Spotlight & Giveaway: The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony by Michelle McLean

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Michelle McLean to HJ!

Hi Michelle and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony!

 
Hi! Thanks so much for having me!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

A gunslinger on the run stumbles across a criminal retirement community and breaks his most cardinal rule by accidentally marrying the first woman he meets.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

If there was one thing Adam Brady was good at, it was making monumentally asinine decisions that landed him in a world of hurt and regret.
And he was almost 100 percent certain he was making another one. Then again, he didn’t have
much of a choice. Because thanks to his last asinine decision, namely an ill-advised entanglement with a beautiful woman of dubious character, he was on the run for his life. Again.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I based the heroine Nora on the amazing Gwendoline Christie.
• Our hero Adam started out named Adam, which I then changed 4 times before I realized I was right the first time and his name WAS Adam.
• The name of Adam’s horse came from a hamster I used to have
• I had to hole up in a hotel for a week to get this book written lol
• I wrote this with Escape to the Chateau DIY on in the background on a loop. It has nothing to do with the book but it helped the words flow for some reason!

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

For him – Her long, long legs and take-no-crap attitude.
For her – the fact that he’s a total walking contradiction intrigues her and he’s surprisingly sweet when he thinks no one’s looking.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Accidental, clumsy, irresistible, selfless, passionate.
 

The First Kiss…

“You seduce, I seduce, what difference does it make?” she said, spinning them around so that now she was the one backing him up. “Either way, seduction is happening, and if you have no intention of ever marrying me and have no belief that we are already married, but you are still trying to get me into your bed, then—”
“In my defense, I’m just trying to get into any bed that doesn’t involve chickens!”
She stared at him for a second and then burst out laughing. She slapped a hand over her mouth but couldn’t keep it contained. When she accidentally snorted, his lips started twitching. He turned, keeping his gaze locked on hers, and took another step forward. When she backed up, she
bumped against the wall. She hadn’t noticed it was so close.
Sneaky little bastard.
Adam didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared down at her before finally sighing and resting his forehead against hers. “One of these days, it would be nice to have a conversation with you that didn’t end in us shouting at each other. Or running away from each other.”
She shrugged. “Where’s the fun in that?”
He smiled at the echo of one of his favorite phrases. “I’m not trying to seduce you into something you don’t want to do.”
“Neither am I.”
“Then what are we doing?”
She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly. “I don’t know.”
“You’re an infuriating woman,” he said, though there was no heat behind the words.
She smiled. “And you are a stubborn, aggravating man.”
He cupped her face, his gaze fixed on her lips. “I want to kiss you,” he said, rubbing the tip of his nose against hers.
Her heart stuttered, and it suddenly felt like she was both breathing too much and not enough at the same time. “Don’t you always do what you want?”
She slid her hands up his chest, bunching the material in her fists.
“Almost never.” He said the words against her mouth, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke.
“Maybe you should work on that.”
“Maybe I should.”
His lips crushed against hers, moving hungrily, demanding. His hand gripped her chin, keeping her captive, tilting her face so he could more easily plunder her mouth. And she opened beneath his onslaught willingly. Desperately. This was no soft kiss. No tentative caress. This was pent-up passion, aggression, frustration, feelings that neither of them had the willpower or desire to stem, finally finding an outlet.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

The bathhouse scene! The heroine Nora follows the hero Adam into a bathhouse for a little chat 😀

