Behind the Book: some random facts about Highland Getaway

It’s been a week today since Highland Getaway came out, and I still haven’t calmed down. Seriously, I have no chill at all about this. The morning after release day I literally got a health alert from my Apple Watch saying my heart rate was higher than usual, and I was like, “No kidding, watch? Have you ever published a book? Get back to me when you have…”

That morning I headed to Edinburgh to sign copies at various bookstores around the city, which was an absolute blast — especially when I got to see readers actually buying the book right in front of me — and, since then I’m glad to report that my heart-rate has returned to normal, with only a few random spikes every time someone tags me in a review. (They’ve all been lovely so far, but you just never know, do you?)

Anyway, now that the book is out in the world, and I know quite a few of you have already read it (Thank you!), I thought it was time for a little ‘behind the scenes’ of the book, and how it came to exist. Note: this post contains mild spoilers for Highland Getaway, so if you haven’t read it yet, but are planning to, you might want to skip this one…

• The book was originally going to be self published, as a kind of sister title to Cool Girl Summer, and the entire concept was based around the fact that I really, really wanted to use a particular title (which I’m not going to share, just in case I ever do get the chance to use it one day…). So I basically came up with an idea to to fit the Super Special title (Note: don’t do that…), then the publisher decided to go with a completely different title anyway, so… yes. On the plus side, I still have that title to use someday!

• Also to fit the title, the book was initially supposed to come out at Christmas time: a fact that now seems absolutely wild to me, because I only came up with the idea in November 2024, and … what was I thinking? No, seriously, what? Needless to say, I didn’t manage to finish it in time, but that ended up working in my favor, because if I HAD published it at the time I’d planned to, when I got that email from my future editor the following February, I wouldn’t have had a handy, just-completed manuscript to send them. So, for once, things not going to plan actually turned out to be a good thing.

  Book Talk

  My Accidental Book Deal

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  Feb 6

  

  A while back, one of Terry’s clients kindly sent him a bottle of very nice champagne as a thank you for a project he’d just completed for them.

• Because of the planned release date, the events in the book originally took place in the depths of winter, with the launch party at the end of the book being a New Year’s Eve Party. The winter setting was quite important to the plot, but because the book was slated for release in June, I was asked to change the season to spring/early summer, as the publisher felt people probably wouldn’t be into reading Christmas books on the beach. Even after multiple edits I was still finding rogue references to snow, or it being pitch dark at times when the sun wouldn’t even have started to set during a Scottish summer…

• ‘Rosie Winters’? Yes, that would be yet another reference to the season/title that got changed…
  

• I know I’ve told you this before, but the inspiration for The Chrysalis hotel was Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland; in my opinion, the most beautiful castle in Scotland. The real castle isn’t a hotel, but I’m sure it gets its fair share of influencers anyway.

  

• I changed the names of almost all of the influencers (except Bex, who was always going to be Bex…) so many times (mostly because I kept coming up with names that were too similar, then worrying people wouldn’t be able to tell them all apart) that I’d honestly have a hard time telling you what they’re all called now without checking.
  

• Bramble, the pony Rosie rides on the beach, is a nod to Patricia Leitch’s ‘Jinny’ books, which were favourites of mine as a child, and which also featured a black Highland pony called Bramble.
  

• None of the influencers are based on real people, but some of the things they get up to (lying about their ages, faking photos etc) are very much a part of the influencer culture I was a part of years ago, albeit as a blogger rather than an Instagrammer / You Tuber. As ‘influencing’ was such a big part of my life for so many years, it made sense to me to set a book in that world, which still fascinates me, even though it’s no longer how I earn a living. (You’ll also find influencer characters in A Scottish Cozy Mystery, and my next release for Black & White has a main character who’s a former blogger…)

• The opening chapter in the published book was actually Chapter 3 in the first draft. My editor suggested plunging Rosie right into the action from the start, which I think was the right decision — I’m planning to share the original chapter one, though, which shows Rosie receiving the invitation and buying the ‘magical’ red sweater (originally a grey sweatshirt) with paid subscribers soon, though, so if you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, now’s your chance!

• Finally, Stevie the dog has been getting a lot of love from readers, and I’m pleased to say that the real ‘Stevie’ is just as great: she’s my brother and sister-in-law’s Belgian Shepherd, Pandora, and she’s a Very Good Girl who has never once been mistaken for a Black Shuck:

Until next week!