A: I like to try and retell fairy tales without the magical elements so that we all know it really could and/or did happen! It could, you know (author winks).

A: (Author smiles.) It’s probably one of my top two favorites, at least. I’ve always, always loved the tale of Beauty and the Beast…since I was little, little, little! The first Beauty and the Beast movie I ever remember seeing was the famous French, Jean Cocteau La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) originally released in 1946. It’s FABULOUS and everyone should see it at least once in their lifetime! I also remember seeing some weird puppets-with-real-people type thing when I was small…and thinking that, even though it was creepy and weird, I still loved the story. Of course then there’s Disney’s animated version that I love, and when my daughter was little we use to watch a musical version starring Rebecca De Mornay and John Savage—and there are book versions I love, too (especially children’s books). Ooo! And there was that TV series in the late ‘80s starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman! LOVED that! Well, they completely obliterated it with a rotten, horrible, ridiculous ending…but I loved the show up until that. I just always loved the story and had/have always wanted to write my own. My book Divine Deception is a Beauty and the Beast story of sorts, too…but The Whispered Kiss is absolutely Beauty and the Beast.

A: Well, even though I’ve gotten a little flack here and there for Coquette’s name—I love it! The first published version (1740) of Beauty and the Beast was French…which is probably why it’s always been associated with France/French…including in my mind. Combine that with the fact that I love, love, LOVE the Disney animated version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the song Katrina featured in it…and voila! You have the French word and/or name Coquette (koh-ket)! I love the name…which was why I was so hurt several years ago when someone dogged Coquette’s name on an Amazon.com review. I think Coquette is a pretty name…and to me she’s real…so I was pouty for a little while about someone being mean to her about her name. As for Valor’s name…I know that it doesn’t seem to fit him at first…the fact that Valor literally means ‘heroic courage’ and ‘bravery’, but it does fit him—through and through it fits him. Oh sure, he had a broken-hearted time…a time when the damage done him left such painful scars that he faltered…but I think all of us can relate to that…and it doesn’t lessen our best qualities…I hope. I mean, even in the beginning of the book…when Valor knows what a jerk Coquette’s father is and has him at his mercy…he still proves that his name was appropriately bestowed on him.

A: Not always…but sometimes yes.

A: Hmm. That’s kind of hard because most of the time I think it happens subconsciously. But…Ember Taffee in The Tide of the Mermaid Tears. I wanted a name for the heroine that softly exuded the feeling another person would have when lingering in her presence. Glowing embers in a fire always make me feel warm, cozy, soothed and relaxed. That’s what I wanted Ridge and everyone else around her to feel when they were with Ember. That’s one name I can think of that I chose specifically for the vision the word brings to mind. But most of the time it’s a subconscious thing I don’t realize until much later.

A: (Author smiles and breathes a giggle…) Oh, Amy. She’s hysterical! I call her “Aimes” and we both love movies, “Christmas shows” (as Amy calls them) and intrigue! Amy was reading The Whispered Kiss as I wrote it—you know…one chapter at a time as I finished each chapter. She had so many encouraging, not to mention hysterical, comments along the way that I just had to thank her in the dedication!

A: (Author laughs.) She might wring my neck! (Author pauses.) Okay, here’s what happened: I can’t remember which chapter it was, but after one of the ‘nutmegged milk’ smooching scenes, Amy called me. She’d really liked the chapter and exclaimed, “Let the games begin! Do we get to see him naked?” She was kidding of course…I think. I don’t know…maybe she wasn’t kidding because she sounded disappointed when I told her probably not. (Author laughs.) Amy cracks me up! I miss her every day now that we live so far apart.

A: Nutmeg, of course! (Author smiles.) I love nutmeg! It’s my favorite spice! In fact, I love it so much I have to take a jar of ground nutmeg out of the spice cabinet every once in a while and inhale its delicious aroma! I always simmer nutmeg, cinnamon and apples on my stove top…and I remember this guy once told me that my spy name should be Nutmeg. He said, “You could say…‘My name’s, Meg…Nutmeg.’” (Author laughs.) I even use nutmeg in my French Toast batter instead of Cinnamon. LOVE It! So…when I needed warm milk for Victoria to lace with her “tonic”…I decided nutmegged milk sounded far more delicious and appealing than just plain warm milk.

