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Julie Johnstone Samples The Heart of the Highlander
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Katherine Grant: Welcome to the historical romance sampler podcast. I'm your host, Katherine Grant, and each week I introduce you to another amazing historical romance author. My guest reads a little sample of their work, and then we move into a free ranging interview. If you like these episodes, don't forget to subscribe to the historical romance sampler, wherever you listen to podcasts and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Now let's get into this week's episode. I am super excited to be joined today by Julie Johnstone. Julie is a USA Today and number one Amazon best selling author of Scottish historical romance, Scottish historical time travel romance, and Regency historical romance, featuring Highlanders, aristocrats, and modern day billionaire bad boys.
She enjoys a hefty dose of [00:01:00] twists, plenty of heartstring tugs, and a guaranteed happily ever after. Her books have been dubbed fabulously entertaining and engaging, making readers cry, laugh, and swoon. Julie lives in Alabama with her two children, the heir and the spare, her snobby cat, and her perpetually happy dog.
In her spare time, she enjoys way too much coffee, balanced by super hot yoga, reading, and traveling. Julie, I'm really excited to have you today.
Julie Johnstone: Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, so I know you're reading a Highlander romance today. Can you tell us about it?
Julie Johnstone: Yeah, so the title of it is the heart of a Highlander and it is actually book 10 and the first Highlander series that I ever wrote called Highlander Vows and Tangled Hearts. So the whole series is near and dear to me. The first book in the series, When a Laird Loves a Lady was conceived [00:02:00] by a really, really strange, I saw a Facebook post and got an idea and I had been fascinated with medieval Scotland and kind of the two converged together and I decided to shift gears from the Regency period over into the medieval period.
So I just thought that this would be a good one to read and I like this one especially because my Almost all of my Scottish medieval books have a little bit of magic weaved into them, and this one is especially prominent with magic, and so I really enjoy that.
Katherine Grant: That's awesome. I can't wait to hear it.
Julie Johnstone: Yeah. All right. Prologue 1340, Isle of Mull, Scotland. Every man had a weakness, and for Lord MacQuarrie, his had been his wife. His chest ached something fierce, as if he were the one who'd been stabbed through the heart two days ago, and not his sweet Agnes.
He could hardly believe she was gone, but the proof was his crying [00:03:00] bairn Ada, whom he cradled in his arms. Ada had never cried when Agnes had held her. He was doing it all wrong. He was certain of it. He loosened his grip and stared down at his daughter, so fragile, so innocent, so red faced and loud. Her fresh wail echoed throughout the packed great hall as Father Dorian sprinkled the holy water on her forehead.
His clanspeople stood still, their grim expressions mirroring his feelings. They had loved Agnes, too. He ran a soothing finger over the soft, plump skin of Ada's wet cheek and his chest squeezed with loss. "Agnes, you should be here with her, wife." Big gray eyes looked up at him, eyes the exact color of the sky before the rain broke through.
"Make certain Ada remembers me." It had been Agnes's one plea before she had succumbed to the knife wound she'd sustained. He gritted his teeth. If only she hadn't come [00:04:00] to the rescue when a murderous swine had attempted to relieve a fairy of her pouch, which purportedly held magic dust. Of all the places in Scotland, why did his island have to be saddled with those two feather brained fae, Hortense and Portense?
They hadn't even had the ability to save themselves from the men who'd attacked Hortense. He clenched his jaw, shoving down his anger at the fae. Agnes would not have been pleased with him. She had adored them, and the Fae were forbidden by their own law to harm a human, even one attempting to hurt them.
Oh, Agnes, why did you get involved? "Laird." A tap on his shoulder accompanied the softly spoken word near his ear. He frowned at the interruption of the blessing, but it had to be pressing for them to have done so. Turning, he took in his first in command, Connolly. "Aye?" Connolly swept a hand toward the great hall door.
MacQuarrie sighed. Hortense and her sister Portense stood just inside the entrance to the great hall. [00:05:00] "Laird," Hortense called, dipping a curtsy, beset with the awkwardness of a fairy not used to doing such things. "We've come to give Ada a gift." His first instinct was to deny them entrance, but he knew deep down it was not their fault.
Agnes had died. She would have wanted him to allow them to bestow what they wished upon Ada. He nodded to Connolly, who waved to the guards to let the Fae pass. They seemed to glide just above the rushes that covered the floor of the Great Hall. As they moved down the center of the path, formed by the two long lines of MacQuarries, the clan's people's heads swiveled to follow the Faeries' progress.
