Author Interview & Contest: Melissa Mayhue

Current Read: Struck by Lightning by Lizzie T. Leaf


Today is the day! Welcome Melissa Mayhue, this week's Word Wizard. Melissa has three books out in her Daughters of the Glen series. For the next three weeks we will learn more about each one. A huge thanks to Melissa for taking so much time out of her hectic schedule to be here with us for an extended time!

Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband

Book One

In the misty recesses of time a Faerie Prince loses his true love, prompting a blessing on all his mortal female descendants, bestowing his powers on them that they should be protected and allowed to find their own true loves.

Connor MacKiernan is a 13th century Scottish warrior, a descendent of that Faerie prince, a man who lives only for honor and duty, but he has a huge problem. His experience of betrayal at the hands of women has left him suspicious and distrustful of any woman's motives. He's sworn never to marry, but finds he must do exactly that to save his sister. With the help of his well-meaning aunt, and a little Faerie magic, the search for a bride is on.

Caitlyn Coryell is a 21st century woman who longs to be strong enough to find love without sacrificing who she is. Her experience with an unfaithful fiance who wanted to marry her only for her family's money and influence has left her doubting her desirability and any man's reason for wanting her. Imagine her surprise when she puts on an antique pendant and Connor appears in her bedroom, begging her help to save his sister. He offers a simple adventure: travel to his time, marry him and return home. But nothing's simple when the adventure backfires, trapping Cate in the 13th Century.

An ancient Faerie's blessing reaches across the barriers of time to unite two emotionally wounded people. But it will take more than the magic of the Fae to heal their hearts. It will require the most powerful magic of all - the magic of true love.

Here's the first installment of Melissa's interview. Enjoy!


Tell us a little about Connor and Cate, your hero and heroine from Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband.

Connor MacKiernan is a 13th century Highland Warrior who just happens to be the descendent of the Fae. He’s dedicated his life to honor and duty and he doesn’t trust women as far as he can throw them.

Cate Coryell is a 21st century woman, with a load of personal insecurities and a rotten fiancé.

Both characters wandered around in my head for a couple of years before I finally found the perfect setting for them and wrote their story.

What is your favorite thing about being an author?

Legitimately creating places and characters I can share with other people. [Otherwise, just living in my imagination all the time would make me crazy, wouldn’t it???? ] :0)

Can you tell us a little about your researching process? How do you do it? When do you know you have enough?

Research! I love it and hate it – but it’s always an important piece of each book. From making sure I don’t have characters eating foods that aren’t available yet to deciding which sports car my hero would drive, it’s important to make sure the facts and details are clear in my mind even if I don’t end up putting them in the book. For example – In Highland Guardian, I researched expensive sports cars to find the exact one Ian would drive…but it ended up when I wrote about the car, I was in Sarah’s POV. And to her it was just a fast little black car!

How do I do it? Lots of it gets done online. I visit tons of sites ranging from official histories to government sites, tourism and travel sites, even hundreds of sites on mythologies of various countries and cultures. And everything in between!

I also have stacks of books I use for research, again covering a wide variety of subjects. But I do have two research items I use with every single book I write–

1 – The Synonym Finder by J.I. Rodale
2 - English Through the Ages by William Brohaugh

How do I know when I have enough? HA! The million dollar question! Research is something I can get absolutely lost in if I allow it. I always have to work at reining myself in. I guess the bottom line is, when I don’t have any more questions, the research is done.

Your random question for this week: Describe your perfect/ideal day.

Perfect day? I’m ahead of all my deadlines, no one is waiting for an interview or a blog I haven’t finished, all the contest entries I’ve been asked to judge are done and sent back, the writing on my current work just flowed like water and I’m pages ahead of my goal, all emails and MySpace messages are answered, I’ve just learned that there’s a wonderful new review out for my latest work… and it’s only lunch time so I can play for the rest of the day without any guilt.

We won’t go into how rare those Perfect Days are….

Isn't that the truth! Thanks, Melissa...can't wait to hear more next week.

Be sure to visit Melissa's website for more information and fun. You can click through to her here at www.melissamayhue.com

Remember to comment here at Armchair Heroines to be entered into the drawing for a signed copy of Melissa's first Daughters of the Glen book, Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband.