Sunday, November 12, 2017

Out of the Ordinary by Jen Turano (Celebrate Lit Blog Tour) & Giveaway

out of the ordinary FB Banner copy

Series: Apart from the Crowd #2
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: Nov. 7, 2017
352 pages
About the Book:
Miss Gertrude Cadwalader hoped her position as the paid companion to Mrs. Davenport would be easy. But as she becomes acquainted with her employer, she realizes the wealthy Mrs. Davenport has a strange tendency to be a bit light-fingered with other people's trinkets. Gertrude is relieved when Mrs. Davenport decides to have a quiet summer away from the social scene--until the woman changes her mind in order to help a young socialite launch into society.

When Gertrude is caught in the act of trying to return one of the trinkets by Mrs. Sinclair, the mother of shipping magnate Harrison Sinclair, the woman jumps to an unfortunate conclusion. Harrison is determined to mend fences with Miss Cadwalader, but he's unprepared for the escapades a friendship with her will entail.
 

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 ðŸŒŸ 🌟 ðŸŒŸ   (4 stars)
 
 “I’ve recently come to the conclusion that love is a state that mustn’t be neglected, and a state that everyone should have an opportunity to embrace.”

This is book two of the series and many characters carry over from the previous book. Book one featured Permilia and Asher with this one featuring their best friends Gertrude and Harrison. Gertrude is the paid companion of Mrs. Davenport and ends up in sticky situations because of Mrs. Davenport’s antics. She has put up with a lot from Mrs. Davenport and just when she finally speaks up she ends up in her worst bind ever. Harrison stands up for her and it is then she realizes her true feelings for him, but he reads her wrong and makes a mess of things. With the help of his best friend Asher they hatch plans to fix it but instead plans go awry making for some entertaining scenes. Not only is Harrison attractive he is also compassionate and sweet. He has his own sense of style that others want to change but Gertrude embraces. She has had a difficult life and always puts aside her feelings for others, she doesn't feel like she is worthy of more than an ordinary life. With the help of her friends she learns that God has much more planned for her.

I personally didn’t like Mrs. Davenport’s character, I felt like she treated Gertrude badly and even when it was explained why she acted like she did I struggled with her. I did enjoy Harrison’s sister Edwina, she was a spunky girl and definitely added some needed spunk to Gertrude’s life. Harrison was a good hero character, he may not always say the right things but his actions spoke louder than his words. I loved that he was willing to 'sneak a peak' at his sisters romance books to try to understand the female mind. 

The interactions between Harrison and Gertrude, along with the meddling of their friends made the story entertaining. I laughed many times throughout at the hilarious antics that happened. Mixed in with the humor is a bit of a mystery that needs to be solved. The story wraps together nicely with a very romantic moment that makes it a satisfying read.

“What good is having long lashes if I never get to bat them.”

(I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House through NetGalley;
opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Other Books in the Series:
5-At-Your-Request_thumb 1 Behind the Scenes

 Q & A With Jen Turano:

Hey Everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by today. Because I’m in the midst of a first draft, and in case you don’t know, I don’t actually care for first drafts – all those pesky blank pages, but…I’m getting off track…where was I? Oh yes, why I brought up first drafts in the first place. You see, I’m a little scattered when I’m doing a draft, and because of that, and because my mind is a scary place to visit while filling up those already-mentioned blank pages, I was having a tough time coming up with a post for Celebrate Lit. That’s why I reached out to my fabulous readers, and…here are some of the questions their inquiring minds wanted to know about me or my books. I hope you enjoy them!

Why write in the Gilded Age?
When I started writing historical romance after experimenting with other genres, I didn’t write Gilded age but Regency pieces. However, when I ran across the book “The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York” by Greg King, I was intrigued, and a little baffled about how it came to be that I was so unfamiliar with that riveting time in history. It’s an era where unprecedented fortunes were made at a remarkable rate, those fortunes responsible for so many scandals that I’ll have enough fodder for stories to last me for years. The antics of the members of high society are vastly intriguing, as are the fashions of the day, which is exactly why I’ve never had second thoughts about choosing to write Gilded Age romances.

How do you come up with such unusual names for your characters?
I get asked this a lot. And, contrary to popular belief, I don’t make up the names of my characters. I search through obituaries from the 1800’s, peruse books on the New York Four-Hundred (those were members of high society – chosen by Mr. Ward McAllister, the social arbiter of the day,) and I also scour old census records. I do occasionally pair a first name with a different surname so that my main characters aren’t real historic figures because that can get tricky. Not long ago, while reading through Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: Person and Genealogical, Volume 1, I found a bit on my great-grandfather, which was cool – not that I’ll be using him, but I might have a character modeled after him at some point in time. Another interesting tidbit about choosing names is this – names only work for me if the characters decide they like the names I select for them. If they don’t like the name, they simply stop cooperating. I can’t write their stories until I choose another name. An example – I was recently going to name a heroine Georgianna – but it was like trying to write through mud. As soon as I changed her name to Myrtle, I was back in business.

