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Today's interview is with Gwyn Cready. Welcome!
1. Tell me about yourself? :)
Hi to all. I’m a woman who jumped from the corporate world to full-time writing about six or seven years ago. I grew up in Pittsburgh, got a BA in English and an MBA in marketing from the University of Chicago. I met my husband between my sophomore and junior year of college. The very first time I talked to him, I said to myself, this is the man I’m going to marry (and he was dating someone else at the time), so I’m a firm believer in love at first sight. We have two kids. One’s in college and one’s getting married this year. I’m a classic Capricorn, head down, heading for my goal. Just in Time for a Highlander is my seventh book, and the first book in my first-ever series, which is super exciting. All my books except one involve time travel. A Novel Seduction, my fifth book, is a contempory romance (though it’s filled with kilts and Scotsmen, nonetheless.)
2. And about your new book, Just in time for a Highlander?
Just in Time for a Highlander is the story of Duncan MacHarg, a dashing red-haired Scot working on Wall Street, who ends up getting sucked back in time when Abby Kerr, a clan chieftess accidentally misuses a magic spell. She’s looking for a strong arm, someone to help her keep her clansmen in order. Needless to say, Duncan is somewhat of a disappointment , and he’s none too happy about having been plucked out of his high-powered life. Even worse, Abby discovers the only way to get him back to his home is to satisfy the spell, which means turning him into the strong arm she desired. Needless to say, she has her work cut out for her.
3. It seems that it usually is the woman who goes back in time, what made you send a man back?
Funny you should ask. I did want to turn things around. I kept thinking about what would happen if a powerful man in the twenty-first century was forced to live without his power and position in an earlier time. In Duncan’s case, being a Wall Street financier doesn’t really give him any currency in 1705, and his ego takes a beating. But even though he’s been stripped of his status, he’s still very goal-oriented and very smart. And he knows he has to re-invent himself as a man of accomplishments in order to earn Abby’s respect. It was a fun idea to play with.
4. What made you want to write the time-travel romances?
To me, time travel adds a lot of interesting layers and tension to a regular romance. In addition to sexual tension, you have the tension of different times and different mores. You also get to explore some interesting questions: Is it possible to change the past? Is it possible to change the future? Does knowing how the future unfolds help or hurt you in the past? And, of course, some of the biggest time travel tension in a romance comes from wondering which era the couple will end up in.
5. And now a question to Duncan: Your first impression of Abby?
A freakin’ lunatic. She had an arrow aimed at my throat, for God’s sake! Then she knocked me out with the end of her bow! It’s a good thing she’s as pretty as she is. I can put up with a lot for that.
6. And the same question to Abby:
A bloody idiot. I’m sorry to have to say it, but it’s true. He had no idea how to handle a sword! But, oh, those calves! I do believe I fell in love with his calves before anything else...except perhaps his thighs...and his chest...and those eyes! He’s a man who rises to meet a challenge, that’s for certain.
Thank you!
Title: Just in Time for a Highlander
Series: Sirens of the Scottish
Author: Gwyn Cready
ISBN: 9781492601937
Pubdate: February 3rd, 2015
From RITA winner Gwyn Cready comes a Scottish borderlands time travel romance perfect for fans of Outlander
For Duncan MacHarg, things just got real…
Battle reenactor and financier Duncan MacHarg thinks he has it made—until he lands in the middle of a real Clan Kerr battle and comes face to face with their beautiful, spirited leader. Out of time and out of place, Duncan must use every skill he can muster to earn his position among the clansmen and in the heart of the devastatingly intriguing woman to whom he must pledge his oath.
Abby needs a hero and she needs him now
When Abigail Ailich Kerr sees a handsome, mysterious stranger materialize in the midst of her clan’s skirmish with the English, she’s stunned to discover he’s the strong arm she’s been praying for. Instead of a tested fighter, the fierce young chieftess has been given a man with no measurable battle skills and a damnably distracting smile. And the only way to get rid of him is to turn him into a Scots warrior herself—one demanding and intimate lesson at a time.
