This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Margaret Izard will be awarding a Stone of Destiny Swag Box to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Blurb:
Bound by destiny, torn by fate—their love stood unbroken, victorious over all.
Kat MacArthur still feels the loss of her brother to another time. Seeking solace, she stumbles upon Ceallach, a Fae warrior, she’s had feelings for ever since she met him. The emotion grows stronger whenever they are together. Yet he warns her to stay away from the upcoming gathering for the Iona Stones. Kat refuses—she needs to be there to help her family and Ceallach.
Ceallach is torn between duty, magic, and the ache for mortal love. His Fae soul is sworn to protect the Iona Stones during the Gathering, but his heart is lost to Kat. With the prophecy looming, he cannot promise her forever—no matter how much he longs to. The maiden of the Iona Stones now faces sacrifice, and he fears if his beloved gets too close, he cannot save her.
When dark forces rise to take the Iona Stones along with their powers, Ceallach is forced into an impossible decision—to defy destiny or surrender to love?
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Read an Excerpt
“Dry yer tears, sweet Kat. Yer face is much prettier without them.” He took her hand and, with his other placed the gemstone in her palm. “When ye hold the gem, yer tears will fade, and happy thoughts shall fill yer heart.” When the stone touched her skin, her mind cleared, and a sense of ease washed over her.
Ceallach released her hand and strode past her to the doors.
Kat turned, calling after him. “Wait, why are ye here?”
The attractive Fae stopped and turned. “Dagda sent me. I’ve come to meet with the guardian of the stones. All the stones have returned. The gathering and battle of good vs evil is upon us. The gods have called, and we must answer.”
He opened the heavy oak doors without effort and strode through. The doors weight closed them, leaving Kat in the shadows again. She blinked, almost not believing her eyes and the truth before her. Her secret love had just casually strolled back into her life. Gripping the gem, he’d shaped from her tears, warmth washed over her. Ceallach was here. A smile crossed her face.
Ceallach was here.
Interview with Margaret Izard
Could you tell us about any research trips you took for this story? Which places did you visit, and what made them essential to your writing?
I visited Scotland to see the places I write about. I don’t separate research from setting—I want to stand where the history happened and let the land inform the story directly. During that trip, I visited Dunstaffnage Castle, Iona Abbey, and the Chapel in the Woods, all of which play a meaningful role in the Stones of Iona world.
Dunstaffnage Castle mattered because of its real historical connection to the legends of the land as the place where the Tuatha Dé Danann first settled, the lore I base my Fae on. Seeing it in person grounded the mythology of the series in physical reality rather than abstraction. Iona Abbey and the Chapel in the Woods carried a different kind of weight. At its height, the chapel rivaled Iona Abbey as a major religious structure, and both sites hold deep layers of faith, myth, conflict, and upheaval tied to the land and its people.
Being in those places shaped how I wrote sacred spaces, belief, and consequence throughout the series. The history isn’t decorative in my work—it presses forward into the present and onto the characters. Visiting Scotland allowed me to write Stone of Destiny with confidence, knowing the world beneath the story could support the emotional and mythic weight of the series’ conclusion.
What's the strangest thing you've ever had to research online for your book?
The strangest thing I’ve researched for a book sits at the intersection of folklore, death, and belief—how land absorbs myth and trauma and then gives it back through story. I’ve gone deep into ancient Celtic death rites, contested sacred sites, and the way religion and magic overlapped rather than replaced one another in early Scotland. That meant reading about burial practices, contested holy ground, relic theft, and how entire regions rewrote belief systems while still clinging to older gods beneath the surface.
None of it stayed abstract. I needed to understand how people lived with those contradictions daily—how faith, fear, reverence, and survival braided together. It’s strange research because it forces you to sit with uncomfortable truths about power, loss, and belief, but it’s also necessary. The worlds I write don’t sanitize history or myth, and neither can the research that feeds them.
What research (history, mythology, science) goes into your world-building?
My world-building draws from history, mythology, and place-based research, with Celtic lore at its core. I study Scottish history, especially how sacred land, belief systems, and power shifted over time, because that tension shapes how magic works in my stories. Mythology—particularly the Tuatha Dé Danann—guides the structure of the Fae world, not as decoration but as a living framework with consequence.
Have any of the people you've known, past or present, left a lasting impression on your writing journey? If so, we'd love to hear about a memorable experience that stands out to you.
My background in performance shaped my writing in lasting, very specific ways. I grew up immersed in dance, theater, and the performing arts from early childhood through college, into adulthood, and that training taught me how to tell a story through motion, timing, and emotional physicality. I approach scenes the way I once approached choreography or staging—thinking about where characters enter, how they move through a moment, when tension tightens, and when release finally comes. Emotion never lives only in dialogue for me; it lives in bodies, gestures, breath, and silence. That foundation still guides how I build pacing, character arcs, and dramatic beats on the page, and it’s why I often think of myself as “directing” a story rather than simply writing it.
Do you write in the same genre all the time?
No, I’m currently working on a contemporary romance that sprang from a writing challenge in a writing group. The challenge was to see if I could write without the paranormal aspect of romance, and I can.
If so, have you ever consider writing in another one?
See above.
Which character, supernatural or human, do you enjoy writing the most and why?
I enjoy writing the Fae the most because they never allow easy answers. They exist at the crossroads of myth, power, and consequence, and they don’t think or love the way humans do. Every choice they make carries personal, political, and mythic weight, shaped by long memory and hard rules. Writing the Fae lets me explore fate versus choice, love tested by duty, and the danger of power without balance, all while demanding precision and intention on the page.
About the Author:
Margaret Izard is an award-winning author of historical fantasy and paranormal romance novels. Her latest awards are 2024 Reader’s Favorite Honorable Mention for Stone of Love and 2024 Spring BookFest Silver Award for the same title. She spent her early years through college to adulthood dedicated to dance, theater, and performing. Over the years, she developed a love for great storytelling in different mediums. She does not waste a good story, be it movement, the spoken, or the written word. She discovered historical romance novels in middle school, which combined her desire for romance, drama, and fantasy. She writes exciting plot lines, steamy love scenes and always falls for a strong male with a soft heart. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and adult triplets.
Connect with Margaret Izard
Giveaway:
a Stone of Destiny Swag Box
2 comments:
Thank you for featuring STONE OF DESTINY.
Thank you for having me!
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