There’s 8 days left to enter the Sweet Romance Christmas Giveaway and today I’ve invited Alesha Cary, one of the authors participating in the Giveaway, to visit Ascroft, eh? to tell us a bit about the novel she has donated to the draw.

Welcome Alesha. Let’s get started, shall we?

What is the theme of your story and what prompted you to write about this?

Redwood Cove is a fictitious small town on the far Northern California coast. The area draws spirited creative types who are more comfortable in nature than in big cities. The stories of Redwood Cove are contemporary fiction – romantic mysteries with a slightly paranormal twist.

The setting for my series is a fictionalized version of my local area. The places I write about in this series actually exist, but are slightly altered to fit the story.

Currently there are 4 books – The Promise, which introduces the town and the six main characters, along with some ancillary townfolk. The Mermaid shares the story of Meaghan, a local jeweller who finds a unique seashell that shifts her life forever. The Beacon follows Libby, an environmental journalist, as she becomes immersed in the story and mystery she finds in a handwritten journal written in the 1920s by a local woman. The Shaman features Crystal, a young woman dabbling in magic, and running from a past that catches up with her in Redwood Cove.

I am considering at least one more book in the series, but that will be in 2014.

How did you bring the place and people you are writing about to life?

The Mermaid was the first book I wrote. I love this area I live in, there is indeed a sense of magic here. Meaghan’s hike around the Head is a hike I love to take, and we do it often. The areas Libby visits in her quest to find Adelaide’s cabin are also walks and locations I love.

So, as I said, the location was relatively easy. I just modified the area to meet the needs of my story. Peopling it was also easy because I simply chose parts of people I know or would like to know.

There is also a part of me in all the characters. I am a jeweller, I am an author of both fiction and non-fiction. I care about the environment I live in, and used to work for an agency that did environmental work and salmon restoration. I don’t dabble with magic, but I know people who do, and I am a firm believer in the power of intention and the grace of the magical in our lives. There are simply too many things we really can’t explain.

Do you prefer to write one sex or the other. And, if so, which do you prefer and why?

If you mean, do I prefer to write as a woman or a man, I am a woman, and predominantly that is my point of view. When I write from the man’s point of view, I imagine how my husband might react in that situation. My guy is pretty savvy, and relatively sensitive to things, but he is, after all, a guy. And some things we women do just don’t compute for guys (and vice versa, of course).

Would I ever write a story as a man? Maybe. I have more of a masculine mind than a feminine mind. I considered becoming an engineer at one time, so I would tap into that part of me if I did decide to write predominantly from the male point of view. But, I am still a woman, so that’s my preferred POV. And, instead of becoming an engineer, I married one. And he loves my mind nearly as much as other parts of me.

Thanks, Alesha. You’ve given readers an intriguing peek into the Redwood Cove series. I hope they will enter the contest for a chance to win a copy of The Promise of Redwood Cove as well as all the other stories in the prize bundle. Here’s where to enter: Sweet Romance Christmas Giveaway.