A: Yes! Darling Jared and I met years ago and he won me over instantly! He told me this very romantic story about when his wife was pregnant with their first child…she was bedridden for almost the entire pregnancy. Jared would sit beside her and read my books aloud to her! What a man! He knew sooooooo much about every book I had ever written up to that time. He’s hilarious. And he offered to paint something especially for me—for the cover of the new book I was working on at the time. The painting is GORGEOUS! But I didn’t have the cover designer I have now, and somehow the painting just didn’t transfer well onto the book cover. By the time I was finally able to contract the graphics designer I had always wanted to design my covers, the original cover for The Whispered Kiss was ‘dated’…you know…out-of-date. So we decided to freshen it up. I LOVE the new cover! I think it captures the mood and flavor of the The Whispered Kiss! I seriously love it, and I hope readers will adore it as much as I do! Meanwhile, Jared did gift me the original painting of “The Whispered Kiss Rose”…and I cherish it more than ever. It’s so beautiful in real life! The cover didn’t do the painting justice.

A: (Author smiles and shrugs.) I don’t know. The Whispered Kiss is a book I truly adored writing. It holds a special, tender place in my heart. But I do love the story of Beauty and her beast so much that I’d like to think I’ll have the time and inspiration to write another version someday. But I have so many other fairy tales that I’ve outlined or am currently working on that I don’t know when ‘someday’ will be. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Amanda B. asked: How do you find/invent or/and decide on all the different names of your characters?”

Marcia answers:

Amanda! You’ve hit the “FAQs” on the head! I do get asked that a lot! And to be honest, I always wonder if someone is asking that because the LIKE the names or choose, or do NOT like the names I choose! The rambling answer is this: I LOVE unusual names for main characters! I just think they’re dreamy and
interesting and paint a better picture of a certain character! For some reason, I just love unique names for them. After all, they are unique, right? As for where I find/invent and decide on them…I used to leaf through baby name books a lot. That’s how I found a few of the ones I used in my earlier books. I’d flip through the pages, perusing names and then highlighting the ones I liked, or dog-earring the pages they were on. Then I found myself just keeping my ears open, so to speak. If I heard a name I liked, I’d jot it down on a scrap of paper (usually an old store receipt hidden in the depths of my abyss of a purse) and then add it to my master list when I got home. That’s actually what I do most these days…that and a little imagination or Internet research. A funny side story is that one day a friend asked me, “You like nature, huh?” I responded, “Sure! But how can you tell?” She then pointed out to me all the different ‘nature’ type names I use for my characters…i.e. Aspen, Sage, Cherry, Cedar, Poppy, Rivers…Lobo, Stoney, etc. I was astounded! I truly had never even noticed that before! (I’m kind of an idiot sometimes that way!) It was hilarious to me when I thought about it! I even do it with the titles of my books…Saphyre Snow, A Crimson Frost, The Tide of the Mermaid Tears. Hilarious!

So now that I’ve rambled on about how I FIND the names, here’s a little rambling about how I DECIDE on them: Let’s take Lobo McCoy for instance…he’s so cool and wolfish (right Stacey, Danielle and Weezy?)…kind of brooding and serious…with a predatory countenance a lot of the time. He’s strong and quick on the draw….so I immediately knew his name was Lobo…like the wolves I grew up knowing here in New Mexico.

Ember Taffy from The Tide of the Mermaid Tears…she’s warm and inviting…like a comforting fire in the hearth…so at once the name Ember popped into my weird little brain! I liked to think of her as if she were an inviting little fire on the shore when Ridge washed up. You know?

In the end…I think I’m just weird! But my character names do mean a lot to me AND their etymology usually reflects the character themselves…even though most of the time it’s accidental on my part. Lobo and Ember were intentional, but many of them are a subconscious thing for me! Does that make sense?

I hope that answered your question, Amanda. I’m SURE it was more information that you actually needed…!

Sherylin P. asked: “After writing so many plots and characters, how do you come up with fresh ideas and not copy other books-either by a different author, or one of yours?”

