GUEST BLOG: HANNAH HOWELL

What if….

The first germ of the Wherlocke tales was small, a little tickle in my brain as I wrote about Highlanders. In some of my Highlander books I have members of the family blessed with some psychic gifts; the Murray clan is riddled with them. Yet, those gifts remained mostly in the background, were rarely a big star in the story. So, in my tiny brain perked the thought of a tale where the psychic gifts were more prominent, and not subtle gifts but big whopping in-your-face psychic abilities.

First problem – the time period. When the Murrays have a gift it’s kept pretty quiet and is usually a gentle one, almost just a strong intuition at times. Their tales are also set in a time when there were some pretty nasty punishments for being glaringly psychic. So I knew I had to come forward in time. I picked the late-Georgian period for several reasons. It was past the time that ‘witches’ were drowned, burned, tortured to death, or hanged, and I liked the clothes. It was also a time of enlightenment, studies in science, and many discoveries so I felt there would be a chance for a man or woman with strong psychic gifts to find love and acceptance. Yet, there was still a very strong fear of such things, superstition was still fairly rampant, so the family would have to be reclusive and hold fast to the secret of their nature.


So, from this ‘what if..” came the Wherlockes and their cousins the Vaughns. And they don’t have just intuition they have graphic dreams, and fierce visions. Some see ghosts, some have a telekinetic ability, some can mesmerize you into telling the truth, and on and on. There are many, many psychic gifts and this family has them all. In IF HE’S WICKED, the heroine has dreams and they lead her straight into the middle of the hero’s complicated and dangerous life. In IF HE’S SINFUL the heroine sees ghosts and that leads her into a search for the truth with a man she craves but who is betrothed to her own, treacherous cousin. And in IF HE’S WILD, the third book in the trilogy that will be on the stands May 25th, the heroine Alethea has visions, strong visions, and can even have them by touching something. Those visions draw her into Hartley Greville’s dangerous life.

Alethea has seen Hartley in visions and dreams for years but the latest vision reveals that he is in terrible danger. She goes to London to warn him and is plunged into a world of spies, secrets, and murder. Hartley finds his logical mind forced to accept the illogical, the unknown, the psychic world the Wherlockes and Vaughns inhabit. He must try top accept that Alethea can see what will happen. When passion flares between them, they are both put to the test. Can Alethea actually use her gift to help? Can she ever have more than passion from Hartley; can she find acceptance of all she is? Can Hartley push aside his need for everything to make sense in a proven, scientific way, and accept Alethea, as well as her gifted family? And what a family it is, too. Does Hartley even want to accept all the madness that comes with such a clan? As Hartley and Alethea wrestle with their beliefs, needs, and desires, they also have to find and defeat the enemy that wants them dead.

And all this from the simple whisper of ‘what if’ in my mind. Even I’m often astonished by what comes from that little question. This time it is the Wherlockes. Who knows where ‘what if..” will lead me next time. I hope you’ll give IF HE’S WILD a chance.