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A Corrupting Force
The Roses of Carterhaugh reimagines the old Tam Lin ballad through the lives of a noblewoman facing an arranged marriage and a knight stolen into a faerie realm. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve always had a deep love for history and fairytales. In college, I was part of a reenactment group focused on researching and recreating the Middle Ages. Given my love for story and song, I was instantly drawn to the role of Bard. My Scottish roots introduced me to the Child Ballads, of which Tam Lin is one of the most famous. I eagerly memorized the popular version and presented it as part of my bardic repertoire, but there were so many unanswered questions to the story that the tale stayed with me for some time. I finally realized that I needed to reconcile the Anglicization of the tale with the history of the Scottish people. The research rabbit hole led me on some incredible adventures and gave me some interesting plot twists to explore.
Was there a particular scene that was the hardest to write emotionally?
This is an emotional story in many aspects. The characters face loss, grief, anxiety, rejection, and danger. Still, I think the hardest scene for me to write is the one where Jonet is attacked by the oak tree at Carterhaugh. I can’t give too much away as it would reveal something essential to the plot, but the scene was difficult for several reasons. Jonet, who is usually plucky and fierce, is vulnerable here. She lets her guard down, and she is worried. She doesn’t know she’s in danger until it’s too late. The terror she feels as she blacks out was hard to put to paper because imagining it made me ill. I always feel for my characters, but the downside to that is that I feel with them too.
The book plays with the idea that love is not automatically pure—that it can be leverage. What made you want to explore the uncomfortable side of devotion?
Love itself is a true and powerful thing, but the need for love can be a corrupting force. The imperfect nature of humans, and, in this case, fae, can use love as an excuse for selfish behavior.
The queen is the perfect example of masking generational trauma with love. She fears the loss of love and holds on too tightly. She cannot see a world where it is set free. Only an expression of sacrifice and devotion can correct the imbalance that her selfishness brings.
Jonet, who has also faced tremendous loss for one so young, makes so many sacrifices in the original tale just for the sake of her love; it was easy to conclude that the antagonists would see love in a different light. My story shaped around those elements naturally.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
My next book is a doozy of a research project. I’m writing a grandma camping fantasy set in the Pacific Northwest sometime in the near, post-war future. There will be misadventures, mystical creatures, and a stubborn corgi in tow. My goal is to finish the manuscript sometime next year and perhaps publish it in 2028.
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In a quiet souters village in Scotland, an earl’s rebellious daughter stirs up trouble with the fabled faeries known as the Daoine Sìth. Can she lift the veil on a darkened past and rescue her knight from the seelie queen’s clutches?
Based on a beloved Child Ballad, this fairytale retelling mixes magic with devotion, leading our heroine and her loved ones on an adventure worth recounting in an enchanted glade or a royal hall.
The Roses of Carterhaugh
The Roses of Carterhaugh by Melissa Widmaier is a historical fantasy and fairy-tale retelling that reimagines the old Tam Lin ballad through two linked lives: Jonet, a stubborn noblewoman in Selkirk facing an arranged marriage, and Tam, a knight stolen into the faerie realm of Elphyne for centuries. Jonet keeps getting pulled back to Carterhaugh, the wild clearing where the white roses grow and the veil thins, and her choices ripple outward into family, faith, and the dangerous politics of the Daoine Sìth. The story builds toward Jonet trying to free Tam, while Tam pushes back against the idea that he is just a piece on the faerie queen’s board, even if resistance might cost him everything.
I really enjoyed the voice. Jonet’s narration feels authentic, sharp at the edges, and often funny in a way that comes from frustration rather than punchlines. Early on, she is grieving, bristling, and still somehow itching for freedom, all at once. I liked how Widmaier lets Jonet be difficult without punishing her for it. She can be tender with her sister and downright volcanic with everyone else, sometimes in the same scene. The writing leans into Scots flavor and medieval texture, but it usually stays readable, like the book wants you inside the world instead of standing outside it admiring the wallpaper.
The author’s bold choice is to make the faerie world feel like a real society with rules, grudges, and long memory, not just a misty backdrop for romance. You see the push and pull between Tam’s humanity and the Daoine Sìth’s expectations, and it gets tense in a satisfying way. There’s an honesty to the idea that love is not automatically “pure” just because it is intense. Love can be a vow, sure, but it can also be leverage. The book plays with that discomfort, especially when Jonet realizes how easily magic and rumor can twist what she thinks she knows, and when Tam’s anger finally stops being passive and turns into action.
By the end, what I liked most was the book’s steady insistence on agency. Jonet refuses to be managed, whether by suitors, servants, or supernatural powers, and the story keeps asking what it really costs to choose your own life. Even the closing pages feel like someone leaning in at the edge of the rose clearing and asking you what you will do with the warning you just received. I’d recommend this most to readers who enjoy romantic fantasy rooted in folklore, especially if you like fairy-tale retellings that keep the wonder, and if you have patience for court politics, messy feelings, and characters who fight hard for their right to decide.
Pages: 267 | ASIN : B0G5SKM55R
