Like Shifters? Maybe you’d enjoy finding the RIGHT WOLF, RIGHT TIME

Thanks for having me, Nikki.

I’m a huge fan of romance. That should be fairly obvious, since I write it and read it, and have since I was twelve years old a few, um, years ago. But I’m also drawn to things that we can’t explain. The paranormal is fun, mostly because it’s a mystery.

I write about what I’d like to see, were I to be the heroine in the story. Hot guy? Check. Strong woman? Double check. A small town full of characters who interact with each other on a daily basis and just happen to be shapeshifters? That’s Cougar Falls in a nutshell.

A small town near Glacier National Park in Montana, Cougar Falls offers what I wished most towns had. A sense of belonging, magic, and affection for each other. A place filled with practical jokers, the occasional grump, and old men who sit around taunting each other while they play checkers on the front porch of the general store. Mayberry taken down a few notches, because I’m just not that sweet. I like my characters to be believable: annoying, happy, sad, angry, sexy, ugly, funny. Real—well, as real as shapeshifters can be.

What family doesn’t have that black sheep, the one son who can’t figure out what he wants to be in life or can’t keep his you-know-what in his pants? Or the daughter who can’t wait to grow up and leave everything behind—then finds out home is really where the heart is? How about that annoying aunt or uncle who feels the need to tell embarrassing stories about you at Sunday dinner in front of your new boyfriend or girlfriend? Or the hometown that feels both suffocating and gratifying, because you know it so well?

I grew up around Philadelphia, but I always felt safer and more at home when my mother would take me to Edinboro, PA to visit relatives. She’d grown up there, and they had the best diner, one that made pies from scratch. Yep, my first and favorite slice of strawberry rhubarb pie. I remember it to this day.

In Edinboro, you could park on the main street right in front of the stores. They had a barber shop pole that twirled, and that terrific diner with pie. People were friendly. In Philly they gave you the finger; in Edinboro they waved hello and goodbye. It seemed like Mom knew everyone. She was one of the few who left, while most of her high school classmates had since married and stuck around town. It felt homey, and I love that feeling.

What memories of small towns do you have? Did you grow up someplace special that when you remember it, still gives you that feeling that you truly fit in? Innocence and acceptance are quite a pair.

In Cougar Falls, Millie, an 80-plus year young raptor, runs the ice cream parlor. Ben, a large grizzly, helps at the butcher shop. Ty, a silver fox (the furry kind, the not older kind) is the town sheriff, and his quick-witted friend Gerald manages the town’s law firm. Cats run a ranch where a wolf, two bears, and foxes have taken residence, and the thuggish gray wolves are under new management while their alpha tries to knock some sense into thick canine skulls. The raptors, not to be left behind, continue to fight amongst themselves while their leader and his three younger brothers try to get their feathered clans’ heads out of the clouds to be a more cohesive unit.

The thought of a small town—with all the charm and accompanying foibles—belonging to shapeshifters who just want to live in peace makes me want to pull up stakes and move out there right now. Except I’m human, so I’d never be able to find them. Only those with supposed Ac-taw (shapeshifter) blood can see the town that’s not on any map. But maybe I could write myself in there, because heck, I created the place, right?

Here’s a blurb from Right Wolf, Right Time, which will be given away to a commenter today, where the latest Cougar Falls resident falls prey to cupid’s arrow. Monty Grayclaw, a gray wolf living at the cat pride, finds his match in a shy wolf he knows belongs to him. He just has to convince her to take a chance on a scarred up wolf who’s better at getting himself in trouble than he is romancing the girls. That’s if his pridemates quit with the jokes, the Hunters after him steer clear, and he can convince Sophie he wants to be more than “just friends.”

Here’s the official blurb from Right Wolf, Right Time, and thanks again to Nikki for letting me stop by.

 

When good girls go bad, they go wolf.

A Cougar Falls story

Shapeshifter Monty GrayClaw has lived a wild life. A youth spent in Cougar Falls hadn’t prepared him for the outside world, or for Hunters—humans who capture and slaughter Ac-taw. They nearly killed him before he escaped years of torture. Now living safely in Cougar Falls once more, he’s trying to put the past behind him and look toward the future.

That future includes Sophie Tanner, a shy woman new to both her Ac-taw heritage and the town. Sophie is a sweet, lovely young wolf who calls to everything inside him. When an enemy from Monty’s past tracks him down, it will take the gentle woman with a will of iron to save the day. But when their shared history comes to haunt them both, can Monty save his mate, or will she leave him and Cougar Falls behind forever?

Product Warnings

A patient wolf and a shy virgin, date nights gone awry, kinky adult films and bad guys with a bite… When the good girl goes bad, stand back and watch the fur fly.

Available for preorder at Amazon,  Barnes & Noble, and Samhain

Thanks!

Marie Harte

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