Blog Stop and Review: Mountain Charm by Sydney Logan

Today I have the talented Sydney Logan here as part of the blog tour for her new release, Mountain Charm.  Read the guest post to find out about the research that went into the Appalachian Magic that is the intriguing backdrop for the story, and check out my review.  Enjoy!

Sydney, what research did you do for the background of Mountain Charm?  Do you have first hand knowledge of Appalachian Magic? 

I wish I had firsthand knowledge of Appalachian Magic!  Sadly, my only knowledge comes from the research I’ve done.  

Living in the country, you hear a lot of superstitions (black cat crosses your path brings bad luck, break a mirror and have seven years of back luck, thunder in February means frost in May, death comes in threes, etc.). However, most of my research was done online.  I found many websites devoted to Appalachian witchcraft (or Granny Magic).  A lot of the traditions go back to 1700s Scotland and Ireland, and when those settlers’ customs mixed with the mountain traditions of the Cherokee, those rituals, beliefs, and medicinal knowledge became part of the Appalachian Magic traditions.  “Witch doctors” stemmed from that, and like Dylan learns in my novel, Mountain Charm, a lot of the healing was due to medicinal herbs.  I found a great website devoted to mountain herbs and plants and the medicinal (and sometimes poisonous) qualities of them.  I used a lot of those in the book.  If you’re interested, you can see the list here: Magical Uses of Herbs. 

As for Angelina, I wanted to give her a supernatural gift that was both a blessing and curse, so I decided to make her a healer.  Her father has passed away from cancer and her mom is now fighting the disease, so knowing she has the power to heal, but not to cure, makes Angelina feel useless.  In her mind, if she can’t use her gifts to save the people she loves, what’s the point in being a witch at all?  It’s her mom who reminds her that people don’t only heal with their hands.  They can heal with their spirit and their hearts.  Even though this is fiction, it would have been very irresponsible of me to have Angelina heal her mother’s disease when all of us have lost loved ones to cancer, so I was very sensitive to that when writing the story.  I hope I gave Angelina’s story a realistic and satisfying ending.

Summary:

At the age of thirteen, Angelina Clark followed in the footsteps of her ancestors by casting an Appalachian love spell, which promised she would blossom into a beautiful and gifted woman who would find her true love. A young Angelina had been thrilled to participate in the sacred ritual, but through the years, her father’s untimely death and her mother’s failing health have shaken Angelina’s magical faith to its core. As her twenty-first birthday approaches, she refuses to practice her supernatural gifts and no longer believes in the love charm.

That is, until Dylan Thomas arrives on her front porch.

Dylan, a Nashville writer, travels to the mountain town of Maple Ridge to unearth the family’s supernatural secrets. While her clairvoyant mother is convinced that Dylan is her daughter’s soul mate, Angelina refuses to see the nosy reporter as anything more than a nuisance.

Despite their constant bickering, sparks fly.

Dylan admits he feels strangely drawn to Angelina and is in no hurry to leave Maple Ridge or publish his magazine article. Fearful that his emotions are being influenced by the spell, a stubborn Angelina struggles to fight her own budding attraction to the reporter.

The two inevitably grow closer just as her mother’s health begins to deteriorate, and Angelina is faced with the possibility of selling the family’s music shop to pay the mounting medical expenses. Desperate to help the woman he loves, Dylan explores his own family tree and finds support from an unlikely source. Can he finally prove his love is real—spell or no spell?

A story filled with love, friendship, family, and just a hint of Appalachian magic, Mountain Charm will leave you spellbound.

Bio:

Author Bio:

Sydney Logan is an Amazon bestselling author and holds a Master’s degree in Elementary Education. With the 2012 release of her first novel, Lessons Learned, she made the transition from bookworm to author. Sydney has a very unhealthy obsession with music, and her iPod is filled with everything from Johnny Cash to Eminem. She is also the author of two short stories: “Mistletoe Magic,” available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, and “Stupid Cupid,” which is featured in the Romantic Interludescompilation. When she isn’t reading or writing, she enjoys playing piano and relaxing on her front porch at her home in East Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat.

Her second novel, Mountain Charm, is slated for a summer 2013 release.

Visit Sydney’s website at www.sydneylogan.com.

 
Buying link: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/books/detail/91