Regan Walker's Best of the Regency with author Janna MacGregor - Interview & Giveaway!

Hi, all! It’s Regan here with another Best of the Regency author. My guest today is Janna MacGregor, who is here to answer all my questions. Janna writes stories where compelling and powerful heroines meet and fall in love with their equally matched heroes. She tells me she was born and raised in the “boot heel” of Missouri. She credits her darling mom for introducing her to the happily-ever-after world of romance novels.

Janna is the mother of triplets (oh, my!) and lives in Kansas City with her very own dashing rogue and two smug, but not surprisingly, perfect pugs. She loves to hear from readers.

Janna is the mother of triplets (oh, my!) and lives in Kansas City with her very own dashing rogue and two smug, but not surprisingly, perfect pugs. She loves to hear from readers.

 

Hi everyone! I’m so delighted to be here today as Regan’s guest on the Best of the Regency.

The Interview:

What was the first story you remember writing?

Hmm, that’s kind of a hard question, as I don’t recall writing much fiction before I started my debut novel, The Bad Luck Bride. But I wrote a ton in day job. I’m an attorney, and we’re always thinking and writing about arguments.

 

What drew you in to write Regency romances?

My darling mom was an elementary school teacher. Every Friday, she’d come home with a huge brown grocery sack of romance novels she traded with the other teachers. One day I found a Barbara Cartland romance and devoured it. I never looked back, and to this day, I still prefer Regencies to any other genre.

Who’s your favorite villain?

That’s easy. Lisa Kleypas’s Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent, from The Devil in Winter. That man will fascinate me for all my days.

How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

Exhausting! Seriously, it’s such a treat to write these characters stories and think up scenes and plots for these special and (to me) fascinating people. They never cease to surprise me with their actions and conversations!

What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in?

Anything with a hero and heroine who butt heads with one another. Forced marriage or marriage of convenience is my absolute catnip. Who can resist a story where a couple is thrown together and must discover a way to scrape out a life together? (The Bad Luck Bride is a marriage of convenience story with a twist. In order to avenge his sister’s death, Alex must convince Claire to marry him.) Overall, I love a good Regency and will never turn my nose up at a contemporary. I especially love any Christina Lauren or Laura Trentham novel, and will drop everything to start one of their new stories.

Tea or Coffee? And how do you like it?

It’s not even close call. Coffee, the blacker, the better.

What three things are, at this moment, in your heroine’s reticule?

A half-crown, a handkerchief, and a letter from fiancé number four dumping her.

What’s your favorite movie of all time?

I have two that are tied. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder and Chocolat with Juliette Binoche. I make it sound like I’m a chocolate fiend, but I’m not. I promise!

[Regan’s note: It’s perfectly proper to be a chocolate fiend.]

Fairy Tale or Action/Adventure?

Fairy Tale. I’m a sucker for a good story particularly if there’s a love story in the mix.

What’s your favorite fairy tale?

Hand’s down-Beauty and the Beast

Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?

Yes. I Ain’t Superstitious – Howlin’ Wolf, Superstition – Stevie Wonder, Spooky – Atlanta Rhythm Section, Witchy Woman – Eagles, and Black Magic Woman – Santana.

It’s pretty eclectic, but Lady Claire Cavensham, the heroine of The Bad Luck Bride, would so understand.

 

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

The inspiration for my story is Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, who happens to be the great-great-great-great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II. Like Claire, the heroine in The Bad Luck Bride, the countess was an heiress worth approximately six-hundred-thousand pounds—an unbelievable amount of money back then. She had little control over her marriage or her own life. Unlike Claire, the countess didn’t have a happy ever after in her marriage as she married a controlling fortune hunter. But, I kept asking myself…what if Claire was an heiress whose father had the foresight to give her control over her own fortune. What if with all that money, she was unhappy? What if she met a man who was worthy of her love but had to change himself in order to understand the great gift he’d been given in her love? That’s where I got my story

What’s the best present you’ve ever received?

I have triplets, and right before they left for college, they gave me a pug puppy so I wouldn’t be so lonely. With Pollie by my side and a good romance to read, I hardly missed them! No, that’s not at all true. I missed them horribly. But during that time, I started devouring all the romances I could. Within a couple of years, I had my debut novel, The Bad Luck Bride written. In a roundabout way, I guess Pollie is responsible for all this! 

 

The Bad Luck Bride is the first in a new Regency romance series.

All were shocked at the announcement of the “cursed” Lady Claire Cavensham to Lord Alexander Hallworth, the Marquess of Pembrooke, especially since she is already engaged to another unfortunate Lord. Perhaps she will make it to the altar this time with one of these fine gentlemen! ― Midnight Cryer

No one is left breathless at the imperious pronouncement of her engagement to Lord Pembrooke more than Claire. She hardly knows the dangerously outrageous man! But after three engagements gone awry and a fourth going up in glorious flames, she isn’t in a position to refuse...

Alexander requires the hand of his enemy’s fiancée in marriage in order to complete his plans for revenge. It’s his good fortune that the “cursed” woman is desperate. However, what begins as a sham turns into something scandalously deeper...

 "Full-bodied romance...with intelligence and heart." ― Cathy Maxwell

"Captivating characters and a romance that sizzles." ― Eloisa James 
"Will leave you swooning." ― Sabrina Jeffries

Read an excerpt:

Alex smiled in earnest. “I would never allow you to be humiliated in front of society. I’m trying to help you.” Somehow, he had to convince her of that fact, then the idea of marrying him would be much easier to accept.

She blinked rapidly, then turned back to him and, for an instant, appeared startled to see him there. “That’s very gallant, my lord. Truly, thank you for the effort. But I must leave.”

This night could not end with her escaping, so he tried another tactic. “You need to protect your Wrenwood estate and your wealth from lechers who would feed upon your vulnerability. Not to mention stop that ridiculous curse.”

“I have two.” She held up two gloved fingers.

“Two? Two what? Curses?” No one at his club had uttered a peep about another curse.

“Estates. I have two estates, Wrenwood and Lockhart.” She returned his stare.

Her answer was unexpected, but his business experience had taught him to show nothing. The report from his private investigator had not mentioned additional properties. Thoughts were percolating if she chose to disclose this information.

A razor of lightning split the sky. She flinched and took a step closer to him, but her reaction had nothing to do with him. It was the storm.

Her gaze darted to the exit of the alcove, then she returned her attention to him. With a slight shrug of her shoulders, his evening jacket fell into her hands. She offered it to him. “My lord, good night.” Outside their hideaway, the voices of a man and a woman floated in the air.

Alex put his hand on her shoulder to prevent her escape. “Will you give me some assistance? I seem to have lost my valet.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Besides, if you leave now, whoever is out there will see us.”

On Amazon, B&N, iBooks and Kobo. 

Keep up with Janna on her Website, Twitter and Facebook.

Janna’s Question for Readers: Do you believe in curses or are you superstitious? What’s your favorite superstition or curse?

Comment with your email. Two lucky winners will receive autographed copies of The Bad Luck Bride.