Marcia answers:

Sherylin…I have to tell you honestly that other than children’s books, or an occasional YA book, I don’t read novels anymore. The first reason is I just don’t time to read AND to write, and I’d rather write. The second reason is, I don’t want to take the risk that my mind will absorb something someone else wrote and subconsciously duplicate it. It happened to me twice…someone reading a manuscript of mine and then writing a book that was nearly my book’s twin…literally! We were so glad they were discovered before they were published! Whew! Anyway, that experience unsettled me so badly, that I just don’t read much…especially if I’m writing. I also get very nervous when I hear someone say, “Oh I read the book this-and-so by author so-and-so and I swear it sounded so much like you I thought you might have helped to write it!” I steer clear of reading those books, too…I guess because ‘ignorance is bliss’ and I don’t want know if what happened to me before to happened again. I am VERY aware of what I have read, so that I don’t mimic, but I still worry, so I just don’t read . I do have a stack of books by my bed…my “to read someday when I have time” stack…and I know I’ll LOVE it when I finally do have some time to read!

As for copying myself, I actually keep a list of plot lines, scenes and scenarios to help myself not to do that. When I used to write just short books for my friends, I did incorporate similar things from them in my first novels…which made sense to me. However, now that I’m no longer a novice, I keep lists and things, or ask well-read friends (like someone I know who has an awesome collection of trivia on my books…wink wink!) whether or not a books is sounding redundant.

As far as ideas…I usually dream them, think of them while I’m driving by myself in the car, or wake up in the wee hours of morning with them running through my head! I keep a pen and notepads on my night table for just such moments…and Kevin knows never to throw a store receipt away that might have my scribbling on it! You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve jotted notes on!

As always, I hope that was a good enough answer for you, Sherilyn! Thanks!

Heather Hilmer asked, “I always wonder how you get in the mood for writing your passionate romantic scenes and/or how you think up your dreamy men!! Is there certain music you listen to when writing to get in a certain mood, or certain movies or shows that have inspired your writing?”

Marcia answers:

I’ll start out by confessing something…when I’m writing romantic scenes (especially kissing parts) I have to close my office door…because I sit there at my computer and blush my guts out the entire time! I’m not kidding! I get all flustered and blushy and grinning and nervous…so I have to make sure no one’s going to wander past my office door, glance in and see me all goofy and blushing!

As far as how I “get in the mood” for writing my “passionate romantic scenes”…well, usually I start by literally announcing to my husband and son that I’m going to be working on a ‘difficult’ scene, so I’m closing my door. I also put my cell phone in another room so that I don’t have anything close that might distract me. Next I pull up my iTunes playlist that I have previously created for whichever book I’m currently working on. My iTunes playlist for any given book always includes one, two or three songs that ‘put me in the mood’ so to speak for that particular hero and heroine’s romance. For instance, I wrote the entire text to Saphyre Snow with only one musical track set on repeat. It played any time I was working on that book and nearly drove my family nuts! For Saphyre Snow, I listened to Track #15 (Your Hands are Cold) from the 2006 movie version of Pride and Prejudice. Seriously! I had that one piece of music on repeat the entire time!

But writing to only one song isn’t my normal habit. As I said, I do make a playlist…but most of them include far more than one song. Still, there is usually only one or two songs I listen to while writing the romance scenes. During The Tide of the Mermaid Tears, I listened to recordings of Ocean Waves from some Sounds of Life CD most of the time. But whenever I was writing the scenes between Ridge and Ember I had one song on repeat…Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine. I’m not sure why that particular song was in my heart for Ember and Ridge (it really doesn’t fit the time period or anything), but it was. To me it was there theme. Does that make sense? For The Trove of the Passion Room, I chose three songs for Maxim and Sharlamagne…I Remember You for certain scenes, as well as I Can Dream, Can’t I. During the most romantic/passionate scenes, I listened to a song entitled Insatiable…but on a low volume because some of the lyrics are…um…well, the push the envelope if you know what I mean. There are other songs on that “soundtrack,” too…All the Cats Join in by Benny Goodman, Casper’s Lullaby from the movie Casper, and The Gypsy by the Ink Spots. The Look of Love by Diana Krall was Jagger and Tabby’s theme in A Better Reason to Fall in Love, The Lights of Albuquerque was one I listened to while writing The Time of Aspen Falls, and for hottie with a naughty body Sir Broderick Dougray (i.e. A Crimson Frost) I had a playlist packed with selections from Brian Crain! FABULOUS soundtrack! (Obviously, since he’s one of the people I dedicated the book to!) Let’s see…to give you more info than you want or need…I’m Yours by The Script was Jesse and Cozy’s kissing theme and Hey There, Li’l Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs was Jesse’s ‘flirting/prowling’ song for me! Ha ha! I’m so weird!