When they reached him, Hortense gave him a sad look that made the ache in his chest flare hot. "I'm so sorry, Laird MacQuarrie," Hortense said. She opened her mouth to say more, but looked uncertain. "We wanted to bless Ada with gifts," Portense jumped in, filling the silence left by Hortense. "In our gratitude for Agnes's sacrifice to save my sister." Hortense nodded [00:06:00] enthusiastically.
Hortense snapped her fingers and a pouch appeared. "Laird. 'Twas my idea," the fairy said, to which Portense gasped. "I told Hortense to be watchful down by the water, but she didn't a listen. And now-" "I am watchful!" Hortense scowled at her sister. "And us coming here was my idea. I feel horrid that Agnes gave her life for mine."
MacQuarrie's throat was too tight with raw emotion to speak. "You should feel horrid," Portense said in a chastising voice, as she opened her pouch and dipped her fingers inside. When she withdrew them, her fingertips shimmered silver. "Hold the bairn away from you, if you please." Unsure, the MacQuarrie glanced to the priest, who shrugged helplessly, a shocked look upon his face.
Agnes's voice filled his head again. The fae are good and kind. He sighed. His wife had never been one to give trust easily. Knowing this, he stretched out his arms so that Ada was not pressed against his chest anymore. She splayed her arms and [00:07:00] scrunched up her face. Her tiny hands balled into fists as she cried.
Portense set her hand to Ada's forehead, and when the child immediately stopped crying, he relaxed. The faerie smiled knowingly at him then fixed all her attention upon Ada as Portense held her fingers above his daughter. "I give to you the gift of beauty," she announced in a loud, sure voice. When Hortense scoffed at her sister's pronouncement, Portense frowned.
"Is there something wrong with my gift?" He wanted to know the same thing. He was half ready to snatch his daughter away from the fairies. Hortense elbowed her sister out of the way and now stood in front of him. The gesture triggered a memory of Agnes laughing at how human like the fae were and how they argued as human siblings did.
"Your gift," Hortense said, her voice dripping with scorn, "is nay a real gift." MacQuarrie instinctively started to pull Ada back to protect her, but Hortense stopped him with a hand to his arm. The [00:08:00] power radiating from the warm touch of her fingertips upon his skin rendered him unable to move. She smiled reassuringly at him.
"Tis nay a harmful gift." She smirked at Portense. "Just a useless one. Beauty fades, and will nay protect the bairn." Hortense held out her arms. " Give me the bairn to set things right." Immediately he could once again move, but he was reluctant to do as bid, yet despite his hesitation, he found himself handing Ada over without even realizing what he was doing until it was done.
When she started to cry, her nursemaid Esther came to Hortense's side and cooed at Ada to quiet her, which immediately worked. Hortense dipped her fingers in her pouch, which appeared out of nowhere, just as her sister's pouch had. This fairy's fingers also shimmered silver when she took them back out. "I bestow upon Ada the power to make a king," she said, shaking her fingers above Ada's forehead and heart.
Silver [00:09:00] specks fell through the air to land upon the bairn and then disappeared. The words triggered an avalanche of whispers from the clan. "Kingmaker," they muttered one after another, sounding like a swarm of bees. "Silence," MacQuarrie boomed. Then to Hortense, he said, "What do you mean you'll give my daughter the power to make a king?"
Such a gift sounded as if it would attract great danger. Hortense smiled at him. "Not will give, Laird. I have already done it." She placed her hand over Ada's heart. "Your daughter now possesses the gift within her." "You've done it now," Portense announced, slapping a palm to her forehead. "You've given a curse, nay a gift, a curse!" MacQuarrie bellowed.
"Och," Hortense scoffed, her silvery blonde brows dipping together. "I gave a great gift. Your daughter will wield immense power." Fear spiked his blood at the notion of such a thing. "See there," Portense exclaimed, pointing at him. "See how his eyes are wide and his [00:10:00] nostrils flare. See how pale his face has become.
He keens your gift is an ill conceived one." "How?" Hortense demanded, her jaw setting. The fairy set her hands on her hips and glanced between him and her sister. "You nay ever have the clarity to see your own foolishness," Portense grumbled. "Men will hunt the lass and use her for her power," she said slowly, as if her sister were a simple minded child.
Hortense's face flushed. "You always wish to appear so wise, so superior." Portense gasped. "What?" "Here." Hortense yanked open her pouch and tilted it above Ada, who was now quiet as if she were under a spell. "The sweet lass will nay wield the power until the day she weds." An uproar of chatter came from the clan, and the sisters scuttled backward from him and Ada.
