Welcome to The Burning Hearth’s April edition of In Conversation. Spring seems to be an appropriate time to talk about love, and I can think of no better person to talk about romance and writing with than the author of the Highlanders of Balforss series Jennifer Rupp, who publishes under the name Jennifer Threthewey.
Jennifer’s writing is packed full of intrigue, humor, well-muscled Scotts, and damsels in distress, sometimes not so distressing, and often full of moxie. Her skill as a writer shines in her dialogue, her humor, and her pitch-perfect scenes that tease the sexual tensions and emotions of her characters.
Her series, published between 2017 and 2019, created a six-month turnaround time between some books. Much to her credit, she never lets that show in her writing. An admirable quality to be sure. The writer I have come to know her as is all in, never cut corners, and always delivers for her audience.
Her Highlanders of Balforss Series (Entangled Publishing LLC) consists of four books: Tying the Scot, Betting the Scot, Forgetting the Scot, Saving the Scot. All are available in digital, audio, or print on demand at Amazon. We both encourage print readers to order paperbacks through Boswell Books or your area’s local bookseller.
Both past performers, we’ve often talked about what it means to play to and for an audience: to think about how an audience will respond to the performance we’re giving. While predicting an audience’s takeaway is a difficult, near impossible task, one thing I can promise: anyone reading Jennifer’s books will close them feeling satisfied.
Without further ado, welcome to In Conversation…with Jennifer Rupp!
Click on the downloads to hear the music composed by John and Susan Nicholson of Frogwater. Jennifer was excited when her longtime friends and collaborators wrote music inspired by her books! Lucy is the theme song for the main character in Tying the Scot, Taking the Tigress is the opening fight scene from Forgetting the Scot, and Gulfaxi’s Ride is from a chase scene in Betting the Scot.
Click Frogwater to enjoy their free live streaming concerts on Friday nights.
If you are interested, here is the link to Renaissance Theaterworks.
Jennifer was kind enough to provide In Conversation…with her romance recommends:
Loretta Chase – Lord of Scoundrels and Lord Perfect
Tessa Dare – The Duchess Deal and The Governess Game
Vanessa Riley – Bashful Brides
Lisa Kleypas – Ravenel Series
Jennifer Ashley The MacKenzie series
Heather McCollum – Sons of Sinclair series
And her craft book recommends:
Shut Up and Write by Judy Bridges
Story Genius by Lisa Cron
The Last Draft by Sandra Scofield
Rivet Your Reader with Deep Point of View by Jill Eliz Nelson
I am so grateful to Jennifer for our interview. I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed doing it! Please stop by next month when I will be interviewing Robert Vaughan.
Robert Vaughan teaches workshops in hybrid writing, poetry, fiction at locations like The Clearing, Synergia Ranch, Mabel Dodge Luhan House. He leads roundtables in Milwaukee, WI. He was a finalist for the Gertrude Stein Award for Fiction (2013, 2014). His flash fiction, ‘A Box’ was selected for Best Small Fictions 2016 and his flash, “SixGlimpses of the Uncouth” was chosen for Best Small Fictions 2019 (Queen’s Ferry Press). His work has appeared in Hobart, Ghost Parachute, Big Other, Smokelong Quarterly, and elsewhere. He is the Editor-in-Chief at Bending Genres, LLC.
Vaughan is the author of five books: Microtones (Cervena Barva Press); Diptychs + Triptychs + Lipsticks + Dipshits(Deadly Chaps); Addicts & Basements (CCM), RIFT, co-authored with Kathy Fish (Unknown Press) and FUNHOUSE(Unknown Press). Click Here to follow his blog.
Constance Malloy 