Hi peeps,

Welcome again to the blog Alexa Bourne! Alexa is a fellow Decadent author and she’s here to chat about her release, HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION. Take it away, Alexa!
 

The Kierlain House, the fictional home of the hero in my book HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION, came alive for me when I first visited Glenfinnan, Scotland. On a quick stop during a tour of the Highlands, I caught a glimpse of the Glenfinnan House Hotel for the first time. Set away from the loch with the greenest mountains surrounding it, the hotel was beautiful and immediately I began planning a story that revolved around that setting.

When I started seriously writing this story, I contacted the manager of the Glenfinnan House Hotel. Why not? Where else could I get perfectly accurate information? In my email, I explained I was a writer, my story was set in a fictional version of their hotel and village, and that I was hoping she’d be willing to answer specific questions about her surroundings to make my story authentic. Imagine my surprise when she responded to this and many other emails! The next time I returned to Scotland, I stayed in her hotel and took notes about what it looked like and how I felt inside. Some thoughts remained in my own travel journal, but many did get added to HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION.

The fictional hotel, the Kierlain House, holds a special place in Malcolm Fraser’s heart too, much like the real one does in mine. Malcolm’s the hero in HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION and this home holds many memories for him, both positive and negative.

As a child, it became his safe haven. He’d been battered and bruised by his biological father and his biological mother died when he was very young. The owners of the Kierlain House found Malcolm and eventually adopted him. They gave him the care and love he needed to grow up to be a good and decent man. They encouraged him to take risks again and to find his own path in the world. He followed that path to the International Protective Network, where he works to keep other victims safe. But when he turned in his badge and returned to the house, it became a symbol of his failure as a bodyguard.

Until he met his heroine, Heather Winchester. She made it a positive place for him again. It was where Malcolm first fell in love with her. Granted, he didn’t want to fall for her, but he had no choice. With her trust in him to keep her safe and her ability to make him laugh, she gave him the courage to have faith in himself again.

Nowadays, Malcolm and Heather are working hard to keep the Kierlain House perfect for everyone who visits Glenhalish, and I’m looking forward to the day I can return to the Glenfinnan House Hotel.

Do you have a place that means a lot to you?
 

Heather Winchester leads a charming life. With good friends, a beautiful flat in one of the most amazing cities in the world, and a promising future once she finishes her Ph.D, she is finally pursuing her own dreams instead of catering to everyone else’s…except she doesn’t remember any of it.

Malcolm Fraser has returned to his Highland village to forget his failings as a professional bodyguard. Believing he could just lose himself in the mundane activities of running his bed & breakfast, he finds a woman’s lifeless body by the loch instead….

Captivated by Heather as she regains her memory, Malcolm is thrown into the line of duty. As danger comes knocking on their door will he be strong enough to love her and keep her safe?