Axel Mackenzie, a top magazine photographer, had a dream of
owning a small microbrewery in Pittsburgh and finally
getting out of the New York rat race. His dream is so
close, he could almost taste its malty reality. Now highly
leveraged (actually totally skint), he
just needs to come up with a wee (actually quite a wee bit)
more money to pay off Brendan and it was his. Desperate to
get one last assignment for the cash, Axel was ready to do
just about anything to get another bit of work at Vanity
Place magazine.
When he asked Kate what was available and she said a shoot
on John Irving, he was thrilled for an instant. Then, his
heart dropped to his stomach when he found out it was for
the head of the literature section, Ellery Sharpe, and he
decided that it would be easier to go without food for a
week than to work with her.
Not that Ellery wasn't a top professional writer and fun to
work with! She was one of the best and was famous for her
incisive and passionate prose. Despite their differences,
Axel still greatly admired her work and enjoyed the
skewering Ellery had just done on the new memoir about
Bettina Moore, the head of Pierrot Enterprises, the largest
romance publishing house in the world. He knew for a fact
that Ellery, who he loved to tease by calling her
Pittsburgh much to her chagrin, wouldn't read a romance
book if her life depended on it, as she had been his
beloved lover five years before. Sadly, the demilitarized
zone between them was still pretty wide and raw.
Filled with bluster and emotion, Buhl Martin Black, Vanity
Place's publisher turned the tables on both Ellery and
Axel. Unbeknown to Ellery, Martin was having an affair
with Bettina Moore and she was now seeking her revenge for
the scalding review Ellery has written! Black decided to
give Ellery a new assignment. Then, he sneakily promised
Axel a bonus if he could get Ellery to write a positive
article about romance. How was Axel ever to get his
Pittsburgh microbrewery now that his Canadian charm no
longer held any magic with Ellery? Who could he turn to
for help to get Ellery to write a good story now that he
only had a week to get the cash he needed? How could Ellery
ever get her new dream job if she was caught writing a
story about romance readers?
Gwyn Cready has penned a wild and wacky reverse take on the
usual romance tale and it is a hoot! As a key part of the
story relates to Axel's Scottish-Canadian ancestry. The
story is nicely peppered with some quirky Canadian and
British customs, along with a few spicy Pittsburgh
quips about perogies (also commonly found in western
Canada) and beer. With her insider knowledge of the
publishing trade, Cready keeps this rollicking and "off-
KILT-er" romance on target while Ellery and Axel have to
deal with their changing feelings and emotions about
romance novels and each other! So, raise a glass and enjoy!
From the old steel mills of Pittsburgh to the picturesque
hills of Scotland, romance novels save the day in RITA
Award–winning author Gwyn Cready's fun and sensuous take on
literature and modern-day love.
When snobbish book critic Ellery Sharpe screws up at
Vanity Place magazine, her boss assigns her the
ultimate punishment: write an ode to romance novels, a genre
she considers the literary equivalent of word search
puzzles. To make matters worse, he hires her sexy former
party boy ex, Axel Mackenzie, to shoot the photos. Axel
really wants the project to succeed. For one, the magazine
will double his fee if he convinces strong-willed Ellery to
write a story no woman can resist. Besides,getting
Ellery to fall for romance novels might be just the push she
needs to believe people can change . . . even him.
At his sister's advice, Axel gives Ellery a copy of
Kiltlander, a much-adored romance whose warrior hero
is utterly irresistible. To her dismay, Ellery finds herself
secretly falling in love with the story—and with Axel, who's
drawing his own lessons from the book's compelling hero.
With her carefully crafted image of herself crumbling and
her dream job on the line, will Ellery risk it all to make
the leap from tight-lipped literati to happily-ever-after
heroine?
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