Blurb
Four regency misses, making their ways as governesses, make a pact work together in order to leave London and support themselves in the country. Thus, the Governess Club was born. But little did they know that their heroes might have something else to say about the matter.
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Claire
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 Claire Bannister just wants to be a good governess so that she, and the other ladies of the Governess Club, can make enough money to leave their jobs and start their own school in the country. But when the new, sinfully handsome, and utterly distracting tutor arrives, Claire finds herself caught up in a whirlwind romance that could change the course of her future.
Jacob Knightly has a secret. He’s actually the notorious Earl of Rimmel. He’s just posing as a tutor to escape his reputation in the city. He never expected to fall in love with the beautiful and kind governess. She is the first person to love him for himself and not his title.
But when Jacob’s true identity is revealed, Claire realizes she has risked her reputation and her heart on a man she doesn’t truly know. Will Jacob be able to convince her that the Wild Earl has been tamed and that she is the true Countess of his heart?
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Bonnie
 Miss Bonnie Hodges, governess to the Darrow family, is desperately trying to hold it together. Tragedy has struck and she is the sole person left to be strong for the two little boys in her care. When the new guardian arrives, she hopes that things will get better. She wasn’t expecting her new employer to be the most frustrating, overbearing, and ... handsome man she’s ever seen.
Sir Stephen Montgomery is utterly distracted. He should be trying to figure out how his two best friends were killed in a suspicious accident and why the new young viscount seems destined to be the next victim. But he can’t concentrate on anything but his growing feelings for the beautiful, mysterious, and utterly captivating governess.
Together they put their heads together to save the two young boys but will Stephen’s feelings for Bonnie get in the way of their search for a killer?
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Author Info
Ellie Macdonald has held several jobs beginning with the letter t: taxi-driver, telemarketer and most recently, teacher. She is thankful her interests have shifted to writing instead of taxidermy or tornado chasing. Having travelled to five different continents, she has swum with elephants, scuba dived coral mazes, visited a leper colony and climbed waterfalls and windmills, but her favorite place remains Regency England. She currently lives in Ontario, Canada. The Governess Club series is her first published work.
Author Links
http://www.elliemacdonald.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EllieMacdonaldAuthor
https://twitter.com/elliemacdauthor
Interview
Tell us about your story-
1. About how long did it take you to write the story?
Writing Claire took about eight months in total to complete. It’s not a very long story, but during this time, my life underwent many large changes. I started writing spring of 2012 when I was living in England. That summer, visa issues forced me to leave my job overseas and return to Canada. Two weeks after that I found myself moving again, 800 kilometres to a remote northern community, finding myself having to adjust to yet another new job and new lifestyle. So writing was put on the back burner, so to speak. It wasn’t until early winter that I was able to have the time to dedicate to finishing the story.
Bonnie, however, took only about four months to complete. I was much more organized and had the time to dedicate to the project.
2. Did you have any trouble writing it at all?
Aside from the time issues, Claire came quite easily. I had more trouble with Bonnie as it delves into a genre I have no experience in writing: murder mystery. I think I did a good enough job to make the story work, but I have no illusions regarding the complexity and expertise of the subplot.
Tell us a little bit about you as a writer-
3. Do you have any kind of writing schedule?
I wish I could have one! My day job, teaching, can be quite consuming; the demands on my time fluctuates, depending on the time of year. Most of my writing is limited to weekends and can only be considered as frantic, trying to get in as much as I possibly can. When there are school breaks, I try to keep myself to a 2000 word a day expectation and I tend to be more productive in the evenings and late nights. There have been many times where I finally look up from the computer to find it’s 2am!
4. What is your writing environment like?
Pretty plain and non-descript, actually. I am sure many would find it hard to be creative in such a place! I sit at the table in my kitchen/dining room, white walls surrounding me, the white fridge to my right and the white chest freezer at my back. The faux-hardwood laminate is cold on my feet, the chairs hard and the lighting harsh. But it works for me. The fridge is where I tape up my planning sheets, so whenever I get stuck or forget where the story is going, it’s just a quick glance away.
5. And what would your ideal writing environment be like? J
I’m not too sure, actually. I’ve written in so many different environments because they were the only ones available to me, so I’ve had to be adaptable. I’ve never really thought about what I would need in order to have a designed writing space, but I’m sure it would run along the lines of a comfortable leather chair and a desk that fits me properly so I don’t have to hunch like I do at my dining room table.
6. Did you always want to be a writer?
I’ve always been good at writing, but never really thought of pursuing it as a career until several years ago. It was the summer between university degrees 2 and 3 and I had just finished reading a book. I got to thinking about something that isn’t normally included in romance novels; if it is, it usually appears as part of a back story or as a blacked out experience. And then I thought, "Well, if that’s in there, what if this was in the story? And that? And then this?" I knew I wouldn’t ever find a romance novel that had all those components and therefore knew in order to read it, I would have to write it. So I began typing away. I didn’t take it seriously at first, but about halfway through, I noticed that I was enjoying the process, enjoying what I was writing, and most importantly, the people to whom I had given sections to read were enjoying it. It was then that I realized that writing could actually be a reality for me and looking back at the story, I can see the shift in the writing when I began to take it more seriously. Of course, that story needs to be completely scrapped and re-written before I would even consider submitting it to my editor; I consider it more as part of my development as a writer than an actual readable story.
7. What’s the first thing you can remember writing? (it doesn’t have to be published)
Oh wow, this is a bit embarrassing to share. It was the winter my parents bought a brand new Polaroid camera – I must have been about 10 years old – and we had a blast shaking the pictures to develop them. One afternoon, my younger brother and I went around the house taking pictures of what everyone was doing and put it all together into a single-edition newspaper. The one "article" I remember had a picture of my mother taking croissants out of the oven and questioning whether or not she was baking slugs.
8. Do you have any advice for new writers?
Read, read, read and then write, read, write, read, write. Read books on writing. Read the genre you want to write in, read those you don’t. Read books that are always on your favourite list, read new authors to see what editors are looking for and what gets published. Take notes on what you like and what you don’t like; then be sure to include things that you like and avoid that which you don’t. Just don’t ever stop reading.
Tell us a little bit about you as a person-
9. How do you spend your time when you’re not writing?
When I’m not working at all, I love to read. Not very surprising, but there it is. I can spend the entire day lost between the covers of a well-written romance. I also love spending time with friends, either at one of our places or out at a pub. I love talking with them, playing board games with them, travelling with them, etc. I recently went to a married friend’s house to have brunch with them and their family and ended up staying until dinner. It’s what I do.
10. What are you currently reading?
A book by Mary Balogh called The Arrangement. It’s the second book in her new series called The Survivor’s Club which follows a group of friends who have been thrown together by mutual suffering from the Napoleonic Wars. Ms. Balogh is by far one of my favourite authors and I always eagerly wait for her releases. Since e-books came into existence, she’s been able to publish her backlist, which has meant that I don’t have to wait so long between stories – her old ones are new to me!
11. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go, and why?
This is too hard of a question for me to answer. I am a big traveller; I have already been to five of the seven continents and plan to go to all of them. There are far too many places that I want to go to – and return to! – to give this question the answer it deserves.
12. And finally where can my readers find you?
My website is
www.elliemacdonald.com. My Facebook page is
www.facebook.com/ElleMacdonaldAuthor and you can follow me on Twitter @elliemacdauthor.
Thanks so much for having me! It’s been a pleasure answering your questions.
~Ellie.
Giveaway
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