Guest Author: Kendra Leigh Castle

I am excited to welcome back Literary Escapism Kendra Leigh Castle, who is getting ready to release the third novel in her Highland Magic series, Wild Highland Magic, which comes out on May 1st.  I’ve had the chance to read this novel and it is great.

We’ll be giving away a copy of Wild Highland Magic, so make sure you stick around.
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Chasing Fairy Tales

Welcome, and thanks so much to Literary Escapism for hosting me on the kick-off of my tour around the blogosphere for the release of the third and final book in my MacInnes Werewolf trilogy, Wild Highland Magic. There are some great blog names out there, I have to say, but this is one of my favorites: I’m in the business of literary escapism, after all! So I thought I’d talk a little today about my earliest escapes into the pages, since they inspired me to head off into imaginary worlds of my own creation.

This probably comes as no surprise, but as a paranormal romance writer, I grew up loving a good fairy tale. In fact, they were my first love, and in many ways remain so. If a story contained a) a curse, b)one or more magic spells, c) an underappreciated prince, princess, or ought-to-be-nobility about to get all the wonders they deserve (along with their evil tormentors, who will, of course, get theirs) or, my favorite, d) all of the above, I was…and am, actually…so there. So it makes sense that my writing is heavily influenced by all the wonderful fairy tales I read as a kid, and my upcoming May release, Wild Highland Magic, has plenty of pixie dust in it.

Well, okay, it actually has a curse that manifests as a soul-sucking shadow in it. But it does belong to a gorgeous prince. And if you happen to be a fan of Beauty and the Beast, well…my heroine is a bit of both?

Here’s the gist:

Bastian an Morgaine has always been a man apart. The only male ever born into the Dyadd Morgaine, Tribe of the Goddess, his unusual powers and silent strength have kept him a mystery even to those closest to him. But Bastian hides a terrible secret, one that drives him to isolate himself on the remote Highland estate of the MacInnes Wolves: he carries a terrible curse, one he knows he must either find a way to remove, or make sure that it dies with him alone.

Catriona MacInnes, the daughter of the powerful Pack Alpha’s long-estranged brother, has only just begun to discover her family’s rich legacy. Worried about her father’s increasingly strange behavior, Cat hopes that Scotland might somehow hold the answers to all of her family’s problems. But upon Cat’s arrival, it’s the reclusive stranger with the face of a fallen angel who consumes her thoughts and fires her blood. Cat soon begins to suspect that her father isn’t the only one with secrets. If only her every instinct wasn’t telling her that Bastian must be hers alone, no matter the cost…

In the western Highlands, as the Wolves gather, an ancient evil watches, waiting to reach from the shadows and fulfill its dark destiny. A daemon’s curse has terrible power. But the love of a Wolf might just be stronger…and as Bastian and Cat are about to discover, the Highland moon has a magic all its own.

It seems fitting, given my early obsession with the Brothers Grimm, to finish out this trilogy with a cursed prince, a she-werewolf, a couple of charming, meddling half-witch sisters, and yes, even a dragon. More than two of them manage to find a happy ending, I promise…so I hope you pick up a copy and come along for the ride!

I grew up reading about far-off lands full of magic, forbidding castles that housed handsome princes and beautiful princesses, curses and spells and great adventures with happy endings. Now, lucky me, I get to write them (along with all the juicy parts the original fairy tales left out, and you can insert all the wicked laughter you want to right about here). So what’s your favorite fairy tale? Mine has to be Beauty and the Beast, with Cinderella a close second. And yeah, I also liked the decidedly more violent Brothers Grimm version of the latter…I can see why Disney didn’t base their cartoon on it! When I was a kid, I also particularly loved one fairy tale called Mother Hulda, about a pretty, industrious farm girl who fell down a well and was rewarded with a shower of gold for her hard work in the service of a scary old lady with big teeth. It was also fun watching what happened to the rotten, lazy farm girl who decided to get in on the action, of course.

I’ll be in to chat all day, and as an added incentive for you all to pop in and keep me company! Hope to see you there, and happy reading!

-Kendra

Kendra Leigh Castle is the author of the MacInnes Werewolves trilogy, as well as the upcoming series The Fallen, coming from Harlequin Nocturne. She lives in Maryland with her husband, three kids, and menagerie of pets, and loves to be visited online at www.kendraleighcastle.com.

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Thank you Kendra for visiting Literary Escapism again.  I do have to admit, I’m sad to see this trilogy end.  I so wanted to see Lucien get tormented a little longer.  :)

Contest Time! We’re giving away a copy of Kendra’s novel Wild Highland Magic to a lucky commentator and it’s very easy to enter. All you have to do is answer this simple question:  What is your favorite fairy tale? Get a second entry just by asking Kendra anything you want to know.

Apologizes to my international readers, the contest is only open to US and Canada residents.

As always, if you want more chances to win, you can post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer (yes LE is now on Twitter as well!).  The more places you share it, the more entries you get.

Join the Literary Escapism Facebook page and you’ll get an additional entry (for each page).  Make sure you leave a comment so I know that’s why you’re joining.  Only new readers to the group will be considered.

For 2 additional entries, subscribe to Literary Escapism’s newsletter in the sidebar. This is for new subscribers only.

For 2 more entries, purchase either Call of the Highland Moon and Dark Highland Fire (through LE’s Amazon store or any other novel) sometime during this contest and send a copy of the receipt VIA email for your purchase to: myjaxon AT gmail DOT com.  That’s a possible 4 entries if you purchase both books!

I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer. All entries must be in by midnight on April 28th.