What's Your Romance Catnip? by Laura Hunsaker

What do you love in a book that you would never like in real life?

Sometimes when I read a book, there's a scene that happens that I absolutely love, but in my real life? I would hate.

Here's a great example: I love when a hero rips off the heroine's panties. Like seriously, yes. I want that! But in real life? I do not want that. Holy cow my undies are expensive, and you had better not be ripping off my clothes. Buttons flying, panties ripping, just no. 

Another is when they are so wrapped up in each other that they forget about everything they are doing and just have to have the sexytimes right now. In real life? If I were making my husband dinner and he tried to start stuff with me, I would smack his hand with a spatula lol. No one wants a burnt lasagna, babe.

Or gosh, even a singer singing to his heroine...I had that happen once in real life and it was awkward and uncomfortable for me. But in a book? I eat that up. 

Or pirates! Oh my goodness I love a good pirate romance, but in real life? No thank you. Obviously I won't ever meet one, but I feel safe in saying they wouldn't be my jam. 

Time travel! My goodness, I would love to time travel back to the Highlands of Scotland several hundred years ago, however...realistically? If that could happen? Yeah I'd probably die. Whether I was burnt as a witch, or stung by a bee and didn't have my epi pen, I'm under no illusions that time travel would be as sexy as books make it out to be.

Alpha males, jocks, nerds, hackers, celebrities...what's your catnip in fiction, but in your real life you would absolutely hate?

Check out my Time Travel Highland Warriors. This is a duology with both Highland Destiny and Highland Games in one!

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Highland Destiny--Mackenzie Stewart’s in Scotland for a much-needed vacation. During the castle tour, Mackenzie becomes completely enamored with a painting of one of the previous lairds. Two gentlemen come up behind her and, begging her pardon, they kidnap her, dragging her through time.


Highland Games--Malcolm “Colm” MacRobert is ordered by his chief to travel through time and return with a woman. Not just any woman, the daughter of Laird and Lady Grant. There’s one problem, though. Everyone knows the Grants never had a daughter. Who is he bringing back? And why is she so important that his laird using the village witch to send Colm over 200 years into the future?

Is Romance Dead? by Laura Hunsaker

I just read an article by the L.A. Times that asked "Will Kissing Ever Make a Comeback" and had the image of two metal figures wearing masks and kissing. (link to article here).

Is this a thing? How would that work?

He inhaled the scent of her hand sanitizer, mmm...lemon. She placed her gloved hand against his cheek. They gently pressed their masks together...

Okay obviously I'm being facetious here, but as a romance writer, I can't help but think about how I would write a romance and incorporate it.

I like escapism, so in my stories, I don't address it, but maybe I should? What say you all? Should our Romances being written right now reflect everything going on?

While I may have used a wee bit of snark at first, I wonder if I could make it work?

Lucy walked in the door from her first day back at work, instantly took off her mask and tossed it in the laundry pile. Washing her hands she called for her dog. Bruce, her lab, was ready to go.

"Who wants a walk? Who's a good boy who wants a walk?" She stuffed her mini hand sanitizer in her pocket, and grabbing his leash, she took Bruce out for his evening walk.

Once out on the trail, Lucy saw her neighbor Van out with his dog. Every day for a couple months now, they'd wave at each other and smile. But not today. She was prepared to finally talk to him. With restaurants being closed to inside dining, she was planning to grab a to go order and hope he wouldn't mind sitting on her porch. The weather was beautiful and she was excited to talk to someone after being cooped up for so long.

"Hi Lucy!"

His mask was his favorite hockey team and she thought that it was cute how every one of his masks she had seen had all been different masks for the same team. Hers had cupcakes on them, because she just really thought it was cute.

"Hi Van! Hey, I don't know if you're up to it, but I was thinking of grabbing some dinner from Apple Garden tonight, and thought maybe you would want to join me? We could eat on my porch and you can bring your dog."

He smiled, she could tell because his eyes crinkled above his mask. "That sounds like a lot more fun than my night of streaming that new movie everyone is talking about and some leftovers."

"It's a date."

***

I guess it wouldn't be that difficult to add in some of today's happenings without it taking over the story. What do you think? Would you prefer escapism? Would you mind seeing a tiny bit of reality mixed in? Will kissing ever make a comeback ;)

 If you're in the mood for something you can really escape into, my Time Travel Romance Highland Eclipse is only $.99

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A member of an elite Time Ops team called the Eclipse Agents, Declan Wallace’s job is to jump through time. He maintains order in the timeline, he hunts down those who would time jump for their own purposes. But sometime Fate intervenes.

