Your book THE HIGHLANDER’S STOLEN BRIDE is described as an enemies-to-lovers romance. Not counting a few exceptions that prove the rule, I’ve always been more of a friends-to-lovers fan. What is the dynamic between these two characters? And what makes their love story so compelling?
I confess, I’m a huge enemies-to-lovers fan, especially when it includes a wounded hero…which this one does. When the Campbell clan comes back from their exile in Ireland to reclaim their land in Scotland, the McMillan siblings scramble to ally themselves through the best way they could in those days – through marriage. This is the last book of the Highland Alliance’s series and the heroine, Elspeth MacMillan, is supposed to wed the son of a neighboring laird, but on her way to the unwanted union, she gets kidnapped by Calum Campbell, son of the notoriously cruel Alexander Campbell who killed Elspeth’s father and many of their people. However, Calum Campbell is not only the son of a terrible and powerful man, he’s also the hero of The Highlander’s Stolen Bride.
Do you like to throw third act surprises in your romances? Like the hero and heroine almost have their relationship worked out when there’s some twist that has them doubting each other or their relationship? Or has them pushing each other away?
Oh absolutely! My readers can expect a lot of twists and turns throughout the book as well as a lot of adventure. But if I told you about it in this case, I’d ruin the surprise, so you’ll have to read to check it out
In your book UNMASKING THE EARL, you have two of my favorite tropes – opposites attract and mistaken identities. What made you use them in this story and what do you like about those tropes? Do you have other favorites? One of my other favorites is the pretend relationship that turns real.
Pretend relationship turns real is such a fun one! For Unmasking the Earl, I initially wrote this as part of an anthology set during a Midsummer Night’s themed masquerade ball – and what better place to encounter a mistaken identity? This is part of my Matchmaker of Mayfair series with Lady Bursbury who is a well-intentioned, self-appointed matchmaker of the ton and she’s partly to blame for this mistaken identity.
I like mistaken identity as long as it doesn’t go on too long, but a little flash of it – that’s fun! And I love opposites attract, especially when one is reserved and the other has a little bit of wild to them. I love marriage of convenience romances for Regency and enemies-to-lovers for medieval and Scottish romance – think those are my top two favorites.
What’s one trope you dislike? And why?
I don’t really enjoy the love triangle trope. At some point, someone feels like they are being cheated on (something I personally abhor) and someone will always end up getting hurt. Fortunately, most romances I’ve read don’t have love triangles
For you, what makes a good romantic hero? And what about a good heroine?
For a hero, I like a man who is sure of himself and confident with his role in life, but who also respects the heroine and isn’t too much of a man to let himself get saved if the situation calls for it. In my opinion, it takes a truly strong man to be with a strong woman and that is sexy.
For heroines, I like someone who is intelligent and at least tries to protect herself even if she might be scared in the moment. But I also like her to be able to be vulnerable enough to allow the hero to see her soft side, which of course, helps draw out his soft side. Soft sides (for the right person) all around!!
A few authors I’ve previously interviewed have surprised me by saying that what they like to read is not the same type of thing that they like to write. What do you enjoy reading? Favorite books? Favorite authors?
I read a lot of thrillers, classics, historical fiction, and nonfiction books on history. I recently finished reading The Last Grand Duchess by Bryn Turnbull and absolutely loved it – it was so beautifully written. My favorite author is Jane Austen and two of my favorite books of all time are The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on two projects at the moment – edits on a re-release of Deception of a Highlander, the first book of my Heart of the Highland series I’ll be starting to release in April and a historical fiction set during WWII in Poland called The Keeper of Hidden Books. I have about sixty nonfiction books I’m trying to read through for research on The Keeper of Hidden Books to ensure it’s as historically accurate as possible and truly enjoy doing research like that. I hope my readers enjoy both the re-release of The Heart of the Highlands series as it rolls out these next few months and The Keeper of Hidden Books (which will probably release in 2023 sometime).
THE HIGHLANDER’S STOLEN BRIDE by Madeline Martin
Highland Alliances #3
A dramatic enemies-to-lovers romance from New York Times bestselling author Madeline Martin!
From dutiful bride…
To the laird’s unwilling hostage!
Kidnapping Elspeth MacMillan on her way to an arranged marriage is the only way for new laird Calum Campbell to avoid more bloodshed and bargain peace for his people. Calum expects her fury but doesn’t expect the feisty lass to break through his defenses into his heart. With war waging between their families, will they ever be able to yield to love?
From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.
Romance Historical [Harlequin Historical, On Sale: March 29, 2022, e-Book, ISBN: 9781335407733 / ]
Buy THE HIGHLANDER’S STOLEN BRIDE: Kindle | BN.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Madeline Martin
Madeline Martin lives in Jacksonville, Florida with her two daughters (AKA OldestMinion and YoungestMinion) along with their two cats: SketchyCat who stares at walls and eats fuzz and LapCat who has a shoe fetish and enjoys Kung Pow peanuts. All shenanigans are detailed regularly on Twitter.
Madeline graduated from Flagler College with a degree in Business Administration and works for corporate America. Her hobbies include rock climbing, running, doing crazy races (like Mud Runs and Color Runs) and just about anything exciting she can do without getting nauseous. She’s also a history fan (really more of a full on history dork) and loves to blog about random curiosities from her research.
After living in Europe for over a decade, Madeline enjoys traveling overseas whenever she can. Her favorite place to visit thus far: Scotland.
Writing has been a passion of hers since she was a child and now she finally gets to see her lifelong dream come true.
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