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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The O'Briens of Ballycashel

Series Blurb: Well, I don’t really have one, for the simple reason that I never planned to write a series. The first book, In Sunshine or in Shadow, was a story that had simmered in my heart for years. It was meant to be a single story.

But my characters had other ideas.

In In Sunshine or in Shadow, there’s a scene between my hero, Rory O’Brien, and his 10-year-old daughter, in which he tells her that one day he’ll let her return to Baltimore to visit her late mother’s family.

Click! Even as I wrote that scene, I knew Katie would have her own story.

But …

There’s another little girl in In Sunshine or in Shadow, seven-year-old Ashleen Desmond, my heroine’s daughter. And I wasn’t yet ready to leave Ireland behind.

Thus was born the second O’Brien story, Coming Home.
                                                                                      
Let me take you to Ballycashel, the wind-swept, West-of-Ireland village where my stories take place…

In Sunshine or in Shadow

A Valiant Survivor of Famine and Tyranny

Siobhan Desmond will do anything to keep the tattered remains of her family alive, even if it means working for the new landlord – a darkly handsome stranger with secrets in his eyes and pain in his smile. As she watches her village return to life and begin to thrive under Rory O’Brien’s care, she comes to understand his true nature and soon finds herself falling under his dangerously sensual spell.

As danger ignites all around them, Rory and Siobhan fight to right the wrongs of the past – and protect their newfound love.



“In Sunshine or in Shadow is a classic Irish romance at its very best.”
~TCM Reviews

Coming Home

“A woman’s love is strong, more powerful than all the ghosts in Ireland..”

Daughter of an Irish village girl, step-daughter of the landlord, Ashleen O’Brien has lived between two very different worlds. But after a year in America, she yearns to return to the green land that is her heart’s home.

War and betrayal have taken everything from Cavan Callaghan – his home, his family, and the woman he loved. A hero of the Irish Brigade at Antietem, he’s searching for the family he never knew.

Love and deception await Cavan and Ashleen along those emerald shores, as the ghosts of a past that can never quite be forgotten rise to threaten their newfound happiness.


“What’s not to love? Laughter and tears, and best of all … another happy ending! Thank you, Cynthia, for sharing your wonderful tales with us!”
~ I Am Celt “Liz”, Amazon.com

Author Bio:

I believe I was destined to be interested in history. One of my distant ancestors, Thomas Aubert, reportedly sailed up the St. Lawrence River to discover Canada some 26 years before Jacques Cartier’s 1534 voyage. Another relative was a 17thCentury “King’s Girl,” one of a group of young unmarried girls sent to New France (now the province of  Quebec) as brides for the habitants (settlers) there.

My passion for reading made me long to write books like the ones I enjoyed, and I tried penning sequels to my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. Later, fancying myself a female version of Andrew Lloyd Weber, I drafted a musical set in Paris during WWII.

A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three.



Twitter: @Cynwrites1


8 comments:

  1. Funny how series creep up on you. Love Bites wasn't supposed to be a series either.

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  2. Your series sounds amazing. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. J.Morgan, it's true, they do creep up on you when you least expect it. But that's what makes it all the more fun!

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  4. Thanks, Tami, and thanks for having me!

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  5. Neat. My novel wasn't a series when I queried the publisher. Now I'm planning books two and three and hoping they might like them enough to say yes. (Meanwhile editing the novel and eagerly awaiting next summer.)

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  6. I'm definitely intrigued! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. You're welcome, Query Girl, and thanks for stopping by!

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