After a lifetime of living with illness, Lady Fiona McClure is proving to herself that she is finally healthy in an attempt to swim across the loch. If she makes it, maybe then her overprotective father won’t treat her as a child anymore. When she is snatched and dragged ashore by a man who thought she was drowning, her heart races for reasons that have nothing to do with the swim and everything to do with the man standing before her.

With a mission to finish, Declan can’t allow distractions, and Lady Fiona is definitely a distraction. But he’s discovering that living for the next mission isn’t as exciting as it used to be. Staying in the past is forbidden, but Fiona McClure is his destiny.


Don't forget to enter the June Giveaway!

Vote For Dark Past

Dark Past has been nominated for a RONE Award! I am so so excited about this! But Dark Past won't win without your help!

Please vote for Dark Past in the novella category here

You have to make an account, but it takes a couple of seconds and you can opt out of emails. 

Voting is from May 11 through May 17, 2020. 

In D'Tale gave Dark Past a great review: Here is a screenshot, and a link for those with screenreaders

Some secrets won't stay quiet...

                                     

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I also have a teeny bit of news: Amethyst Heat is free! This is a short story I wrote once upon a time, and it's got a spiffy new cover -I mean doesn't this just scream Highlander Take Me Away?

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While out riding, Meg McMurray finds herself on unfamiliar lands. Gone are the long expanses of Oklahoma prairie, and in front of her are the wild Scottish Highlands. How did she come to be there, and did Aunt Gilly's amethyst ring have anything to do with it? A sweet romance set in the Highlands of Scotland.

Don't forget to enter the May giveaway! 

The Accidental Branding of a Highland Hussy by @LauraHunsaker

Once upon a time, there was a baby author who loved Highlander Romances so much, that she read any book with a man in a kilt on them. At one point, she created a Twitter account specifically to join in Man Candy Monday. This was a night where all of Romancelandia would join in to post stock photos of hunky men. For Laura, it was reserved for men in kilts only, and she was known for finding the best of the kilted men. She teased on twitter that she was a hussy for those Highlanders. What she didn't know, is that she would become so well known by that name, that she would be forever branded the Highland Hussy.

When someone says that they're "on brand," it usually means that whatever it is they are doing is exactly what one would expect from them. They are conforming to the image that is associated with that brand. And my brand is, you guessed it! Highlanders! I write Scottish Romance...with a twist!

Check out this post for more about my books

Hi I'm Laura Hunsaker, the Highland Hussy, and I write Scottish Time Travel Romance. Except when I don't.

I had an idea that just wouldn't leave, and after a major case of writer's block, I decided to take someone's advice and just play around. The goal was to not stress about my work in progress, but rather just write something, anything, new. In the Romantic Suspense I've written called Dark Past, there's nary a Scot to be found! As an author, I really wondered long and hard about what to do about that, since I typically write in such a different genre. As a reader, I thought about several well-known authors who write in several genres, and it's neither confusing nor annoying. So this Highland Hussy has written a Romantic Suspense without any Highlanders LOL.

You can add Dark Past to your Goodreads account here.

I can't wait for everyone to meet Kate and Kyle, and let's hope readers won't mind reading an FBI hero and barista heroine written by a Highland Hussy.

Dark Past has a tentative release date of April 30, 2019. Keep an eye on this blog, or my website for the firm date. Join my newsletter for all new release information. 

Some secrets won't stay quiet...

The small town was supposed to be safe... 

Kate Landry is tired of running. Thinking she's safe, she settles in the small logging town of Chester, California to manage a cafe. She may be keeping a low profile, but she's hoping to return to a normal life. 

When FBI agent Kyle Donovan visits to Chester to stay with a friend, and to recover from his latest case, he never expects to meet sexy barista Kate. 

But someone is following Kate... 

Kyle worries he brought trouble to her door, while Kate worries her dark past is coming after her.

With danger lurking around every corner, her safe haven isn't as safe as she'd thought. Kate will finally have to trust someone enough to tell him her secrets. Secrets that may just get them killed...

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And don't forget to enter the contest here on the Romance Gems!

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