About the Book
Name of book: Out of the Ordinary
Author: Jen Turano
Genre: Christian historical
Release Date: November 7, 2017
“With all the charm of a Regency romance, the humor of a drawing
room farce, and the swoonworthy delight of a fairy tale, Turano’s first Apart from the Crowd historical absolutely sparkles.”–Publishers Weekly on Behind the Scenes
Working as a paid companion may be quite commonplace, but Miss Gertrude
Cadwalader’s eccentric employer makes her job unpredictable, to say the
least. She finds herself carrying out an array of highly unusual tasks,
including wearing peculiar outfits and returning items the woman
pilfered. But when the wealthy Mrs. Sinclair catches Gertrude sneaking
around the Sinclair yacht with some of the missing items in her
possession, she immediately jumps to the wrong conclusion.
Shipping magnate Harrison Sinclair is caught in the middle of a
misunderstanding between his mother and Gertrude, but he can’t help
coming to his friend’s defense. Even as he hopes their friendship might
become something more, Harrison is unprepared for the outlandish
escapades that seem to follow the lovely, anything-but-ordinary Gertrude
at every turn.
“The second installment of Turano’s Apart from the Crowd series is
laugh-out-loud enjoyable. The foibles of the characters, balanced out
with a light-hearted yet meaningful love story, is a true treat. . . .
All of the threads are tied together in the end, even the small
mysteries and side stories. It makes for a very satisfying read when the
last page is turned.”–
RT Book Reviews
Click here to purchase your copy!
About the Author
Jen Turano, author of nine books and two novellas, is a graduate of the University
of Akron with a degree in clothing and textiles. She is a member of ACFW
and lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Visit her website at
www.jenturano.com.
Q & A with Jen Turano
What Readers Want to Know from Jen
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 ~
Blog Stops
Giveaway
To celebrate the tour, Bethany House is giving away a grand prize of Two Jen Turano Novels and a $20 Starbucks Gift Card!!
