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Book: Through Gypsy Eyes by Killarney Sheffield

categories: Book, Blind Heroine, Gypsies, Guide Pony, Regency, Pianoforte, Historical Romance

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Killarney Sheffield

about this book: Hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Killarney Sheffield, the author of 'Through Gypsy Eyes' releasing from Crimson Romance on April 15th 2013. 'Through Gypsy Eyes' is my 8th published novel.

Many people have asked me just how I came up with the idea of a blind heroine and a guide animal in the form of a seeing eye pony named Jester. Like many authors I sometimes struggle with 'showing' vs 'telling' and developing the sensory dimensions in a novel. I started writing a short piece from a blind woman's pov. Obviously my character could not 'see' the world around her but had to interpret it through touch, taste, smell and the sounds around her. It is a wonderful exercise that really helped me connect with Delilah. The story just took off from there and refused to stay quiet until I seriously wrote her story and for me as a Canadian farm gal a book is never complete without some kind of animal sidekick. Most people would have gone with the guide dog approach but, I hate to offend anyone here, I am just not a dog person. My whole life has been spent around show horses of various breeds and disciplines. As I was thinking on an animal sidekick I remembered an old show I saw once on 'Animal Planet' about a lady in the USA who trained miniature horses to be guides for the blind. She used a harness similar to a dogs, put cute little sneakers on the pony's feet for traction and house trained them. These remarkable little creatures could do everything a guide dog could and posed less allergy problem. From this simple show the idea behind Jester was born and he quickly became a most endearing character who threatened to steal the story in more than a few scenes!

True to my love of critters big and small I am currently polishing another historical romance novel with suspense, adventure and paranormal aspects to it titled 'Love's Magic'. It is the story of a female magician and her unusual sidekick, a black Holland Lop rabbit named Dexter.