A couple of days ago, I shared my version for the spark of Heart of Ice, cowritten by Miranda MacLeod.
Miranda is here today to tell it from her perspective.
Take it away Miranda
When TB called me last fall and told me she had an idea for a romance that started in a cemetery, I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical. I mean, maybe it’s just me, but how do you even go about striking up a romance in a cemetery? Like, do you flirt at a funeral? But she had some solid ideas about a widow who is visiting her wife’s grave when she meets the new love of her life, and I thought okay, let’s see how it goes.
One thing about writers, most of us have other writer friends we trust, whom we can bounce ideas off of or go to with help on a specific issue. There’s the friend who’s great at comedic dialogue, or the one who intuitively spots where you can add more sexual tension.
TB and I spend a lot of time plotting. Not the jewel heist type of plotting (although…). So she told me her initial idea, and we bounced around some plot ideas, and she went off to her writing cave to get to work. At least, I assume it’s a cave, as any time we have a video call, the room is shrouded in darkness. That may just be so I don’t get a close look at her jewel heist plans.
Sometime after the holidays we were on the phone again and I asked how that cemetery book was coming along. She tells me, “I’ve written 30k, and I think I may have driven my manuscript over a cliff.” I asked her to elaborate, although I kind of already knew what was coming. Driving a story over a cliff is a regular part of TB’s writing process.
She told me how right now, her main character, whose name at the time was not Jack, is working for a finance company in London, and how she is hoping for a promotion, and might be coming back to the main office in Boston soon. There was a nice going away party planned at a local pub with all her London friends. And I very politely stopped her and asked, “If she’s working in London, when did she go to the cemetery?” And TB responds, “She hasn’t gone to the cemetery yet.” At which point I said calmly, definitely not shrieking at all, “You’re 30k into a romance and your characters haven’t met yet?!?!?! WTF are you thinking?!?!!!!!”
See? Totally calm.
A few days later, we met up in Concord, which is a convenient halfway point for us, and also the home of so many famous American writers that I’m pretty sure writing is in the air. We found a nice table at a local coffee shop, drank a lot of caffeine, possibly ate a few pastries, and totally replotted the whole story. And since we’d already done all that together, and our first cowrite, Holly & Ivy, had been so well received, we decided officially to make this book our second joint project. A few months later, we had a sizzling ice queen romance, which we called Heart of Ice. However, even though it only mentions the cemetery one time in passing, TB and I will forever refer to it as “The Cemetery Story.”
What happens when the one person who makes your heart sing is also the one person who could destroy everything you’ve worked for?
Laurie “the Hatchet” Emerson is a ruthless leader in Boston finance who’s rumoured to have a block of ice where her heart should be. If only. Recently widowed, Laurie fears she’s broken beyond repair, until a once-in-a-lifetime business deal reignites her passion for work and gives her a shot at proving to the world she still has some life left in her.
Jack Kennedy is a young portfolio manager who aspires to greatness. Unfortunately, she’s so many rungs down the corporate ladder she can’t even scrape up enough money to move out of her mother’s apartment. Her luck changes when her work ethic is finally rewarded with the job opportunity of her dreams.
A blizzard forces their worlds to collide, but what was meant to be a no-strings night of passion becomes more complicated when they both arrive at the office the next morning to discover they each spent the night with the one person in the city who could crush their futures.
Together, they just might hold the keys to everything they’ve ever wanted, but the difference in their ages and positions could spell the end of their careers. Will the ice queen and the protégé find happiness together or lose everything?
Best-selling lesbian fiction authors TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod have written a scorching ice queen romance about love striking twice. Read it today!
