s backlist is this amazing not so little series (there’s a joke there— wait for it…) called Secrets of Mountain Men. It used to be called…. here it comes…. BIG. lol! But she renamed it just before I started reading it so the series name would more accurately reflect what was actually in the books. If you’re not familiar with my romance novel journey, it started in March of 2020 with paranormal (PNR) books. And I kept seeing little snippets of posts about bigfoot and they all lead back to Janice’s Secrets series. Hmmm… Big Foot. Shifters. I am so there!

So, hello deep binge dive into a complete series by what I thought was a new author but turns out to be the same author I already love for her romantic suspense. And, y’all! I thought I fell hard for those Alaskan Security men… Those Mountain Men are epic! The most amazing thing—I did not feel like I was reading a PNR book. I felt like I was reading a small-town contemporary romance with a PNR twist. They checked off every freaking box in my perfect book match: Alpha growly heroes who were not alphaholes, but worked to make sure their town was safe, their families were safe, and their women were valued and protected. Strong, determined, independent heroines who knew their minds and stuck together. Fierce friendships and found family bonds that moved beyond the main characters into beautifully well-developed side characters. Plots that pulled me in and kept me interested for the entire series. HEAs that were swoonworthy and solid and gaah! So good!

So, after I buzzed through those a few times, and the spin-off/ follow-up series BIG NW— which is currently incomplete—I started looking for even more Janice books to read. I craved her blend of swoon, strength, and seriously badass characters. So, I dove into Janice’s Cowboys of Moss Creek series for swoony cowboys, strong women, amazing supporting characters, and just a bit of suspense for that Jemma Junky still lurking in the pages of her Janice books.

My Janice binge continued with her Lost Boys series. I had never read a motorcycle club (MC) series. I was intrigued. And I will say this is not your typical MC series in that it’s not dark like most of the ones I’ve read since are. And that is NOT a knock on dark romance. I flove dark romance. And Lost Boys has elements of that, but it’s not truly that. It’s hard to explain. But it’s easy to understand when you read the books. It’s kinda MC-light. There’s an edge to the characters, and they don’t necessarily operate within the letter of the law, but they also have deep levels of care and protectiveness for their found family members. Like I said, hard to explain. But Janice weaves this incredible web of suspense, and heat, and chaos, and freedom into her characters and it all works perfectly. Lost Boys is a series to binge and re-binge. It is straight up heroines you want as your besties, and heroes you will claim as book boyfriends for life. Except for Moon. You can’t have Moon. I licked him. He’s mine. Kidding. But not really kidding.

Anyway. Yeah, Janice creates those kinds of characters. The ones you embrace with your heart and soul. And she understands that different readers look for different things in different books, and even within different genres of Romance. That’s why she writes her contemporary style books as Janice, and her romantic suspense as Jemma, and her rom-coms (yep, she writes those, too) as Josie Watts. It’s like an author trifecta!

Over time, Janice recognized that publishing so many different genres and styles of romance novels was likely to cause reader confusion. And while there is a lot of crossover between the genres, she felt it was more on-brand to write certain styles within the parameters of separate names. So when Janice dove into writing rom-coms Josie Watts was born. Josie writes and publishes those awesomely hilarious, spit-take worthy, literal lol books in the Scandal in Sweet Side series. And even within her rom-coms, there is a little bit of mystery and suspense woven into some of the funniest, but most heartfelt stories I have ever read.

Now, I’ve said a lot about JW’s books, but what I want to leave you with and really spotlight is the way her books transcend the written words and become reality in her Facebook group. After spending several years in Janice’s reader group, I’ve come to understand that the Girl Gang Janice created and infused through her books transcends the pages and becomes part of the very culture she’s built within her Facebook group. It’s a culture of support and soul sistership. Is life there perfect? Ummm… is life anywhere perfect? Just like the girl gangs in her books, the girl gang in her group faces challenges. And just like the girl gangs in her books, they deal with those challenges. Life isn’t always pretty. And as humans, we’re not always at our best. But that’s when your girl gang matters the most. These are the women who swoop in, call you on your bullshit, and then hold your hand, or your head, or your heart, or sometimes all three, as you walk through it together.

Three of my closest friends have come from that girl gang. Life hasn’t been perfect. Sometimes it’s been downright shitty. Even amongst us. But we worked through it. Because that’s what you do when you truly have someone’s back. JW gets that, too. And she spotlights and exemplifies it in every heroine in every one of her books. It’s really how everything she writes is tied together. So whether you’re on board for military suspense, cowboys, outlaws, big foot shifters, a good laugh in a small town, or any combination of all of those things, you’re going to find a solid foundation for found family, fierce lady friendships, and a feck-ton of heat, heart, and humanity in everything she does.