“You know, it can be dangerous to doze off in a bath,” a voice said behind him, and he nearly
jumped from the tub with a strangled gasp. He twisted to look around. Nora stood in the
doorway, whisps of steam capturing a few of the stray tendrils of hair that had escaped her braid and making them adorably frizzy.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked, properly scandalized.
She walked farther into the room, and he slapped his hands into the water, covering all his important bits as she perched on the tub next to him.
“I wanted to talk to you,” she said.
“And it couldn’t have waited? How did you get in here anyway?”
“I’m friends with the owner.”
“Is there anyone you aren’t friends with?”
She shrugged. “Not really. And besides, we’re married. There’s nothing improper about it.”
“I’m going to have to beg to differ.” He rubbed a hand over his face, jerking it back into the water when he remembered what he was trying not to expose.
Nora just grinned and crossed her legs, swinging the foot that dangled from her other knee. She
leaned an elbow on her knee and propped her chin in her hands. And just…watched him.
“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked, and she raised her brows.
“I thought I made it clear there is something I can help you with, if you’d stop being so stubborn.
It’s just a tiny little paper that needs one itty-bitty little signature. There’s really no need to keep
torturing yourself with jobs you obviously aren’t equipped to perform when you have a perfectly
good wife sitting right here.”
He groaned and slid farther into the water. “I don’t know how many other ways I can say this. Thanks, but no thanks. Appreciate the offer, but I decline. Thanks for thinking of me but stop.”
Her brows drew together as she glowered down at him. “Well, you needn’t be rude about it.”
“All evidence to the contrary,” he muttered and then sighed at the daggers her eyes were throwing at him. “Look, I understand you’re hankering after a husba—”
She held up a hand. “Stop right there.”
He blinked innocently, trying to keep a grin from escaping. Purposely riling her up wasn’t going to do him any favors in the long run, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself. She made it too easy.
“I am not now, nor will I ever hanker after anybody.” She pursed her lips for a second before
continuing with a grumble. “I may need a husband temporarily, but there is no hankering involved.”
He lifted one shoulder from the water with a shrug. “So you say.”
The look she shot him was such a perfect blend of scandalized shock and sheer angry frustration
that he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, come now. You say there’s no hankering, yet every time I turn around, there you are, trying to entice me, purloin my virtue.”
“Purl—what?” she nearly screeched. Her jaw dropped, and she slapped a hand to her chest,
indignantly horrified. He beamed at her. The woman had no boundaries whatsoever and was becoming a right nuisance, but he was certainly never bored in her presence.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

I love this scene because it shows Adam standing up for Nora and taking care of her, and shows that he really SEES her and who she is. Plus we get some insight into what makes her tick and why she makes the decisions she does.
~
Everyone knew the demons her father fought.
Hell, they saw it often enough, since her father spent
most of his free time in the tavern. Even Adam had
seen that his first day here. Dealt with it even. But…
that had been before. It hadn’t been so personal
then. And now…
The private part of her life that she kept hidden
from everyone had just been ripped open and laid
bare at Adam’s feet, at the exact moment he’d torn
down her defenses and…
His arms came around her from behind, and she
sucked in a breath. She hadn’t heard him come in.
Her body went rigid, and she squeezed her eyes
tight, fighting to get herself under control before she
disgraced herself even more in front of him.
He plucked the rag from her hands and then
wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in again
until her back was tight to his chest. He rested his
chin on her shoulder and just held her, not saying a
word, until she slowly relaxed and sank against him,
bringing her arms up to rest on top of his.
After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and
let it back out. “Where is he?”
“He rode off after I came in, toward town.”
Nora nodded. He was probably headed back to
the tavern. She should care, but at the moment, she
was just glad he wasn’t still at home.
“Why do you stay?” Adam asked, his voice quiet,
sincere.

Readers should read this book …

If they want a heartwarming story with a few good laughs

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I am currently working on the second books in my Victorian and Regency series along with some new stuff for my contemporary alter-ego Kira Archer. My next release is later this year. Four Weddings and a Duke will be out at the end of November.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: $10 Amazon gift card

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Excerpt from The Gunslinger’s Guide to Avoiding Matrimony:

“This isn’t up for discussion. We’ve discussed it to death as it is, and it wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have the first time. There’ve been too many men who are used to livin’ life on the edge comin’ into this town thinkin’ they want the quiet life and findin’ out it doesn’t suit them after all. I’ve had men in and out of my jail like it’s got a revolvin’ door because none of you have anythin’ better to do than stir up trouble. That’s not what we’re offerin’ here. If you got matched up, congratulations. If not, find yourselves something better with which to occupy your time! You want peace, quiet, relative safety? Follow the damn rules! You don’t want to do that… you know the way out of town.”
There were a few more grumbles, but no one argued too loudly, and the sheriff nodded.
“Now, I realize no one likes someone imposin’ rules on them, least of all me. But we all agreed that somethin’ had to be done because things were gettin’ out of hand, and I didn’t take this job so I could spend my days breakin’ up petty arguments and managin’ mischief makers. I was promised boredom, dammit, and my days lately have been chock-full of diverting occupation, and I won’t stand for it!”
The crowd around him muttered again, though this time with more than a few amused laughs quickly disguised. The sheriff waited a few more moments, his eyes roving over the crowd before he gave a sharp nod.
Mr. Brady leaned a bit closer to her. “I actually don’t disagree with the Town Council, you know,” he said. “Bored men are absolutely apt to get into trouble. And I’m sure most of these men are like me, in that we want to stay in this town to escape that kind of life. Stay out of trouble. However. I must state this again. I want no part of matrimony. I’ve been avoiding it my whole life and have no desire or intention of changing that now. I’d make a horrible husband.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry so much, Mr. Brady. I’ll make a terrible wife.”
Adam turned to her with an exasperated huff. “Then why do you want to stay married?”
“Didn’t we already cover this bit?”
He stared at her like a newborn lamb who had no idea what sort of world it had just been pushed into.
She sighed again. “Look, Mister…” She frowned.
“Brady. B-r-a-d-y,” he said, spelling it out, then said it again, drawing it out real slowly. “Braaaaady.”
She tried not to smile. So easy to get under his skin. “Mr. Brady. Desolation isn’t the easiest town to find, and it’s certainly not one most people want to stay in. Most who come have secrets that keep them here. I doubt you’re much different. You want to stay? You stay hitched.”
He blew out a long, frustrated breath and stared at the ground. She almost pitied him. Almost. But now that she’d had a few moments to let it sink in, she realized he was her ticket to a better life for herself, and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. She didn’t want a husband. But she needed one. At least temporarily. So why go about the trouble of trying to find someone else when she already had one hitched and ready to go?
“So you have no qualms whatsoever about marrying a total stranger?” he asked.
“Nope,” she said. Not the total truth, but she didn’t know him well enough to trust him with her qualms yet.
“If you don’t mind my saying, it seems rather… imprudent to commit such a permanent act when you have no desire to do so, so why are you doing this?”
She swallowed back another sigh. “I got my reasons.”
“I’ve got my reasons, too.”
“Then I guess you were standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, stranger.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, desperate-to-retire gunslinger Adam Brady has exactly two rules. And one of them is never, ever get married. So he’ll be danged when his dreams of permanently avoiding the bounty hunter on his tail in Desolation, the only town where notorious men like him can find respite, comes with one helluva string attached. The town has a new rule: gunslingers welcome—if they get a job…or marry.

Without realizing it, Adam stumbles into a big town wedding and accidentally marries Nora Schumacher, a sassy-mouthed mountain of a woman with legs as long as his wanted poster. So what’s a gunslinger to do but get himself unhitched and find a job. Any job. Except Adam keeps getting fired, one odd circumstance after another. And he’s running out of options.

Desolation was supposed to be his safe haven. Except, he’s not only running from his past but from the irresistible woman he married. And worse, he’s finding that he rather likes the enticing, if damnably independent, wife of his. But some men just aren’t the marrying kind. Only, if he leaves, his own life won’t be worth living. If he stays, he puts the lives of his newfound family and the woman he loves on the line. So much for Desolation being the answer to all his problems.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Michelle McLean is a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl who is addicted to chocolate and Goldfish crackers and spent most of her formative years with her nose in a book. She has degrees in history and English and is thrilled that she sort of gets to use them. Her novel Truly, Madly, Sweetly, written as Kira Archer, was adapted as a Hallmark Original movie in 2018.

When Michelle’s not working, reading, or chasing her kids around, she can usually be found baking, diamond painting, or trying to find free wall space upon which to hang her diamond paintings. She resides in PA with her husband and two teens, the world’s most spoiled dog, and a cat who absolutely rules the house. She also writes contemporary romance as USA Today bestselling author Kira Archer.
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