He struggled to hear the rest of what the sister said, yet from how they argued and the way Esther's mouth parted with shock, he did not think it could be good. The fairies faced each other now and Esther [00:11:00] stood behind them gawking. Hortense's lips moved as she once again said something and tilted up her pouch.
One lone silver speck fell. He wanted to snatch his daughter away from Hortense, but he found he could not move once more. "Esther," he bellowed, "take the bairn." "Stilande!" Hortense and Portense pronounced in unison, blinking at each other with surprise. "Laird, I cannae move," Esther cried out. "Nor I, I cannae move either."
The calls came fast from MacQuarrie clan's people behind him. Father Dorian said, "nor can I, Laird." "Ladies," MacQuarrie said, looking at the fairies, "release me." "Just a moment," they answered, voices sweet and once more in unison. "Don't fast yourself, Laird. I'll make this right," Portense said. And with that, she shoved her sister, who went flying forward, and then Portense quickly turned over her Own pouch and dumped the contents on Ada.
The bairn let out her first laugh, and MacQuarrie could not help but stare at his daughter in amazement and pride. She [00:12:00] laughed. Portense did not spare him a glance as Hortense charged toward her sister and Ada. Portense quickly rushed out words as she shook her fingers. "Your gift will only activate if you willingly choose your husband."
With that, she shot her sister a triumphant grin. "There, I fixed your mess." "Oh, sister," Hortense wailed, "we are both fools, but you remain the biggest. I had already set things right with the second part of my words." "Second part?" MacQuarrie frowned. He had not heard the second part. "Please tell me you have some fae dust left." Hortense wailed, snatching his attention back to her. Portense bit her lip and peered inside the pouch. When she looked up, worry danced over her delicate features. "Nay, do you?" "Nay," Hortense said. Worry was equally evident in her voice as it was on her sister's face.
"That word willing, do you believe?" "Nay," Hortense interrupted. "It will nay be enough." "But what you added," she bit her lip. "Ada could [00:13:00] willingly choose a husband to save someone or something. Did you nay think of that?" Portense burst into tears and suddenly MacQuarrie could move. He closed the distance to Portense, snatched Ada from her.
As he pulled his daughter to his chest, he glanced between the sisters, who were fading. "Where are you going?" He demanded. "To the Feyworld," they said together. "We do not have any more dust. We must replenish it. If our father will let us." Ada grabbed his fingers and he glanced down. "How the devil long will that take?"
When he received no answer, he looked up to find the Fae gone. Their so called gifts to his daughter rang in his mind. Beauty and the power to make a king. She would most definitely be hunted when word got out. And he had no doubt it would. His clan had started to move and the excited chatter was near deafening.
The chant of "Kingmaker" filled the hall. This would be impossible to contain.
Katherine Grant: Wow. Ooh,
what a prologue.
Julie Johnstone: Thank you. [00:14:00]
Katherine Grant: I have a lot of questions for you, but first we're going to take a quick break for our sponsors.
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Katherine Grant: I am back with Julie Johnstone, who just read the prologue of The Heart of a Highlander. That was such a great prologue. I have so many directions of questions that I want to ask. So I want to begin with this whole setup is really explicitly defining that Ada's power is in her marriage
and that that power is dangerous. Yes. Can you tell me about like where this idea came from and then maybe how did it unfold when it was so [00:16:00] explicit? Like what did that give you as a writer?
Julie Johnstone: So I really got the idea of the Fae kind of arguing back and forth really from, you know, the old Cinderella where there are, you know, the fairies are arguing back and forth.
I thought, oh, that would be really funny to do like a little twist on that. And have these really well meaning fairies who are trying to bestow this gift on this baby to make up for the fact that her mother died in defense of one of the fairies. And it just kind of grew from there.
When I thought about the gifts, I thought, well, it has to have a twist. Because I love, I love writing romance with twists and turns. And I thought, what better twist is it if they give this gift, but it turns out to really kind of be a curse because what they have basically done is set this little baby up to be hunted by men who want to use her for the power that they know she has.[00:17:00]
If you think about all the clans and how they were all vying for powers, they would definitely want to have this woman marry somebody in their clan, knowing that that whoever she married would become the next king.
Katherine Grant: I think that's something that is often, like, explained in text.
Like, oh, it's important that she marry this person for these reasons, but to have it be this kind of fairy curse that everyone knows really kind of heightens it and makes it fun.
Julie Johnstone: Yeah. And I thought their, their interaction was funny and they, they come in again to play in the story, obviously, but they're just kind of bickering, but well meaning so, but yeah, well meaning with these immense powers.
