Palisades of the Heart follows a troubled young woman in 1776 who moves to Western Virginia and falls in love for the first time. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Returning Mary and her family to the Cooks Fort settlement merges the fictional story with the factual location where William’s and Mary’s love story began.

Mary has shown great growth from the earlier novels; what were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Thank You. I’ve shown Mary’s developing survival skills throughout the series, but now she is weary and vulnerable. Her lifelong goal of security hasn’t changed, but her love for William challenges her determination to remain safe. When the danger she fears comes for her and those she loves, her warrior spirit rises and solidifies her destiny.

What is your background and experience in writing, and how did it help you write the Dangerous Loyalties series?

A Junior High teacher identified my writing talent, but my outdoor adventures as a child developed my imagination. When I learned of the tribulations Mary and William endured during the American Revolutionary War, the spark to write a fictional account of Mary’s teen years ignited.

With this series ending, what is the next book project you are working on? 

I’ve ended the young adult series as happy for now, and I’ve explored how young Mary developed the survival skills needed as an eighteen-year-old to keep herself and young son alive in the future. Now I’m writing her biography, The Story She Couldn’t Tell: The True Account of DAR Patriot Mary Shirley McGuire.

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