Frampton Comes Alive No. 11
New book next week!
Hey! I’ve got a book coming out on Tuesday!
It’s Her Adventures in Temptation, the third book in the School for Scoundrels series. It is a standalone, meaning you don’t have to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy it.
(Also, quick note: if you are Brooklyn, NY-adjacent, and want to come celebrate in person, I am doing an event with Sarah MacLean, Adriana Herrera, and Joanna Shupe on January 26th at 7pm at The Ripped Bodice).
Here’s the synopsis:
In this newest addition to the School for Scoundrels series, Simeon Jones and Lady Myrtle Allen tell all the ton that they are engaged to be wed, fully knowing that once the season is over they will quietly part ways. They each have their reasons, but neither expected love to tempt them into turning a pretense into reality!
Simeon Jones has a secret—he is soft-hearted. Despite his scandalous exterior, he will quietly give money to orphans (after all, he was one himself), animals, and damsels in distress. One such damsel is Lady Myrtle Allen—but it’s not her funds that are lacking, but rather she needs to get to London—fast.
And so begins a wild adventure. First, the pair tells all the ton that they are engaged to be wed—how else to prevent scandal once they are found together—alone! They plan to carry out this deception, fully knowing that once the season is over, they will quietly part ways. But then, they discover that they have fallen in love, which was definitely not part of their plan! Can this scandalous man and adventurous woman turn this pretense into reality?
This book was another one where I thought it was just a confounded mess while I was writing it, and then I figured out some of what it was actually about, and I edited based on that new knowledge (fun fact: some authors don’t know what the story is until they finish it. It is me. I am some authors).
My editor didn’t ask for any changes to it, which is rare, and so I was entirely delighted.
The heroine, Myrtle, is blunt, unable to lie, and very, very smart. Which she knows. I suppose I am continually writing Mary Bennet’s happy ever after ending–Mary Bennet, the Bennet sister who is pedantic, can’t read social cues, but is also very smart. I suppose I am Mary Bennet sometimes myself, and I can relate to not quite fitting in.
Wait. I just gave myself an epiphany. I think I am Mary Bennet most of the time. That explains a lot, and also about the heroines I tend to write. I promise, however, I will never hog my time at the piano. Mostly because I don’t play piano.
I wanted the hero to be gobsmacked by Myrtle. He’s unflappable, utterly charming, suave, and full of aplomb. When he meets the force that is Myrtle, I wanted him to be flappable and possessing no aplomb whatsoever. Negative aplomb.
They fall in love because they see the strengths in one another that they might lack themselves. They want each other to succeed, which is why initially they think they can’t be together. As always, I am writing about the right to choose–to choose one’s future, one’s love, one’s own destiny.
In non-writing stuff, I am still listening to non-stop K-pop, and my current favorite FAVORITE is NCT Dream’s Broken Melodies. The song is such a perfect little pop nugget, plus their voices are so beautiful.
NCT DREAM 엔시티 드림 'Broken Melodies' MV
I’m watching a bunch of (mostly) Thai BLs, and they’re delightful fun.
This is from Love In the Air, and (warning) it is very racy.
My husband and I are watching Reacher, and I am so impressed they were able to bring that character to the screen and add more dimensions than were in the books (we do NOT speak about the Tom Cruise iteration).
Thanks for reading! See you next month.
Megan