Sep 12, 2018

Behind the story

Until now, I’ve not written a marriage-of-convenience story. I’m not sure why, as they’ve always fascinated me. And when I had a vision of a woman joking and telling the man she was lunching with that she’d marry him for a million pounds… Well, seriously, what’s an author to do, but play the “what-if” game to discover who these two were? :)

And that is how the The Million Pound Marriage Deal was born.

I had three songs that I played over and over while I was dreaming this book into being (and while I was writing it):

* Jewel’s Foolish Games, which was Sophie’s theme song
* Robert Palmer’s Simply Irresistible, which was Will’s theme song
* Morgan Evan’s Kiss Somebody, which came on the radio the first time I was idly dreaming about this story

If you watch the film clip of Foolish Games, you’ll see where my inspiration came for Sophie’s love of horses. ;-)


The expression on her face in the final seconds of the clip gets to me every single time.

I have a Pandora charm for each of my books, and this is the one I chose for The Million Pound Marriage Deal. A piggy bank. Isn’t that red bow the cutest? It seemed appropriate given that Sophie is saving all her pennies so desperately.
 Will marries to ensure he inherits the house his vulnerable sister calls home, which just happens to be a Scottish castle. I know, swoon, right? And this is what I envisaged Will’s castle looks like…


This is Cawdor Castle, and I grabbed this photo from their website…so if you want to read more about the Castle (and it’s link to Macbeth!) just click on the link. :-)

So that's a little bit about the book! If you have any questions about the book or my process, ask away and I'll do my best to answer them. :-)
 

The Million Pound Marriage Deal is on shelves now, and available at all of the usual places.

Amazon
iBooks
Barnes and Noble
Harlequin


12 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle

    I did love this book and the theme songs for both Sophie and Will are really good, I do enjoy seeing and hearing how you get to think about writing your stories, and that Pandora charm is perfect :) love that castle I would love to visit :)

    Have Fun

    Helen

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    1. Oh, Helen, wouldn't it be lovely to visit Scotland to explore all of those marvellous castles? That'd be such a treat. And so glad you enjoyed Sophie and Will's theme songs. At a certain point in the story Sophie actually says they're playing a Foolish Game. And at a different point Will acknowledges to himself that he'd always thought Sophie pretty, but now he thinks her irresistible (obviously both lines were directly influenced by the songs :-) ).

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  2. I love Morgan Evans Kiss Somebody, Michelle. Also love his While We're Young!

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    1. Once I discovered him, Amy, I had to watch *all* of his video clips -- in the interests of research you understand. ;-) And I particularly enjoyed both that song and the clip.

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  3. I, too, am a collectors of charms and that piggy is TOO cute, Michelle. I *may* have to work one into a book just so I can get the charm!

    Also, I'm now obsessed with the Jewel song/video. I will be reading the book while imagining the scenes it inspired.

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    1. The charms are too cute (and/or gorgeous!) to resist, Bron! I have been known to browse the charm catalogues looking for story inspiration there. :-)

      And, yes, that Jewel video -- I can watch it over and over. :-)

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  4. I love that you have a playlist to go with the book. How cute is that little pig. What a great idea to have a special charm for each of your books.

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    1. Music can be such a great source of inspiration, Veronica. Not just in terms of story ideas, but for atmosphere and tone too.

      As for my charms, Mr Douglas started the tradition...and I love it. :-)

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  5. Love the sound of The Million Pound Marriage Deal, Michelle. I love a marriage of convenience story. And that song...so lovely and moving.

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    1. Thanks, Jen. And, yes, the song is so full of emotion! Perfect for use in the romance writer's arsenal. ;-)

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  6. I loved this story --reading how they started out friends then reading how it turned into something more------Lyn

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