Aloha to Michelle Marcos and SECRETS OF SEDUCING A SCOT

Michelle Marcos.  Miami Heat.  Hemingway's Cats.  English Socialite.  Scottish Hero.

Curious?    Please join me in welcoming encantador author Michelle Marcos!  From her bio:

Michelle Marcos has finally reconciled herself with being thought eccentric. She lives with an unlucky number of cats and struggles with a debilitating Starbucks addiction. How a child of Cuban parents living in Miami could become such an Anglophile is still anybody'sguess. She graduated several centuries ago from the University of Miami with degrees in English and Education. Afterward, she spent several years being one of the "cool" teachers in a middle school, and had a brief but illustrious acting career playing roles like Lusty Housekeeper, Death, and (perhaps prophetically) Author.

Kim:  Oooooo, Miami ! It attracts many British tourists and expats .... so it is appropriate that you are an Anglophile! Tell us your favorite sight, sound, and smell of Miami.

Michelle:  Miami is one of the most cosmopolitan cities anywhere. Nearly every country in the world is represented here by its people or its cuisine. Here, you can have a craving for, say, Ethiopian food—and there are a handful of restaurants you could choose from. The one thing we don’t have? English tea shops.

I’ve lived in Miami all my life, so I couldn’t draw too much of a contrast with other places. But I can certainly tell you what’s to appreciate here. Most days are hot and humid…rather unpleasant. But when it rains, the water falls like a warm shower. I don’t even carry an umbrella, because I like walking out in the rain. And speaking of cuisine, you could walk down any block and smell the wonderful fragrance of Cuban food. Nearly every house or restaurant will exude the smell of lechon asado, arroz blancoand frijoles negros. And that’s not even counting el cafecito. Mmmm….

And even though Miami is an industrial place, there are no skyscrapers blocking your view of the clear blue sky. You can almost see from one horizon to another. And there is never nothing to do in Miami . You can gawk at celebrity ocean-front mansions or build modest Habitat for Humanity homes in the inner city. Walk the galleries or swim the beaches. Fishing with men or fishing for men…it’s all good.

Kim:  Many of Mary's followers, including myself, are cat lovers. And remember Hemingway's cats in Key West ... so maybe there is a connection between cats and books. I don't think cats and Starbucks make you eccentric ... I think they make you pampered! You have a pampered heroine in your new book - what inspired your new book and series?

Michelle:  I actually did own a Hemingway cat (polydactyl felines, for us word nerds). He was too macho to be pampered, but he sure liked all the attention he got.

The idea for SECRETS TO SEDUCING A SCOT came one night when I was watching Sex and the City. Carrie Bradshaw is a New York columnist who wears $400 Manolo Blahniks, attends fabulous parties, and then writes about her relationships for a local paper. She’s an interesting character who views the world through the veil of her social experiences. One of my favorite observations of Carrie’s: “Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free till they find someone just as wild to run with them.”

So I began to wonder what it would be like if a woman like Carrie were living in Regency England. A socialite who turned her knowledge of high fashion and high society into a highly popular newspaper column, setting London ablaze with her witticisms? Someone who was untamable, and had to run free, because there wasn’t a dandy or gentleman buck who could match her stride? I put down the Entenmann’s chocolate chip cookie I was munching on and wrote down the idea.

Carrie in London ... Princess Beatrice might be interested in her hat!

But this was only a start. After all, a story of romance needs two people. So I began to wonder where this socialite, Serena Marsh, would find her equal. Sadistic writer that I am, I decided I couldn’t make it easy for her. Her special someone would not be found in the ballrooms of London . She’d have to be plunged into the unfamiliar Highlands of Scotland to find her Mr. Big.

Putting a woman like Serena in a place like Scotland is like putting caviar on a Big Mac. They just don’t mix. To make matters worse, these are troubled times in Scotland , and she receives a threat on her life. It doesn’t faze her in the slightest, but her father—an ambassador sent to negotiate peace with the rebellious Scots—becomes terrified for her safety. He decides to hire a protector for her to make certain no harm comes to her. And the perfect man for the job is Malcolm Slayter.

Malcolm is a fugitive hunter for the Crown, and his fearsome appearance and battle skills make him the perfect protector for the English ambassador’s daughter. Sadly, he knows more about the violence and schemes of Scotsmen than any man alive. But even after he agrees to protect her, Serena wants nothing to do with him. He is brutish and unsophisticated, and damn him, he is also completely immune to her sway. She bristles under the restrictions that Malcolm puts upon her, and she can’t wait to leave the Highlands and return to her fashionable life in London . But Malcolm isn’t just dangerous-looking, he’s also dangerously good-looking, and it isn’t long before Serena begins to appreciate his battle-honed body and gruff Scottish ways. Malcolm is haunted by a pretty violent past, and Serena finds herself wanting to go beneath his scowl and somehow unclench his fists. And when his large, callused hands finally peel away the haute couture dress from her body—and her sense of propriety right along with it—Serena soon learns that there is no party in London quite as electrifying as a revolution in Scotland, and the only thing more intriguing than a man in a kilt…is a man out of one.

Mr Big and Mr. 24 in kilts

Kim:  Can you share any interesting tidbit you learned about Scotland as you wrote this book?

Michelle:  The Regency period is the most interesting time, in my opinion. Politically, socially, culturally, there was a lot happening. (And the fashions in England and France were just beautiful.) But in my research, I learned that Scotland was becoming quite advanced in many aspects. It was the birth of the industrial revolution in Scotland , and factories were springing up in the major cities. Roads were being paved, and there were incredible innovations in medicine. It’s a mistake to regard Scotland as being only sheep pastures and hay fields.

But I also learned that while Great Britain was wholly opposed to the slave trade, many industries subsisted upon the institution of slavery. Britain was the biggest importer of U.S. slave-grown cotton, and many prominent British families owned plantations in Jamaica, Cuba, and Brazil, where slavery wasn’t abolished until many decades later. That’s the interesting thing about research. You may not use those tidbits in the current work, but you can store them away for later…

Kim:  What's next for Michelle Marcos?

Michelle:  The Highland Knaves series continues with the story of Malcolm’s twin sisters, Shona and Willow, who readers will learn about in LESSONS IN LOVING A LAIRD (February 2012). Like Malcolm, the sisters are branded with the sign of slaighteur, and we’ll learn why their family was brutally slaughtered. One of the interesting things about this series is that what happens in the prologue is told from the point of view of Malcolm in the first book, and the same event is told from the point of view of Shona in the second. I can’t wait to share this story with others!

Mahalo, Michelle, for joining me for an intimate chat!  Leave a comment about Michelle, Miami, and/or Scotland to enter Mary's giveaway - her review copy of SECRETS OF SEDUCING A SCOT and a button bracelet!   To learn more about Mary's review and giveaway, check out this link.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii

Check out Michelle's other books at her website, www.michellemarcos.com.