She applied the “Page 99 Test” to Night Shift, the first book in The Jill Kismet Series, and reported the following:So I opened up Night Shift to page 99, and found a page that encapsulates the protagonist Jill Kismet's relationship with her Mephistopheles, Perry the hellbreed. I think it's a fair representation of the quality of the book, because on one page we have Perry and Jill's relationship boiled down to essentials--he wants her to turn a little, just a very little, so he can own her. We get to see Jill's upbringing, and a little of what makes her who she is. The whole utility/hate relationship these two have really stands out starkly for me--it's definitely utility/hate, not love/hate.Read an excerpt from Night Shift, and learn more about the author and her work at Lilith Saintcrow's website.
What fascinates me about Perry and Jill is not a love/hate relationship, because we've all seen that before. What I'm interested in is two characters who hate each other almost as much as they need each other--Jill needs the strength Perry's mark grants to her in her fight against evil; and who knows what Perry wants from her yet? I want to ask the question, "How far can you go down the garden path without losing your soul and becoming like the things you fight?"
--Marshal Zeringue