Blog Tour: Her Dear & Loving Husband by Meredith Allard (spotlight, guest post, giveaway)

Her Dear & Loving Husband (Loving Husband #1)
written by Meredith Allard
published by Copperfield Press

find it here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, Book Depository, Goodreads

About the book: James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties with anyone. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife, Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth’s death, James cannot move on.

Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. Soon James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?

Part historical fiction, part romance, part paranormal fantasy, Her Dear and Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies.

 

Every Free Chance Book Reviews is pleased to welcome Meredith Allard, author of Her Dear & Loving Husband, to the blog today. She/He is touring the blogosphere with Virtual Author Book Tours and she has prepared the following guest post for all of you.

Adding a Paranormal Twist to Historical Fiction

You could say I write historical romance with a paranormal twist. I’ve been writing novels for years now, and I love writing historical fiction. That’s the genre I’ve been most associated with, and I wasn’t looking to change until I had the idea for my vampire novels in the Loving Husband Trilogy. While Book One in the series, Her Dear & Loving Husband, has historical elements from the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, it was my first venture into paranormal fiction, and that was definitely a twist for me, a turn in the road I was used to traveling. Now I’m so glad I took the plunge into this rich, imaginative genre.

Before, all my stories, while fictional, were entirely realistic. The characters could really exist, and the facts about the historical times they lived in were painstakingly researched. While I always relied on my imagination to write my novels, my previous stories were limited by the physical realities of our world. When I began writing paranormal fiction, I discovered a whole new freedom that allowed me to write whatever my imagination conjured. Even if it’s not possible in our real world, it’s possible in this paranormal world my characters and I created. As most fiction writers will tell you, the characters take over and tell their own stories their own way. When that happens I find it’s best if I just sit back and take dictation. And when I let my paranormal characters do the talking, there are no limits to where the story can go. Fantasy, flights of fancy— that’s what I was missing in my earlier books.

By writing a romantic paranormal fantasy I was able to write about a vampire who has been alive for 349 years, and he has seen American history from its beginnings in the Massachusetts Bay Colony through the Revolutionary War, to the Trail of Tears, through World War I, World War II, right up through our present day. I was able to write about witches who can shatter glass at the snap of their fingers or light a roomful of candles with the wave of a hand. Ghosts can reappear from the past to reunite with loved ones. And a werewolf can cross party lines to adopt a vampire son.

I had been closed off to the paranormal genre before. I thought to write something meaningful it had to be real—as in it could really happen. But now I realize that imagination can be powerful. Even as an adult, it’s good to explore the realm of what’s possible and enjoy some fantasy every once in a while. It’s fun to play those childhood games of “What if?” again. That’s why I love writing historical fiction with a paranormal twist.

 

About the author: Meredith Allard has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction workshops at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference. Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Wild Mind, Moondance, Muse Apprentice Guild, The Maxwell Digest, CarbLite, Writer’s Weekly, and ViewsHound. She is the author of the Loving Husband Trilogy, Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle (Copperfield Press). She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Find Ms. Allard here: web, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+

 

And now for the GIVEAWAY!! Fill out the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win a copy of Her Dear & Loving Husband!

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Happy reading wherever you are and whenever you get a free chance!!!