Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome first time guest Allison Merritt to the blog today.  

Allison, can you please share with us a little about yourself

I’m from Southwest Missouri where I live with my husband and a very spoiled Japanese chin named PeeWee. In my down time, my favorite activities are hiking, reading, watching movies, and poking around the internet to find the weirdest stuff available.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

My mom tells me I started writing early, but it wasn’t until I hit middle school that I decided writing was a real passion. When my best friend announced she planned to become an author, I was all, “Me too!” She moved on to other interests, but it always stuck with me.

Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

My favorite authors always tell a love story, even if they aren’t necessarily strictly romance authors. Louis L’Amour is a huge influence on the way I write, as well as Harold Bell Wright’s Shepherd of the Hills. Linda Lael Miller has long been one of my favorites for romance.

How did you get into writing in this specific genre?  Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?

The first romance novel I ever read was by Roseanne Bittner. It was a historical and I’d always been fascinated by history. It seemed natural to write historical romances. Digging into the past, learning about my roots and creating history appeals to me. I’ve also written a steampunk series, putting my own spin on history and mythology. I also have a historical paranormal coming out later in 2014. I’d love to try my hand at contemporary romance someday and I think I’d like to write mainstream with maybe a hint of romance in it.

What are some of your writing rituals?

I like to write in the afternoons and evenings. Mornings aren’t my thing. Those are for answering emails and drinking tea, aren’t they? One thing I consistently rely on is NaNoWriMo. November 2013 was my 4^th year participating and I made the 50,000 word goal. They started doing Camp NaNoWriMo in 2012 and I’ve done it a couple of times too. I don’t always make the word count goals, but I like making progress daily or most every day.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?

My current release is The Convict and the Cattleman. Bridgit Madden is a young woman from Ireland sentenced to seven years of labor in New South Wales because she tried to steal money. Jonah Andrus is a pioneer cattleman with a large station east of the prison where Bridgit is staying. He needs a woman to watch after his orphaned niece, although he’s initially reluctant to take on Bridgit because he feels she’ll distract his men from their work. It doesn’t take long before he’s the one enamored with her and when it seems like they might form a family, Bridgit’s life is threatened and everything she’s worked for might be destroyed.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

The shower is my friend. I actually read an article that claims a lot of creative people get their best ideas in the shower. When I started the first draft of this novel in late 2008, I didn’t know anything about convicts, penal colonies, or cattle in Australia, but I wanted to do something that’s a little unusual and it took me a while to get everything finished, um…three years, in fact, but I really enjoyed the research behind this novel.

Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?

I’m working on a paranormal historical romance that’s the second book in a series. I signed the first with Samhain in December, yay! It’s currently called The Heckmasters: Eban and it’s about half-demon brothers who are trying to defend their town from a prince of Hell after their father defied his liege for the love of a human woman.

I’ve also got another historical romance going. It’s set in Southwest Missouri and involves a woman desperately clinging to her grandfather’s mill after a drought threatens to bankrupt her family and her father loses the business to a gambler she’s known since they were children, but doesn’t trust. The hero has to convince her he’s different from the man she thinks she knows while avoiding a criminal who wants him dead.

Open your book to a random page and tell us what’s happening.

On pages 78-79 from The Convict and the Cattleman, Jonah is out on his station with one of his jackroos, Phil. They’re talking about how Jonah should take a wife to help raise his niece, when Phil happens to mention how pretty Bridgit is. Jonah keeps trying to discourage Phil from looking at Bridgit as a woman. She used to apprentice as a milliner and he teases Phil, saying he could model the hats she designs. Phil says he must have feelings for Bridgit because he keeps trying to turn everyone off of her. Jonah denies it, but at this point, he’s already taken her into his bed and he’s beginning to lose his heart to her. He responds that he won’t leave her broken-hearted and carrying a bastard child. But Phil comes back with how Bridgit is nothing like Jonah’s sister, who was abandoned by the man who left her pregnant, and if Jonah takes her back to the penal colony, then the next man who comes along might not care what happens to her.

What would you be if you were not an author?

That’s a tough one, because author is kind of my late night gig. My day job is pretty cool; I’m a catalog technician at a county library, which provides me with plenty of reading material. One thing I know I’ll never be for certain is a mathematician. I don’t know if all writers have trouble with math, but don’t ask me to do anything difficult! This is why we have Google.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

I’m anxiously waiting for Maggie Stefveiter’s Raven Boys 3 (I read a lot of YA) and Karen Witemeyer’s short story A Match Made in Texas, which is coming out in a novella collection.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Just a huge thanks for having me today, Kelly, and I love my readers, my editor, and everyone who helped get The Convict and the Cattleman from the dusty corner of my flash drive to readers everywhere. You’re all awesome.

Amazon| B&N | Kobo  | iTunes

His love is the key to her release.

Sentenced to seven years of servitude in the penal colony of New South Wales, Bridgit Madden is thrust into a world unlike anything she’s known, dangers she never imagined and enemies with their own interests at heart. Certain that the conviction has ruined her chances of ever having a real family, she is fearful of her future.

Despite his reluctance to take in a convict, Jonah Andrus, a grazier and pioneer cattleman, needs a servant to care for his orphaned niece. When presented with Bridgit, who is far too beautiful and distracting, he initially tries to refuse. However, with a busy cattle station to oversee, he needs help right away.

Upon her first meeting with Jonah’s niece, Bridgit immediately falls in love with the girl and becomes entwined the mystery surrounding her birth. As she gets to know her employer better, Bridgit makes it her mission to remind him that family is priceless. When it seems as though she might have found the place she truly belongs, their love is threatened by lies and deceit, and both of them might lose everything they hold dear for a second time.

A little about Allison: 

A love of reading turned Allison Merritt into an author who writes historical, paranormal and fantasy romances, often combining the sub-genres. She graduated college with a B.A. in mass communications that’s gathering dust after it was determined that she’s better at writing fluff than hard news.

She lives in a small town in the Ozark Mountains with her husband and dogs. When she’s not writing or reading, she hikes in national parks and conservation areas.

Blog  | Facebook | Twitter  | Google Plus | Goodreads

Book trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpfYFqTSGhw