Mary Wine : Author of To Conquer a Highlander

Posted by Night Owl Reviews in

30 comments

Enter to win a copy of To Conquer a Highlander - To enter you must Be a member of the NOR newsletter, leave the first bit of your email address on the post, and leave a meaningful comment. USA / Canada Shipping only. No P.O. Boxes. Publisher to ship prize. Two winners will be selected. Contest Ends 8/13/2010

***

People often ask me how my real life inspires my writing…

It’s the truth that I often see stories in the events around me. Most often it happens when I’m climbing around the crumbling walls of a fort in the Caribbean islands or reading some weathered brass plack set beside some spot that one was somewhere important. Old photographs and paintings make me wonder what the people living through though those times did when faced with harsh facts. They were still people like you and I. They must have cracked jokes and teased their children and gotten on each other nerves too.

I’m not sure what it is that makes my mind wonder but it surly does. To Conquer a Highlander was born out of a long standing fascination with British and Scottish history. It isn’t just the kings and queens that keep me reading articles on what happened five hundred years ago, it’s also the facts about the men that marched in their armies and the knowledge that they had families praying for their safe return.

Okay…a little deep but I really do find myself thinking about things like that when I’m faced with a museum.  The History Channel is on most of the time around here. Beyond that, I am also a student of martial arts. I took my sons into a local studio years ago and they wanted mommy to do it too. A full decade later, I’m still trying to keep pace with the teenagers during my nightly practice. I find the techniques very interesting. When I sit down to write anything with a fight scene, I know a little bit about how it should work. This can be a little troublesome to deal with when I’m out watching the latest action movie because I can spot where they have spliced the film to cover up the fact that the actors don’t have any true training.

The last thing that I do is historical re-enacting. My family and I dress up and spend the weekend in period clothing. Drinking out of a pewter mug just feels different than using a glass one from your modern kitchen. Attending a supper where there is nothing but candle light casts a very different mood across the guests than a dinner date at a local restaurant. I like to think I infuse some of those details into my writing so that the reader really gets a historical experience.

I hope so anyway…please drop by my website and let me know! MaryWine.com

TO CONQUER A HIGHLANDER BY MARY WINE—IN STORES JULY 2010

A fierce Highland laird ready to kill for king and country…
When Torin McLeren discovers his neighbor’s plot against his king, he takes their daughter as his prisoner, thereby stopping her father’s plot from going forward. But that leaves him with a woman under his roof whom he can’t ignore, and not just because she’s his enemy’s daughter…

A woman who’s as much trouble as she is temptation…

Shannon McBoyd decides to use her captor to experience passion for the first time, and then to destroy him. But her plan goes awry because once she has lured Torin into her bed, she no longer wants to hurt the one man who seems to value and understand her…

Even if her father will kill him—and her—when he discovers what they’ve done...

About the Author

Acclaimed author Mary Wine has written nearly twenty works of erotic fantasy, romantic suspense, and historical romance.  An avid history-buff and historical costumer, she and her family enjoy participating in historical reenactments.  Mary lives with her husband and two sons in Yorba Linda, California. For more information, please visit http://www.marywine.com/.