Guest Post/Giveaway: Once Upon a Highland Summer by Lecia Cornwall

Follow Lecia Cornwall this week as she takes readers on a tour of her lush Scottish historical e-original, ONCE UPON A HIGHLAND SUMMER, on sale from Avon Impulse 11/5. All week, you’ll find out about the romantic setting, the lively characters (both alive and…otherworldly), and the Scottish romance genre in general!  Commenters will have a chance to win a signed book by Lecia (US & Canada only)

Visit each blog on its designated day to get the full behind the scenes picture of ONCE UPON A HIGHLAND SUMMER:

11/4—Rakes, Rogues, and Romance Find out all about the hero and heroine of ONCE UPON A HIGHLAND SUMMER

11/5—Crystal Blogs Books Lecia shares pictures from her firsthand research of the Scottish setting

11/6—For the Love of Bookends Learn more about the ghostly matchmakers who bring our hero & heroine together

11/7—Romancing the Readers  Lecia names some of her favorite Scottish-set historicals

11/9—Coffee Time Romance Top 10 Best Scottish Romances of All Time!

Buy Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iTunes

Kobo

Description:

An ancient curse, a pair of meddlesome ghosts, a girl on the run, and a fateful misunderstanding make for the perfect chance at true love.

Lady Caroline Forrester is on the run from her brother’s scheme to marry her off to the highest bidder. An escape to Scotland offers a chance at employment as a governess and freedom from an unhappy marriage-it’s the perfect solution. But Caroline wasn’t prepared for the feelings that her new employer brings out in her.

Alec McNabb, the reluctant Earl of Glenorne, never expected to return home to Scotland. But now that he’s there, he realizes he has obligations that he cannot escape. Alec needs to marry well, and quickly.

When a case of mistaken identity-coupled with the sensual, magical atmosphere of Glenorne castle-results in a passionate encounter, Caroline and Alec must decide whether their attraction is enough to overcome the problems of their pasts, or whether this one chance at true love was over before it began …

Q&A

Love the light touch of the paranormal to this story! Ghostly star-crossed lovers, bringing their descendants together—so romantic. What made you decide to include this element?

I think there’s definitely an element of magic that comes with falling in love—the idea that somehow fate can bring two people together who are made for each other, out of all the people in the universe. And what if fate had a little help, or there was an ancient wrong that needed to be made right and only love could solve the problem, or cure the world’s ills? What if words spoken anger in the past could be undone by a love that can transcend time and even death? That’s a wonderful love story to be able to tell.

Have you ever been involved in a matchmaking scheme like Georgiana and Angus cooked up for Alec and Caroline?

Well, kind of … I was a very shy and awkward in high school—bookish, thick glasses, tall, quiet, and skinny. My friends were determined to find me a date for the prom, since the dance was for couples only. A girl I hardly knew—a friend of a friend—suggested I might like to go with her older brother. Actually, she was quite insistent, and I met my blind date the day before the prom. We were married one year, two months, and five days later. That was thirty-one years ago, and my sister-in-law still reminds us that she’s the one who brought us together.

ONCE UPON A HIGHLAND SUMMER is a love story within a love story. Was it satisfying to give the two ghostly matchmakers a second chance to be together?

Very! How sad is to imagine what your life might have been like if only things had been different, to know that your perfect match, your soul mate, was lost to you forever, and to die with her name the last word on your lips. Torn apart by forces they could not control, Angus and Georgiana—a Scot and an English lass who fall in love at the wrong time in history—return as ghosts to right the wrongs of their own lifetime by ensuring their descendants find the love and happiness they themselves missed out on. I thought that they deserved a happy ending for own their story as well as Alec and Caroline’s.