Jenn McKinlay: I'm very excited to have the second e-novella in the Museum of Literature series out today ($2.99). These have been such fun stories to write because I can do whatever I want with them.
Here's the thing about writing long running series like the Cupcake Bakery, Library Lovers, and London Hat Shop mysteries, every now and then I get a bit of series fatigue. Sometimes I feel as if I've just turned in a cupcake mystery and then another one is coming out. The worlds are established and the characters are familiar friends and there is a lot of comfort in that. It's truly like visiting old friends every time I write another one, but I can't exactly whisk the bakers or the milliners or the crafternooners off for a holiday on a Greek island in the Aegean sea, now can I? Well, I could but it would be weird.
Enter the e-novellas. The first one Royal Valentine was a nod to my love of all things Jane Austen with a trip to Bath and a visit to the Jane Austen Centre there. So fun! And The Attraction Distraction came from my life long love of Greek myths and my worship of Madeline Miller's books The Song of Achilles and Circe (HIGHLY recommend)! After reading her books, I just desperately wanted to go to Greece and revisit the Trojan War, Achilles, Helen, and all of that Homeric tale telling. So I did.
Because the novellas are based on a fictional Museum of Literature, I get to dive deeper into different parts of literature that I love. It's such a treat to be able to revisit the books I love and make them a stepping off place for some grand adventures because I don't know about you, but after two years of being stuck in my own zip code, I want some adventure!
While I know that some readers love a good cry with their rom-coms--
the old laugh, cry, laugh again thing-- I much prefer putting my characters in jeopardy. Give me a life or death thrill ride over crying in your Ben & Jerry's every time! This is why Romancing the Stone and now The Lost City are two of my favorite romcom films. I want travel, adventure, laughs, and a brush with death - is that asking too much?
How about you, Reds and Readers? Do you like your romcom with a side of sad 😩 or a side of yikes 😲? No judgment! LOL.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Royal Valentine, a second novella in the Museum of Literature romcom series, in which the only thing standing between a single-minded Classics scholar and the literary discovery of a lifetime is her heart.
There is nothing Sarah Novak loves more than a literary adventure. When the director of the Museum of Literature sends Sarah to an uninhabited island in the Aegean Sea to look for a rare artifact from Ancient Greece, Sarah, an expert on the Classics, is all in.
One problem. Nine other scholars are also on the hunt for the artifact, one of whom is Irishman Liam Maguire, Sarah's ex and the man she beat out for the curator position at the museum seven years ago. Liam wants to form an alliance, but Sarah refuses. He broke her heart once before; she's not giving him the chance to do it again.
When a series of mysterious "accidents" befall the scholars one by one, Sarah is forced to rethink her position on her sworn enemy, particularly when Liam saves her life. She agrees to team up with the swoony Irishman, knowing full well that finding the treasure will likely cost her heart.