What is the most ordinary thing you enjoy doing?
 I love to shovel snow.

Who is responsible for your book covers? Do you choose the model / setting?
Bethany House’s design team does all of my covers, and occasionally they hire out the job to other design houses. The only input I give is when I send in a character/setting sheet, describing my heroine and listing a few scenes that I feel might be good for the background. In “Out of the Ordinary,” I suggested having Gertrude on or near a boat, and the design team then hired a model who resembled my character sketch and put her on a boat.

Which character has been the most difficult to write?
All of my characters give me trouble at some point in time, but recently, Mrs. Davenport was the character who was being incredibly difficult. For the first three edits of “Out of the Ordinary,” she was too complicated and a bit on the dark side, but after I changed her backstory, and remembered she was supposed to be eccentric, not deranged, she turned into a delightful lady, one I enjoyed writing.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever Googled while doing research for a book?
I don’t know if this is crazy, more on the lines of idiotic, but I once googled Gentleman’s Clubs when I was looking for an all-male club my hero would want to join. That was a definite mistake, especially since I didn’t include a very important word – historic. Well, the next thing you know, all sorts of naughty sites were flashing in front of my eyes, and to this day, I still get advertisements for singles looking for a good time and all sorts of other interesting…offers.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Nope, it never entered my head to pursue a career in writing, nor was I ever a person to even keep a diary or a journal. I’m pretty sure I wanted to be a movie star when I was younger, but when that didn’t pan out, I majored in fashion and spent quite a few years working for department stores. It wasn’t until my son was in third grade and we wrote a book together just for fun that I began entertaining the thought of trying to see my stories in print.

How long did it take you to break into the publishing world, and how many books did you write before that happened?
What everyone needs to understand is that publishing is a cut-throat business. I had no idea when I decided to try and get published what the competition was like, and if I had, well, I might have nipped the whole idea of getting a book into print right in the bud. But, because I knew I only wanted to go the traditional route, it soon became clear, what with all the suggestions I was getting about the work I was sending out to agents, that I needed to up my game…a lot. I experimented with quite a few different genres – middle grade, YA, contemporary women’s fiction, Regency romance, and then Gilded Age, getting really proficient with query letters in the process. It wasn’t until I started writing historical romance, though, that I really began getting requests for full manuscript. After I’d been writing for about three years, I finally signed with an agent. She never sold the book she signed on to represent, but after I wrote “A Change of Fortune,” she sold that within two months. Long story short – it took me about seven years to get published from the time I wrote my first book, and…I have seven manuscripts that will never see the light of day because they’re awful.

Is there a reason you include so many animals in your stories?
I’ve always been an animal lover, and as such, I really enjoy writing different animals into my scenes. Dogs are my favorites, followed by pigs, and most of the characteristics my animals have are traits I’ve seen in real life. Matilda, the pig in “A Match of Wits,” was inspired by a pig I used to see in New York. She was so quirky, as well as intelligent, that I knew I would have to write a pig in at least one of my stories. This current series does not have as many animals because I do want to keep my stories fresh. But, having said that, my next series finds my heroine visiting a farm, and well, I don’t know many farms that don’t have animals, especially adorable cows by the name of Buttercup that may or may not have the odd tendency of moseying into the house to eat pie whenever the urge strikes.

Last question – Have any of the crazy antics in your books been inspired by real-life events???
I seem to be a magnet for weird things happening, so…yes, quite a few of those antics were inspired by real life events. I’ll share just one since I do need to get back to that first draft. I live near Denver, and when my son was little, we used to visit the Denver Zoo. That zoo just happens to have a very large flock of peacocks – peacocks that took one look at me one day – and I must add that I wasn’t doing anything except pulling my son in a wagon, and the next thing I knew, I was being chased through the zoo by what seemed to me to be the entire flock of peacocks – all seemingly intent on trying to murder me. Funny how fast a mom can run while pulling a wagon when in fear for her life. My son thought it was fabulous fun, and bless those members of the staff who came to my rescue. They were almost successful in not laughing, and…I received a free lunch after the dastardly peacocks were chased away. That event is what inspired me to write a mad flock of peacocks in “In Good Company.”

Thank you so much for visiting me today. Hope I answered a few questions you may have about me!
All the best,
~ Jen ~
 
Tour Schedule:
 
 
Giveaway:
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To celebrate the tour, Bethany House is giving away a grand prize of
Two Jen Turano Novels and a $20 Starbucks Gift Card!!
Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries!
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3 comments:

  1. Kelly BlackwellNovember 12, 2017 at 7:53 PM

    That was such a fun interview! Not to mention informative. It was great reading about what got Jen into the genre and into print! I can also relate to peacocks and their penchant for the chase. My gram lived in a park where there were many peacocks. One day when walking the lake, the peacocks gave me a good chase. Thankfully my gram's bike was near by. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 18, 2017 at 11:59 AM

    I loved the peacock story! They were always my favorite to see at the zoo!

    ReplyDelete

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