Katherine Grant: Yes. With consequences. Yeah.
Julie Johnstone: Yes.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, I can totally see the scene in Sleeping Beauty where they're like trying to change the color of her dress over and over again. Yes, yes. That has less consequences. So when you were building these fairies, were you [00:18:00] pulling more from like our general Disney fairy tale collective understanding or are they based on Scottish legends?
Julie Johnstone: Well, yes and no. Yes, I, I think I was my main skeleton of when I was building it was based on the stories from Disney, but also throughout all the books starting from the very first book in the series, when a Laird Loves a Lady, I've weaved Scottish legends throughout the whole series. So the series was originally based around a clan called the Macleod clan.
So I don't know how much Scottish history you, you know, but they were one of the biggest clans in Scotland and they have a clan flag and they called it the fairy flag and they said their legend held that the flag was given to one of the first lairds by a fairy he had fallen in love with, but they couldn't stay together.
And so before she departed back into [00:19:00] fairy land, she gave him this flag and said the clan would have three times to fly it if there was ever need and the fairies would come and whatever was happening to the clan, they, you know, they would save the clan. So
Katherine Grant: yeah, that's an actual legend from actual Scottish history.
Yes. Yeah. Wow.
Julie Johnstone: So it's partly based on, you know, things I've picked from the legends. That I've researched. And then, you know, like I said, from just our, our current Disney, you know, things that, you know, I think I had, my kids were younger at the time. So I was probably watching a lot of Disney stuff too. Yeah. Yeah.
Katherine Grant: I also read that you originally started writing historical romance because you were inspired by a specific hunting scene. And that a lot of your books are really grounded in history. So I would love to know, can you tell us a little bit [00:20:00] about your research process and how it fits into your writing craft?
Julie Johnstone: Yes. So the first Scottish book I wrote, When the Laird Loves the Lady, I had been studying Richard the Lionheart. So, you know, a little bit different. I don't know actually how I ended up in the Scottish period from there except I saw this post on Facebook and it was about these children who were searching for a a mother for their father who was a widower and they had posted an anonymous post without telling their father and
from there I got this idea. I was like, Oh, it would be so, it would be such a cool story. If you wrote about children, but in the medieval time, they were searching for their father and it kind of went from there. And I did end up actually writing that book later. It is not this book. It is not in this series, but that kind of [00:21:00] sparked my interest in you know, really researching the medieval period.
And so I basically just bought. It was more when people were buying books still. Instead of going straight to the internet. I basically just started buying, you know, books and go into the library and researching the medieval period and I knew I wanted to set my first book on the border between England and Scotland.
I knew I wanted. The heroine to have to travel far away from her home to cause she wanted distance between her father and her home. So then I researched, you know, what clans, what clans were where, and that really was what took me to the Highlands. And then from there I had to research the individual clans and kind of decide, What clan I wanted to, you know, base the first book on.
And obviously then the first book became one and two and three. And really originally I was only going to write four medievals. And that first [00:22:00] series was 10 and I would have to sit here and count them to tell you how many medieval books I've written now. I love medieval because I love action and the do or die situations and everything
was just on such a grander scale. Every decision pretty much had do or die consequences for these people. And I really, I enjoy that. And I enjoy writing the fight scenes, but I also enjoy the utter loyalty that men and really showed to their women who they loved, you know?
And so anyway, and so currently when I start a Medieval series, I I have a lot of the research books already, but I will, you know, really research the area and I will research What's going on in history that aligns with sort of the idea that I had and can I use it and weave it into my story, and sometimes it'll start the opposite way.
I'll research what's going on in [00:23:00] history and then I'll think, Can I make a story idea out of this? Does this spark a story idea for me? And then I'll sort of build it out from there. So, and I've also been known, and I have said this in the past, sometimes I will just be having a conversation or reading a book, and I'll get an idea for a scene, and then I'll build A book series around that, and I'll look at the history, you know, decide on what year I want to set it in and look at the history and see what's going on.
Is it interesting? Can I make conflict out of it? You know can I make a whole series out of it? Yeah.
Katherine Grant: And when you say you have a scene in your head, is that usually like, you know, two people in a room or in whatever setting you're, you're envisioning? Or is it more like you're seeing like a painting and you're like, okay, what do I want to do with this?
Julie Johnstone: I would say it's more like a painting. Like for when a laird loves the lady. It was my original idea was [00:24:00] I pictured this scroll. you know, with a dagger stuck in it where these children had written out that they were searching for a mother for their widowed father. And my first Regency book I ever wrote, I pictured a hunting scene and it was really just the heroine dashing through the woods.
And she was a really good on horseback, which was unusual for the time. And she was riding astride and not side saddle. So I get these scenes in my head and I just kind of built it from there. So yeah, it was so interesting.
Katherine Grant: I love hearing how everyone had, how the inspiration works because we're all so different.
Oh, I
Julie Johnstone: know we, we really are. It is interesting to hear it. I agree.
Katherine Grant: Well, I also want to ask you, so you published your first book in 2012. You're kind of a, one of the pioneers of the indie romance space and Indie historical romance. A lot has changed since then. [00:25:00] I'm curious from your perspective, maybe business wise, but also you know, as an evolving author, what has changed for you, and where do you see it going for the next couple of years?
Julie Johnstone: Yes, a lot has changed. So sort of when I started, people like to call it the gold rush years, you know though I would say it was more 2015, 16, 17, where it was, I think there was, You know, not very many people in Indy or well, you know, compared to now what has changed?
One of the biggest things I think I would change, I think that has changed is there's a flood in the market of you know, big conglomerate companies that just put out a bunch of books that are written honestly by AI that I don't think are very good. It can be hard. It it's flooded the market so much that I think it's almost impossible for new independent authors to break out now.
Because you're really competing with these big [00:26:00] companies that put out, you know, way more than an actual human can write in a year. What also I think has changed is people's attention spans have gotten much shorter. The books that I used to write, which would clock in at like 95 to 98, 000 words, would be and have, you know, much more description.
I've had to pare down I think people's attention spans have really shortened because we're all watching short snippets of things, you know, and people want you to get right into the story and less of the buildup of the descriptions of the setting and stuff like that stuff that I think is necessary, but it's just had to be pared down.
And for me personally I, I am still writing historical romance and I do still love historical romance, but I am also pivoting into contemporary women's fiction. It's because historical romance has really shrunk in the market as a whole. And that's not to say it won't come back, but currently it has [00:27:00] shrunk.
So
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll look forward to your contemporary women's fiction and also To more historical romances.
Well, I think it's a good time to play our game, Love It or Leave It, which is where we find out if you're a romance rule follower or not.
[Musical Interlude]
Katherine Grant: Alright. Do you love it or leave it? Protagonists meet in the first 10 percent of the novel.
Julie Johnstone: I'm going to go with leave it. But I really don't like I never think, oh, they need to meet, or they don't need to meet I just really do what's right for the story.
Katherine Grant: All right. Love it or leave it. Dual point of view narration.
Julie Johnstone: Oh, I do love that.
I just really do.
Katherine Grant: Love it or leave it. Third person past tense.
Julie Johnstone: Yeah, I love it.
Love it or leave it. The third act breakup or [00:28:00] dark moment.
I mean, I think every book obviously has to have a dark moment. It just depends on what is right for the story. It's not always going to be in the third act for me.
Katherine Grant: Interesting.
Okay. Love it or leave it, always end with an epilogue.
Julie Johnstone: I do love an epilogue. I do love to give a little bit of the, hey, here they are. Now, you know, this is what life looks like. This is what's happened for them. I particularly love that. So yeah, I almost always write an epilogue.
Katherine Grant: All right.
Love it or leave it. Share research in your author's note.
Julie Johnstone: Oh yeah. I need to get better about doing that again. I really used to do that a lot, but yeah, I do. I love that.
Katherine Grant: All right. And are there any other rules that I didn't mention that you liked to break?
Julie Johnstone: Hmm. I don't mind killing off characters, but I won't kill off a main character.
Though I once [00:29:00] did, and I sent it to ARC readers and they were like, no, absolutely not. So.
Katherine Grant: All right, you're willing to take it pretty far.
Julie Johnstone: Yes, I'm willing to take it pretty far.
Katherine Grant: Well. That's awesome. Thank you for playing, and thank you for coming on the podcast.
Julie Johnstone: Well, so much for having me.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, where can listeners find you and your books?
Julie Johnstone: So they can go to my website, which is juliejohnstone author. com. And then my books are pretty much everywhere. They're at Amazon, Barnes and Noble Audible, Draft2Digital, Google Play. I know I'm forgetting
something. Just go look for it and you'll find it.
Katherine Grant: I'll put a link to your website in the show notes so people can click through and find your books.
Julie Johnstone: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. Yeah.
Katherine Grant: Thank you again. This has been awesome. I've loved talking to you and I'm so glad you came on.
Julie Johnstone: Thank you.
That's it for this week! Don't [00:30:00] forget to subscribe to the Historical Romance Sampler wherever you listen, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Until next week, happy reading!