Charming the Professor by Donna MacMeans is a winner

Welcome Donna! Tell us about your new novel.

Many years ago I attended the RWA convention in New Orleans.  My roommate and I played hooky from the workshops by heading to the French Quarter for lunch.  We were on Royal St. and saw the shingle for the famous Court of Two Sisters restaurant, but when we opened the door, we were faced with a bare hallway with brick and plaster walls with graffiti. We weren’t sure this was the sort of place any sane person should be, but the maitre’d waved us forward.  At the end of that hallway stood a pair of fancy iron gates with a wooden sign that said:

 These Charm Gates were wrought in Spain especially for the Court of Two Sisters. According to legend, Queen Isabella had them blessed so that their charm would pass onto anyone who touched them.  

I thought I could write a book about Queen Isabella channeling her charm into an unsuspecting tourist, but in my research, I found that  Queen Isabella II was anything but charming.  She was a beotch!  So much for that plan.  Then I thought the vindictive, jealous Queen might have a sweet, and kind charm teacher that she hated.  The queen rids herself of the charm teacher by having her imprisoned in iron gates destined for New Orleans.  The inscription on the wood plaque is tongue-in-cheek. And it all would have gone unnoticed – if not for the touch of Physics Professor in modern day New Orleans.

Charming the Professor is a finalist in both the 2015 National Readers Choice Awards contest and 2015  Prism award for time-travel/steampunk.

Charming the Professor Blurb

The Charm Gates have stood at The Court of Two Sisters for more than a century with no one guessing the secret they hold. A jealous vindictive Spanish queen and a blackmailed alchemist have encased French “charm teacher” Madeline Charlebois’s essence inside the gates, at least until a grieving professor touches them during a storm and Madeline tumbles out, not in her own 19th century Spain, but in 21st century New Orleans.

Quantum physics Professor Grant Stewart has mourned his wife’s death for the last three years. But he must move on for his young daughter’s sake, the child who delights in terrorizing babysitters. Grant needs adequate childcare to pursue tenure at Tulane. What he doesn’t need is a French beauty believing nonsense like time-travel and voodoo, and whose very being is melting his heart.

Maddie may be without resources but she’s good at making new friends, even if they are on the quirky side. She believes Professor Stewart can return her home, but first she must earn his trust to win his cooperation. Babysitting his daughter gives her both proximity, and love for the child. Will Grant be the key to returning to her time? Or will she, in turn, unlock his frozen heart? All they need is time and maybe a little voodoo…

Visit Donna’s website to learn about her books.