It’s always a privilege to host the lovely Nancy Jardine, a versatile and talented author – and grandmother! We both share a love of travel, and I heartily recommend her books, which are written in different styles to suit a range of tastes. I have read most of them, and have my favourites. Take Me Now is a romping romance which absorbed my attention to the end.
Hello Jane. It’s lovely to hop back down to join you and your readers, today.
I know you love to fly off to far-flung places and so do my characters in Take Me Now.
Flying is a core element in the novel, but what does an alpha male like Nairn Malcolm do when he’s been smashed up in a mysterious motorbike accident? He’s sporting a couple of plaster casts and can’t fly his beloved floatplane and small jet—in fact, he can’t even do all the normal things everyone does every day. Determined not to let his business interests slide, even when an unknown saboteur is still intent on damaging everything around him, he hires Aela Cameron to be his general factotum.
Aela Cameron can fly his beloved floatplane better than he can…whoops! Does that cause some indigestion? Well, you might need to read the humorous corporate sabotage mystery to find out.
Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull, near where the story takes place and a sight Aela and Nairn would see as they fly down to Glasgow.
What is it about flying that stirs incredible excitement in some people and scares the wits out of others? Imagine soaring free like a bird just a little off the ground. Imagine experiencing the swoop and lift of air currents. See the blades of grass, then the rooftops of the buildings below you, then the fields…the hilltops. You don’t get that sense of leaving the earth if you’re strapped into a Jumbo Jet seat, but you can if you’re in…say a balloon…or in a tiny floatplane like Nairn and Aela love to fly.
I don’t fear flying in a larger airplanes, yet there’s always that little moment right before the wheels leave the tarmac of the runway. I’ve listened to the engines idling, then the fiercer noises when checks are still being made, and then there’s the roar when it races down that straight stretch just before lift-off. That little moment for me isn’t actually fear…it’s more of an inexplicable anticipation. I don’t have a problem with airplane landings either, though I’m usually quite glad to be on the apron and able to disembark-especially after a long flight.
What I love best of all are the take-offs and landings of the smaller planes I’ve been on …and especially my little shot at flying in a seaplane. Stepping into a seaplane is like getting into a people carrier, just as close to…well…not the road…but the water. Hearing the engines firing up isn’t much louder than a noisy bus but they’re right below and beside you. There’s a slight sideways movement on the water before the seaplane taxis away from the jetty. A put-put-puttering follows as the seaplane taxis out into the waterway—which in my case was down the River Clyde in Glasgow. Then you’re flying so low you maybe can’t exactly see the blades of grass, but you do see detail very clearly.
Seeing the world below from a low height (around 1200 ft) is fantastic. Catch that car zipping along that twisting road at what seems too high a speed. Look at that truck take that tight bend on that wooded hillside track? Watch the yachts fluttering out on the water as they tack around near the marina. That’s a large car ferry approaching the island terminal way up ahead. Wow! There are loads of castles on the way north on the west coast of Scotland.
In Take Me Now, Aela adores flying and loves ferrying Nairn around the globe. She sees all the sights on the west coast of Scotland but there are so many more places she flies Nairn to. He’s a busy man. They’re also on a tight schedule to find that saboteur, but only a read of the novel will tell you where in the world that happens!
Buy from Amazon http://amzn.to/1QbhUwn , Smashwords and other ebook stores.
Bio:
Nancy Jardine writes historical romantic adventures (Celtic Fervour Series); contemporary mystery thrillers (Take Me Now, Monogamy Twist, Topaz Eyes-finalist for THE PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2014); & time-travel historical adventures for Teen/ YA readers (Rubidium Time Travel Series). All historical eras are enticing and ancestry research a lovely time-suck. She regularly blogs and loves to have guests visit her blog. Facebook is a habit she’s trying to keep within reasonable bounds. Grandchild-minding takes up a few (very long) days every week and any time left is for reading, writing and watching news on TV( if lucky).
Find Nancy at the following places
Blog: http://nancyjardine.blogspot.com Website: http://nancyjardineauthor.com
Amazon UK author page Facebook Goodreads Twitter @nansjar Google+ (Nancy Jardine) YouTube book trailer videos Amazon UK author page Rubidium Time Travel Series on Facebook http://on.fb.me/XeQdkG
Jane Bwye 
Reblogged this on Crooked Cats' Cradle.
Jane – Thanks for the reblog and for the opportunity to be here with you, today! I’ll pop back later and answer any comments that might appear. 🙂
Can feel your excitement. Although I hate flying in large planes with all the weird noises – even though I know what they are – I’ve had some amazing flights in small planes. I flew in float planes when in Canada, up into the wilderness, and enjoyed the experience.
I saw a lot of floatplanes during a trip to Vancouver Island, and near Vancouver itself and that’s why I decided to make my main female character a lass from Vancouver who was a pilot. I’d love to have a trip like you’ve just described.
I’ve been in large planes, but never a small one. That must be quite an experience. The book sounds interesting. I love reading about travel and I love mysteries. Thanks Nancy and Jane for this thorough review.
If you like travel and mysteries, then I’m sure my contemporary novels will appeal to you, Suzanne! 🙂 The floatplane trip I had on the west coast of Scotland was probably the smallest plane I’ve been on. Next to that was a commercial flight which, I think, might have had about 22 seats or so but it was back in the late 1970s and I can barely remember it. The flight was from North Uist to South Uist- as I recall, and the plane was up off the sand runway, in the air for only a couple of minutes and down onto another sandy runway!