What Happens in Scotland: 5 Fun Facts with Jennifer McQuiston

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What Happens in Scotland: 5 Fun Facts with Jennifer McQuiston

The lovely Jennifer McQuiston‘s debut, What Happens In Scotland, was dubbed as “Clever and funny, charming and romantic…” by New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean, and I agree wholeheartedly! Jennifer is an amazing writer, and you will love this book! What Happens In Scotland is the Victorian era’s answer to The Hangover: two people who end up married and barely remember a thing. Get ready for some laughs and some real heart, too.

Please give this award-winning author and double-Golden Heart® finalist a warm welcome to the blog and leave a comment for a chance to win Jennifer’s debut as well as one of my books. Feel free to tell us, dear reader, what book or books you’ve read that put a twist on pop culture (movies or other books). Or perhaps you have a question you’d like to ask our intrepid author. She’s had all sorts of interesting jobs and has worked very hard to achieve her writing success.

And isn’t that cover stunning? I want that purple plaid!

Welcome to the blog, Jennifer!

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What Happens In Scotland

Avon

February 26, 2013

When recent widow Georgette Thorold wakes up in a Scottish inn with a wedding ring on her finger and lacking all memory of how she came to be there, she does what any well-bred lady with a modicum of sense and a distrust of marriage would do: she panics, clocks the wickedly handsome stranger in her bed over the head with a chamber pot, and runs.

James McKenzie, Esquire has either spent the evening protecting a very naïve, and—dare he say it—very drunk young lady from the advances of every disreputable character in the town of Moraig, or he has gone and married a pretty, scheming thief. Not that his own head is entirely clear on the matter, but when the woman in question repays his kindness with a knock on the head, the bill for her room, and the theft of his purse, an embarrassed James is determined to track her down and show her she picked the wrong solicitor to swindle.

As Georgette sets out to discover exactly what happened during her forgotten night, she uncovers a man that seems far more a hero than a rake. But when they finally meet, instead of sweeping her into his arms and kissing her senseless, he serves her with a summons, claiming she is a thief. Now the fight is on, and the only question is was it a night worth remembering? Or a mistake they would both rather forget?

5 Fun Facts about WHAT HAPPENS IN SCOTLAND:

1. What Happens in Scotland is my midlife crisis

Well…it might be more accurate to say that writing romance that is actually my midlife crisis, given that I already had a perfectly good career in hand when I turned myself over to this madness. But What Happens in Scotland was, appropriately enough, conceived while planning my 40th birthday party with good friends in Las Vegas, and so I can claim it as my midlife crisis if I want to! I was plotting a new story idea and thinking about preachers dressed like Elvis, and the result is a historical that many reviewers have called a “Victorian-era version of the Hangover.” I *might* have watched the movie for inspiration… and I would love to hear which storylines the readers can note as parallels!

2. My debut novel is actually my fifth finished book.

That’s correct! I have previously written…(drum roll, please)

1) A novel based around an 1854 cholera outbreak that literally had my hero and heroine falling into bed as people fell dead outside their door.

2) A novel based around a syphilis misunderstanding (the physician hero thinks the heroine’s dead husband gave her syphilis and is determined to save her; she is determined to hide the fact the marriage was never consummated).

3) A novel based around the heroine falling in love with the lawyer who is prosecuting her sister, and who teaches her how to pick pockets in Covent Gardens (Oliver Twist-style).

4) A novel with an impotent hero (hint: he gets over it) and a heroine pregnant from her former fiancé.

I don’t know why I never got any of those published, LOL!! But I am glad What Happens in Scotland is the one everyone will know me for… because being known as the author who wrote Love in the Time of Syphilis might not have been the smartest career move.

3. What Happens in Scotland is the first of a 3-book series

I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to sign a 3 book deal, and I am excited about the other two books in the series. Summer is for Lovers will be released September 24, 2013. It is an unrequited love story set in the Victorian seaside resort of Brighton, and features a heroine who swims in secret. Moonlight on my Mind will be released in Spring/Summer 2014. Both books feature heroes introduced as secondary characters in What Happens in Scotland, including David Cameron (a man with a salacious past) and Patrick Channing (a man who is hiding from his future).

4. I decided not to use a pen name, because I am actually pretty proud of what I have accomplished.

I have had a few anxious moments since making that decision… all of them after my book was released and I couldn’t take it back! It was a hard decision to make, but the truth of the matter was I wanted to see my name in print, not a make-believe name. Plus, now I get to sit next to some pretty cool authors at national book signings when they line us up alphabetically… those Mc names are quite popular among historical romance authors, never mind that mine is real!

5. Romance Writer is just the latest in my long line of weird jobs.

I have been the girl who cleaned up the dog poop at a veterinary hospital, the girl whose job it was to pick up the dead birds at a poultry farm, the girl who baled hay when all the redneck boys were too busy playing baseball, and the girl who flipped burgers in college while all the sorority girls walked by. I think I can safely say I’ve moved up in the world, writing emotionally satisfying stories that make people happy!

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Leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of WHAT HAPPENS IN SCOTLAND by Jennifer McQuiston and a signed copy of DUKES TO THE LEFT OF ME, PRINCES TO THE RIGHT. Giveaway open to US/CA. Ends 4/19.

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Jennifer McQuiston lives in Atlanta, GA with her family, a houseful of pets who are sometimes better behaved than her children, and the characters who wake her up to write at 4am. An infectious disease researcher by training, Jennifer has learned through trial and error that trying to incorporate public health messages into her historical romances doesn’t work. Although, then again, don’t we all need to do our part in a cholera outbreak, even if it means falling into bed?