Guest Blogger - Jeanne Barrack - Felicity Heaton - Paranormal Romances with PassionFelicity Heaton

I have the pleasure of welcoming Jeanne Barrack to my blog today…

Price: $5.50
Genre: Paranormal Erotic Romance
Length: 37,000 words

The place: Ireland, a long, long time ago when the Sidhe walked among mortals

Donal Bawn was the most handsome man in all of Tipperary with a voice that could lure the birds from the trees. But that all changed when he angered Ogma, High King of the Tipperary Sidhe. Doomed to wander as a hunchback with a voice as thin as a reed, Donal keeps to the forests away from human companionship until one day he hears a melodious female voice singing a fragmented tune over and over.

Ceoleen, a beautiful female of the Galway Sidhe has also been cursed for her vanity and foolhardiness. Blinded and exiled to a fairy ring deep in the woods, she can only repeat a broken phrase of music until that fated day when Donal finishes the song for her.
But their curses are only partially broken. It will take a great deal more than music to decide their fate.

Will their love be strong enough to finally free them?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tell us a little about your story.
The story was inspired by an old Gaelic folksong. In the song, the sidhe, like Ceoleen, can only sing the same phrase which translates into “Monday, Tuesday” over and over until a hunchback, hearing them, completes the song by singing “and Wednesday”. As a reward they remove his hump. In my story, I concentrated on the concept of seeing and hearing with your heart and not being swayed by outer beauty. I’ve always loved Ireland and the myths and legends associated with it. As a teenager in NYC, I learned Gaelic and sang Irish music in English and Irish. Both my titles from Liquid Silver Books – “The Shimmering Flame” and “A Song of the Sidhe” – evolved out of my love for all things Irish.

What is it you relate to most with your heroine or hero? What do you like about them most?
Their mutual love of music. Throughout the story, you can see the power of music. For me, the ability to convey my thoughts and feelings via the written word is matched by my talent and ability to communicate through the music I sing. Like Ceoleen and Donal, being able to share their musical gifts gave them a purpose in life. When that was taken from them, it plunged them into despair that could only be conquered through love.

I like the fact that they continued to grow. They learned to see with their hearts. It was a slightly longer road for Ceoleen, but perhaps being a sidhe had something to do with that.

How did you get started in writing?
I’ve always written, but it wasn’t until the sudden, unexpected passing of my mother late in 1997 that I actually began a novel. I finished it in 1998, submitted it in 2004 after years of tweaking and contests and it was published in December of that year. I haven’t stopped writing since. I write primarily in paranormal and other similar genres.

Whatâ€™s your schedule like, and what do you enjoy doing in your time off?
I write every day because I am self-employed as a music therapist and can control my schedule. In my down time from writing I love to cook foreign food, play guitar, listen to music from folk music to opera with detours into Country Western, and read.

Where can readers find out more about your stories?
At my website:
http://www.jeannebarrack.com

My blogs:
http://jeanneworldsnewsletter.blogspot.com/
http://thesweetflagmenlove.blogspot.com/
http://jeannebarrack1.wordpress.com/

And my titles at my publishers:
“A Song of the Sidhe” and “The Shimmering Flame”
Available at: http://tinyurl.com/JeannesLSBwork
“The Sweet Flag” and Jeanne’s Loose Id titles
Available at: http://tinyurl.com/JeannesLIwork

Sneak peek into A Song of the Sidhe:

Ceoleen stumbled on a small grassy divot. She knew it was nightfall only because of the slight change in temperature. She sat down on the soft lawn and bent her head in her hands. Only one day, and already she regretted her impetuous words. She felt the thin claws of the bullfinch upon her shoulder and heard its cheerful tones.

She couldnâ€™t even speak to it to thank it for its company. With a delicate touch, she caressed its downy head, hoping it would understand her gratitude. The bird darted its beak at her cheek and rubbed its head against her jaw, then flew off. Ceoleen smiled. She yearned to break into song to thank her tiny comforter.

Tears fell as she opened her mouth, and all that came forth was her beautiful voice singing the same damned phrase. She sank to the ground and let her grief overwhelm her. High in the ash tree, the bullfinch sang a sad song for its fairy companion.

* * * *

Three hundred years later

Ceoleen raised her head to the warmth of the sun and held out her hand, palm up. Her cheerful companion lit gracefully on her soft flesh. Ceoleen made the gesture for food, and the winged creature pecked once for â€œyes.â€

Moving six paces forward from her bed of feathers gathered into a bag woven from the silken strands of hundreds of cobwebs, Ceoleen knelt and picked up the meal of nuts and berries placed on a lily pad leaf.

Still as young and beautiful as on the day she was cursed so many years ago, Ceoleen had learned over the centuries to communicate with gestures with her feathered friend.

Each day she would sing the unfinished song, hoping that someone would hear it and complete the tune. Though she knew it not, no mortal or Sidhe had come near her ring in all those years. It was an extra little gift from Lorcan, who had found her a hundred years after sheâ€™d been banished. Her heart at that time was still cursed by vanity, and each day she bemoaned her inability to gaze upon her perfect features. Taking advantage of this, Lorcan added his own mallacht.

â€œNo one shall hear, no one shall see. For two hundred more years, alone you shall be.â€

â€™Twas a feeble curse, but all he had the power to do.

And over those two hundred more years, Ceoleen had changed. Not being able to see her face, she began to see with her heart. She learned to share what she could with her little friend, and since it had not been forbidden, other forest creatures visited her tiny world.

She found she could change a few things about the magical notesâ€”the tempo and rhythm, how softly and how loudly she could sing the phrase. Often she would entertain the denizens of the woods who ventured close.

But she ached for a companionâ€”mortal or Sidheâ€”who could give her comfort that her animal friends couldnâ€™t.

Now as she finished breaking her fast, she sang her phrase with a longing that broke the hearts of all the forest creatures that heard her.

She rose, raised her hands to the gods, closed her eyes and sang over and over the same broken phrase.