JAUNTY: Hello, Shana! Thank you so much for being here today.

SHANA: Um, it’s my day to blog, Jaunty. I’m always here on Friday.

JAUNTY: Yes, but today is a very special day. Today is the last blog before the release of your new book NO MAN’S BRIDE.

SHANA: That’s right. It’s the first book in my Misadventures in Matrimony series, and it will be on shelves Tuesday, August 29.

JAUNTY: I, for one, can’t wait to read it. How many scenes am I in?

SHANA: What?

JAUNTY: Oh, don’t be shy, Shana. I know you put me in the book.

SHANA: Um, Jaunty…

JAUNTY: I am in the book, right?

SHANA: Actually, no. The book is a love story between two people, Catherine Fullbright and Quint Childers, Lord Valentine. See, Catherine has this horrible father, and—

JAUNTY: So I’m not in the book at all?

SHANA: No.

JAUNTY: But surely there are porcupines in the book. Tell us about them.

SHANA: Actually, I don’t think there are any porcupines in NO MAN’S BRIDE. (Jaunty gasps) Sorry, Jaunty, but the book is set mainly in London. There aren’t a lot of porcupines in London.

JAUNTY: I see. So tell us about this so-called book without porcupines in it. I suppose there are some out there who will still want to read it. (Mutters) Can’t imagine who…

SHANA: As I said, the book is a love story. The heroine is Catie. She’s sort of like Cinderella in that her whole family is pretty nasty to her. Her younger sister is the “pretty one,” and she’s engaged to Lord Valentine. But Catie’s father thinks he can find someone better (i.e. richer) for Catie’s sister. So he decides to switch the two girls at the altar.

JAUNTY: How does he get away with that?

SHANA: You’ll have to read the book to see. And, of course, after Quint and Catie are married, things get really interesting. Quint wakes up the morning after the wedding in bed naked with Catie — his fiancée’s sister! Needless to say, he’s none too thrilled.

JAUNTY: I read somewhere that you recently got married. Did your own wedding inspire this story?

SHANA: No, my own wedding was wonderful, but I got the idea for the Misadventures in Matrimony series when I was planning my wedding. There was so much to do and think about and so much that could go wrong! Sometimes I’d say, “Why did I want to get married again?” And the truth was that I never really thought I would get married…until I met my husband now.

So then I thought, wouldn’t it be fun if I took four girls (cousins) who actually vow never to marry and even go so far as to form a Spinster’s Club, and then find a way for each of them to meet a man she can’t resist? The first story, NO MAN’S BRIDE, is about the eldest cousin, Catie.

In February 2007, Josie’s book, GOOD GROOM HUNTING, will be out. And I just finished Maddie’s book, but it’s still untitled. It’s supposed to be out in December 2007.

JAUNTY: You said there were four girls.

SHANA: The last cousin is Ashley. I have big plans for her, and I’ve already started writing her book.

JAUNTY: And do you have plans to feature porcupines in the upcoming books?

SHANA: Um, sorry, Jaunty. No.

JAUNTY: In that case, that’s all the time we have with Shana Galen today. This is Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire signing off.

SHANA: Jaunty, this is my blog. You can’t sign off before I tell everyone to check out my website for an excerpt from NO MAN’S BRIDE and a chance to win a signed copy.