Today on @RomanceBooks4Us: Emerald Influence by PG Forte #Menage #PNR #Romance

Emerald Influence

In keeping with this month’s theme of Emeralds, I’ve decided to write about one of my favorite places in the world, The Emerald Isle…or Ireland, if you prefer. J 

 I’ve always felt a special affinity for Ireland, mostly due to my maternal grandmother.  Both of my mother’s parents came from Ireland—separately. The met here; and that’s its own very romantic story—but my grandmother lived with us throughout my childhood and was a huge influence on my life. 

The stories she told of growing up in Ireland always seemed more like fiction than fact. At times, they seemed to border on fantasy. In part this was because she was a natural-born storyteller, and, well, Irish.  Blarney. It’s an actual thing, y’all. But she was also an amazing woman who actually lived a pretty amazing, and occasionally tragic, life. 

I never got the chance to know my grandfather, other than a few bare facts. He became a blacksmith at age of eighteen to support his mother and younger siblings after his father died. He was later known as “the only honest building inspector in New York”.  He met my grandmother at a dance that they both had to be talked, reluctantly, into attending and fell in love when he first caught sight of her on the dance floor. Later in their courtship, he walked through a snowstorm to keep a date with her.  He loved antiques and travel. He was a pretty good writer and a very good artist. Naturally, he preferred writing.

I think they’d  both be properly horrified by the fact that I consider them the inspiration for my Irish-themed books, especially since said books are erotic romances.  I like to think the practical side of my grandmother’s nature would have brought her around to accepting it, eventually, but maybe it’s just as well she never knew. 

I’m happy to have passed down my love of Ireland to my daughter, who worked her way across Europe a few years back, and spent the summer on Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands.  And if I had to pick a favorite part of my favorite place, it would be there.  It truly is like traveling back in time—only with all the modern amenities. My favorite combination!

My most recent Irish-themed book released in March (on St Patrick’s Day, because why not? J ).  Three of the four main characters are trees…or, well, tree spirits and shape-shifters, to be exact. And my love of trees is something else I have  to thank my grandmother for. As a child, I was awed by her extensive knowledge of plants. She grew up in the country and knew everything there was to know about growing things, or at least that’s how it appeared at the time. 

I guess I’ve wandered a little far from the original topic, but May is the month for Mother’s Day, so I guess it still fits. It’s also the month for Mary—which was my grandmother’s original name. She changed it to Maurine at the age of thirteen when she arrived in this country, having traveled here unaccompanied on a mission to get an education, then a good job, and then make enough money to pay for the rest of the family to come over as well. Which, of course, she did.

  

Purchase from Loose Id

The Oak Spring 

by PG Forte

Twice each year, Aine Murphy ventures into the woods to hold ceremonies to honor the Oak King and the Holly King, never dreaming these Lords of the Forest could be anything more than myth. When the legends spring to life in front of her, how can she help but fall for the sexy demi-gods she’s loved all her life?

From midwinter to midsummer, Fionn O’Dair rules the Greenworld as the Oak King--a role he feels is beyond his abilities, and one that dooms him to a loveless future, forever craving the one man he can never allow himself to have. How can he resist what Aine offers—the sweet devotion that soothes his aching soul, and the slim chance to live a “normal” life as her husband, if only for half a year?

Holly King Kieran Mac Cuilenn never desired a human lover—until now. Seeing Fionn and Aine together fills him with longing for the love he threw away and awakens feelings he thought he’d buried with the last Oak King. Is there enough magic in the solstice to correct the mistakes he made years ago? Or is he doomed to be forever left out in the cold?

Author Bio: 

PG Forte inhabits a world only slightly less strange than the ones she creates. Filled with serendipity, coincidence, love at first sight and dreams come true.

She wrote her first serialized story when she was still in her teens. The sexy, ongoing adventure tales were very popular at her oh-so-proper, all girls, Catholic High School, where they helped to liven up otherwise dull classes...even if her teachers didn't always think so.

Originally a Jersey girl, PG now resides with her family on the extreme left coast where she writes contemporary and paranormal romance in a variety of sub-genres.

PG can be reached directly at:

pgforte@pgforte.com