Heather also asked how I think up my dreamy men. Well, I hope it doesn’t disappoint anyway, but I draw from real life…my husband, sons, uncles, grandfather, my dad (I get a lot of smart aleck one-liners from my dad…though I have to change some of the…um…colorful metaphors here and there) and other wonderful husbands, fathers, boyfriends…good men I’ve known who are truly admirable, etc. But admittedly…Kevin is my main inspiration. So so so many of the romantic one-liners in my books, the humor, the flirtations and physical attributes of every hero come from a base of Kevin-ness. It’s true! It may seem corny, and you may wonder if I’ll ever run out of inspiration because Kevin is only one man…but I promise…the inspiration he gives me is boundless!

Now as far as “movies or shows” that influence me…well we cannot overlook her majesty, Jane Austen! Or the Queen of Gothic Romance, Victoria Holt as far as authors and books-to-movies go. I’m sure that Jane Austen BBC movies, etc. inspire me…more along the lines of just helping be to see the life-styles etc. I like period pieces like that…westerns, etc. They do assist me in capturing a ‘feeling’ of the era I’m writing in. Even Anne of Green Gables and the spin off series Road to Avonlea have helped me to write some visual descriptions such as cloths, buildings, etc.

Please email us at [email protected] or call us at (505)554-4002 and we will be happy to assist you.

• If you are using a computer (desktop or laptop), you can download the Kindle For PC application and read Amazon e-books on your computer.
• If you are using an Apple wireless device (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, etc.), you can upload the EPUB file to your device, or download the free Kindle App to read a Kindle file. Generally, the easiest way to get an EPUB file or a kindle (PRC) file onto an apple device is by emailing the file to yourself as an attachment and opening the attachment with your device.
• If you are using another device that cannot sync with Amazon, contact us at [email protected] and we will assist you/discuss alternatives.

A Purchase Receipt is sent via email when all orders are made. If you don’t see the email, check your spam/junk mail folder. If you still don’t see it, please email us at [email protected] or call us at (505)554-4002 and we will help you to resolve the issue.

To download an E-Book file from a link we provided in the Purchase Receipt, right-click on the link and click on “save link as…”
Then select the location on your computer and click “Save.”

1. Download the Kindle E-Book file from the link we provided in the Purchase Receipt. (use the .prc file-this will read best on your Kindle).
2. Once the e-book file has been downloaded, connect your Kindle to your computer using the USB cable. Plug the larger end of the USB cable into an available USB port or a powered USB hub connected to your computer, and the smaller end into your Kindle.
3. When connected to your computer, your Kindle will go into USB drive mode and you won’t be able to use the device. Your wireless service is temporarily shut off and you will not receive any of your subscriptions while in this mode.
4. Your Kindle will appear in the same location as external USB drives usually appear. For Windows users, this is typically in the “Computer” or “My Computer” menu. For Mac users, the drive will appear on the desktop.
5. Open the Kindle drive. You will see several folders inside, one of which will be named “documents.” This is the folder you will move your downloaded Kindle content into.
6. Locate your downloaded file, and drag and drop it into the correct file.
7. Safely eject your Kindle from your computer, then unplug the USB cable. The file you transfered will now appear on your Kindle Home screen.

• If you are using a computer (desktop or laptop), you can download the Kindle For PC application and read Amazon e-books on your computer.
• If you are using an Apple wireless device (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, etc.), you can upload the EPUB file to your device, or download the free Kindle App to read a Kindle file. Generally, the easiest way to get an EPUB file or a kindle(PRC) file onto an apple device is by emailing the file to yourself as an attachment and opening the attachment with your device.
• If you are using another device that cannot sync with Amazon, contact us at [email protected] and we will assist you/discuss alternatives.