Author Spotlight: E. Elizabeth Watson is here with Highlanders!
I love it when the Spotlight shines on an author I’ve met in person! E. Elizabeth Watson and I met at the Tule Author Retreat a couple of years and she was a delight! We even shared an early-morning writing session while we were there! I’m excited to welcome her to the Author Spotlight today!
Elizabeth is convinced life is better with good coffee, chocolate, and a pair of hiking boots. Ever since her elementary school librarian “published” her epic childhood tales—complete with laminated handmade covers—she’s enjoyed exploring the world through literature. She fell in love with the harsh Texas desert where she found inspiration for charismatic cowboys and the stubborn women who tame them while documenting prehistoric rock art as a student at the University of Texas at Austin.
A recovering archaeologist and biomed research coordinator, Elizabeth spends her days penning heroes ranging from Scottish and Medieval warriors to Texas cowboys crowned with Stetsons. Whether in kilts or pearl-snaps, her heroes wear plaid! She currently lives on a mountainside in West Virginia with her husband, sons, and various pets. Always honored to hear from readers, make sure to follow her on Facebook, Bookbub, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.
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How did you decide on your book’s location?
Answer: I adore Scotland. I once lived and studied in the U.K. and researched my archaeology dissertation in Scotland. I return to explore and research whenever it is possible to do so. With Outlaw Ever After being part of an enemies-to-lovers series set in mid 16th century Scotland, and each book set during a different holiday, I had already set two books in the Highlands. I had already used Christmastide and Lughnasadh as holidays, too, which meant I needed a different holiday for Outlaw Ever After. However, I needed to find an enemy of Clan Grant, the clan of my heroine, Lady Peigi. And I found that enemy in the Clan Comyn, when centuries ago the Comyn castle of Freuchie, in the north of Scotland, was seized by the Grants after the laird was killed. And oh, this was going to be a perfect book to set during spooky season: Halloween! I’d found my holiday, because according to oral tradition, the laird’s skull had been kept by the Grants, and an omen declared that if ever it should be removed from the castle, bad luck would befall the Grants and Castle Freuchie would fall out of their hold.
What inspired your story?
Answer: So many things! But the oral tradition about the skull being kept in Castle Freuchie, now Castle Grant, and the superstition of bad luck that would befall the Grants should the skull ever be removed was the morsel that set the stage for my entire story to unfold. I had so much fun playing with superstitions, old world traditions, and creating original music for this story. My characters both share a talent for music, a trait that draws them together, with the help of a little Halloween magic, too.
GIVEAWAY: Elizabeth is giving away a free eBook of Outlaw Ever After to one luck commenter. Just tell her your favorite Halloween treat. We’ll pick a winner on Saturday morning.
Outlaw Ever After
“They took everything. Now he’s come back to claim it—and her—in this broodingly intense and sexy Highlander romance that will delight fans of Karen Marie Moning and Lynsay Sands.
When she was just a lass, Peigi Grant attended a wedding—one that quickly turned into a night of bloodshed and grief. Through it all, there were whispers of the Comyn heir, a boy accused of the crime, who mysteriously disappeared.
Now it’s fourteen years later, and Peigi’s never breathed a word to a soul about that fateful night…or her role in helping the boy escape. But she never would have dared imagine that sweet boy turning into a roguish warrior who could shatter her heart and her reputation.
Alexander is drawn to Peigi by her clear, sweet voice. Her loveliness—along with an uncanny sensation of fate—tempts him to lay down his war scythe forever. But his clan, his lands, and his very birthright were stolen by the Grant clan…and vengeance still calls to him.
They don’t know his true name. But the Grants will come to fear his wrath…even if it destroys the one person who could tame his wild, Highlander heart.
“Outlaw Ever After is an intoxicating, enemies-to-lovers romance between two people fated to fall for each other…even if it sets all of Scotland ablaze.”
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