What were two romance writers doing at an MMA fight?
Dear Reader,
The lights drop. The crowd roars. Two MMA fighters circle each other inside a cage, with thousands of people packed around them.
And among those thousands of people?
Two Scottish romance writers, sitting there with wide eyes and notebooks (okay, the notes app on our phones) at the ready.
Reader, this was not a typical night out for us. But it was all in the name of research!
With the Scottish Single Dads series now finished—thank you so much for all the lovely messages we’ve received about Catching Feelings!—we’re already hard at work on our next book, The Florist and the Fighter. And yes, as the title suggests, this one involves flowers. And fighting.
Our heroine is a sweet, happy-go-lucky Glasgow florist who is, frankly, the last person you’d expect to attend a mixed martial arts fight—and the last person you’d expect to fall for a gritty MMA fighter.
Naturally, she does. But with two people this different, the road to happily-ever-after is going to be anything but smooth.
We’ve written unlikely matches before—Cat and Robbie in The Highland Bad Boy, anyone?—but these two might just take the crown. They’re opposites in almost every way, and we already love the sparks flying between them.
We’re currently deep in the planning and outlining stage, which means lots of plot notes, character chats, dramatic breakthroughs, and the occasional moment where one of us says, “Wait… is that too much?” and the other says, “No, it’s romance. Keep going.”
Actual writing begins very soon, and we can’t wait to properly dive in.
The Florist and the Fighter will be a little different from our previous books. For one thing, it’s set in the city of Glasgow rather than a small Highland town. But at its heart, it’s still very much an Amy McGavin book: funny, heartfelt, steamy, romantic, and full of characters we hope will steal your heart.
We can’t say too much more yet. We can, however, say this: we have the cover. And we love it.
But we’re not revealing it quite yet. You’ll have to wait for next month’s newsletter…
A Busy May
It’s been a busy month here, with a little bit of everything.
One highlight was a ceilidh with a big group of friends we’ve known for years. There was music, dancing, laughter, and the quiet realisation that going to a ceilidh is possibly the most on-brand thing we could do as authors of Scottish romance.
Our daughter had her two trial days of secondary school. She only has a few weeks of primary school left, and then she’s off to “big school” after the summer holidays. We can hardly believe it.
And after what felt like an eternity of rain, the sun finally came out. Last weekend we had a glorious trip to North Berwick on Scotland’s east coast, where there was sea air, beach wandering, and even a bit of swimming.
Daisy, naturally, was living her best beach life.
Scotland in the News
Meet Magnus the wandering walrus, who’s been touring the Scottish coast and drawing crowds at every stop.
The harpist who played at Madonna’s Highland wedding is reviving a Gaelic festival.
Moira, a 93-year-old Tartan Army superfan, is getting ready to travel to the USA for her fourth World Cup.
One Last Thing
Since we’re hard at work on The Florist and the Fighter, we’d love your help with a very important piece of research:
What’s the best opposites-attract romance you’ve ever read?
Hit reply and tell us. We could always use more books for the to-be-read pile!
xx,
Amy and Gavin
(the wife-and-husband team writing as Amy McGavin)