Spotlight & Giveaway: WELL TRAVELED by Jen DeLuca

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jen DeLuca to HJ!

Hi Jen DeLuca and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Well Traveled!

 
Thanks so much for having me! I’m thrilled to be here.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

WELL TRAVELED is the fourth book in my series of romances that take place in the world of the renaissance faire. Lulu Malone is an overworked attorney who needs a break. When she hits a professional crisis, she throws her life (well, her phone) away and runs away to join the Renaissance Faire.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“Let me get this straight. You’re suggesting I run away and join the Renaissance Faire?” It sounded like a life plan made by a ten-year-old.

Time for a confession here: kilts have never been my thing. Men had many attractive qualities, but knees weren’t one of them. My cousin in his kilt looked like bad Catholic schoolgirl cosplay as far as I was concerned.

“What about this?” His voice was a low growl in my ear, and all my nerve endings came alive at the sound of it. He bent toward me, his lips grazing against the shell of my ear. “Am I flirting now?”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I was inspired to write this book when I was struck with Covid in fall of 2020. I had no energy, and spent a lot of time scrolling TikTok, and came across witchy and tarot TikTok. That reminded me that I hadn’t touched on the fortune tellers that you usually find at a Faire!
• When I worked on this book in 2021, I hadn’t been to a renaissance faire since 2019 because of the pandemic, and everything felt rusty. So I took a research trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in the summer of 2021, where I took a lot of photos, saw a lot of shows, and generally soaked in the atmosphere. Then I spent two days in a hotel writing and writing and writing. It was so great to be at a Faire again!
• Selections from the book’s playlist: Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant, Shivers by Ed Sheeran, Whiskey in the Jar by Metallica, Probably Drunk by the Jackdaws, The Archer by Taylor Swift, and The Joker and the Queen by Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Dex thinks that Lulu is cute at first, and that’s all he usually needs. But the more she talks to him and treats him like an actual person and not just a f*ckboy, he’s more and more drawn to her.

Lulu is attracted to Dex’s smile and sense of humor while he’s onstage, and after that to the way he seems to enjoy his life and who he is. She hasn’t enjoyed her life for a long time.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I laugh anytime I get to put Mitch on the page. He’s always been such a fun character to write, and his relationship with his cousin Lulu in this book was fun. Here’s a short snippet, right after he and Lulu have a heart to heart after a day at Faire:

He came around the island and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close. “Okay,” he said into my hair. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I hugged him back, but not for long. “Let go of me.” I pushed ineffectually at him. “You’ve been outside all day. You’re all sweaty and you stink.”

But I should have known better; that only turned his embrace into a bear hug while I struggled and giggled.

“Ahhh, you’re probably right.” He let me go with a kiss on top of my head.

“Of course I’m right. You smell terrible.”

“That too.” He gave me a punch on the shoulder. “I’m going to go barge in on April’s shower. She loves when I do that.”

Readers should read this book….

If they’re not sure if they love the life they’re living, and want to read about someone in their late 30s who chucks it all out and starts over. If they like kilts and folk music. If they want to read about a rehabilitated himbo and the lawyer who (eventually) loves him.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am currently between projects, which is both exciting and terrifying! I have some ideas I’m working on that are in very early stages that I unfortunately can’t talk about yet!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A print copy of WELL TRAVELED by Jen DeLuca. US only.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever been to a Renaissance Faire? If so, what was your favorite part, and if not, what do you think you’d enjoy about one?

 
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Excerpt from Well Traveled:

Soon enough, the show came to an end. “Now, we hate to sing and run,” Frederick said, his smile engaging. Offstage he was on the shy side, subordinate to his older brothers. But onstage his personality was completely different: the charming, nice boy. “But it seems that we are needed up front for pub sing.”

“If you want to get your cardio in,” Todd added, “feel free to join us as we do a little fun run up to the front stage to begin the end-of-the-day festivities.”

“But before you do . . .” Dex picked up the thread of the narrative. They worked in a smooth patter that spoke of years of playing off each other, both literally and figuratively. “If you liked what you see, and you want to contribute to the Dueling Kilts’ Drinking Fund . . .”

“It’s not just about the drinking, Dex,” Todd interrupted.

“Yeah,” Frederick added. “We do like to eat on occasion too.” Todd nodded in emphatic agreement.

Dex clucked his tongue in annoyance. “Fine. If you want to help us continue to do what we love to do, the lovely Lulu will be right back there, accepting any and all financial contributions that will help us stay afloat. Never mandatory, always appreciated.

“Say hi to the nice audience, Lulu!” Dex threw his arm out, gesturing out toward the audience. Out toward me. The audience turned in their seats to look at me, and I cringed inwardly at the attention. I wasn’t ready to be part of the show.

But that was too bad. I was here. Time to step up. “Hi to the nice audience!” My voice was clear as the afternoon sunshine as I swept my skirts in an exaggerated curtsy. As I held the basket over my head to emphasize Dex’s words about financial contribution I met his eyes across the sea of heads that made up the audience. He really did have a nice smile, and now that he was aiming it at me I was a little breathless. Or maybe that was the bodice.

“There’s our girl.” His voice was pitched lower, but thanks to his headset mic it still carried across to where I stood, and whew. The eyes and the voice, both appraising and encouraging? Whew. We were in a crowd of easily fifty people, but he had a way of making you feel like it was just the two of you. Those dark eyes were hypnotic, and I wanted to step closer. I wanted to be nearer to him.

But I caught hold of myself, just as I felt myself starting to step forward, and I broke his gaze. What was I going to do, vault over the audience? And what was I going to do once I got to him? Ridiculous.

I turned my attention back to the audience, giving them a welcoming smile as the show ended and they began to rise to their feet. I slipped through the crowd, beating them to the entrance/exit of our performance area so by the time they arrived I was there, basket in hand.

I thought that I’d have to work for it and really talk people into tipping us, but I was almost immediately surrounded. The bills in the basket must have done their job, priming the pump and encouraging people to toss in cash on their way out. The number of loose dollar bills was overwhelming, and I found myself holding them down with the flat of my hand so none flew out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of movement, as Todd, Dex, and Frederick slipped through the crowd with genial smiles and a couple of quick words. They stayed on the move, and as they cleared the bottleneck at the entrance they dashed down the lane toward the front of the Faire grounds. Damn. Men should be required to run in kilts more often. You got a great view of those leg muscles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

A high-powered attorney from a success-oriented family, Louisa “Lulu” Malone lives to work, and everything seems to be going right, until the day she realizes it’s all wrong. Lulu’s cousin Mitch introduced her to the world of Renaissance Faires, and when she spies one at a time just when she needs an escape, she leaps into the welcoming environment of turkey legs, taverns, and tarot readers. The only drawback? Dex MacLean: a guitarist with a killer smile, the Casanova of the Faire… and her traveling companion for the summer.

Dex has never had to work for much in his life, and why should he? Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shake-up threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.

Forced to spend days and nights together on the road, Lulu’s interest in the kilted bad boy grows as he shows her a side of himself no one else has seen. The stresses of her old lifestyle fade away as she learns to trust her intuition and follow her heart instead of her head. But when her time on the road is over, will Lulu go with her gut, or are she and Dex destined for separate paths?
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Meet the Author:

Jen DeLuca was born and raised near Richmond, Virginia, but now lives in Arizona with her husband and a houseful of rescue pets. She loves latte-flavored lattes, Hokies football, and the Oxford comma. Her Well Met series was inspired by her time volunteering as a pub wench with her local Renaissance Faire.
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