THE WHITE DEER OF KILDARE by Christy Matheson ~ Guest Post & Giveaway

The White Deer of Kildare (The Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales, #3)
by: Christy Matheson
Series: The Castle in Kilkenny
Genre: Time Slip Fantasy
Release Date: December 20, 2024
Publisher: Buttercup Books

There's a deer sorting Christmas decorations in Maura's kitchen...

All Maura wants is a peaceful winter holidays in her dilapidated Irish castle, but her ex is threatening her with family court, and her second grader has invited a strange--completely unclothed--friend, to spend the holidays with them. Oh. And the friend’s dog, which is not actually a dog but probably one of the white deer of Celtic myth.

Maura distracts herself from her husband’s threats by trying to discover why a Fae deer is in her kitchen, when the two women accidentally end up in the Ireland of ancient myth. The White Deer was the human queen of this castle, but it appears she has husband trouble too. Perhaps...the deadly sort of trouble.

Can Maura rescue her new friend — or is Maura herself so tangled in the White Deer's fate that she won't make it home to her children alive?

This novella will appeal to readers who enjoy cozy fantasy, ancient history, Irish folklore, and uplifting stories about motherhood and found family.

My main character, Maura, isn’t morally gray or coming of age or hiding latent superpowers.

She’s just a single mom. And she’s tired.

Once upon a time, many years ago, she had dreams of becoming a folklorist. Even though none of her family were college types, she got into a PhD program at one of the few schools in the US that offers an advanced degree in folklore, and she was full of ideas. But you know the way it goes…it ended with a man, and family is the most important, right?

She did her best for her kids—but she’s not some kind of TikTok trend supermom, either. Sometimes she felt isolated and resentful, and when her second baby was so much harder than the first, she never had enough sleep, and Oona wouldn’t let anyone else hold her, and sometimes Maura had flashes of something that were almost like anger at her own poor helpless baby. But she kept trying.

She kept trying to help her marriage, too. She’s been trying for so long, sometimes she almost forgets that it’s all over. She doesn’t have to make excuses for the husband who is now gone, although she tries to talk about him kindly in front of his children. (Okay, “gone” is a euphemism. He cheated on her, got his new girlfriend pregnant, then demanded a divorce—that’s what happened.)

Part of doing her best for her marriage was treating the children from his first marriage decently. She only saw the older kids on vacations, and she was pregnant or tired so often, so she showed them basic respect and care, but not really much more. That’s why she’s so shocked when they decide to come to Ireland with her.

So how’d they get to Ireland? The divorce stuff went on forever, and Maura felt trapped in a fancy apartment in Seattle with two little children, one of whom still didn’t sleep and didn’t let herself be dropped off at her fancy Montessori preschool. Sometimes Maura’s adrenaline was still pounding at odd hours, and she’d stay up late in the big bed with both the kids glommed onto her like clams and look at real estate listings, building a fantasy life that was ever more impossible. She just wanted to get out. One night she was on Savills, and she saw an actual castle, with a working roof and a kitchen, and in a country that spoke English (you have to think about these things, with kids), and in the morning she told her lawyer, “I want that.” Because who doesn’t want a castle? Maura was a folklorist who had lost her career dreams. A castle with a functioning kitchen seemed like a reasonable second choice—at least, “reasonable” with the ratio of sleep to sheer panic that Maura was getting at the time.

But her soon-to-be-ex-husband was a wealthy businessman, and three wives is starting to get complicated. He was delighted to send his middle ex-wife to an entirely different continent, and a dilapidated house that held no interest whatsoever for Wives #1 and #3. Meanwhile, Maura’s lawyer argued for a robust maintenance contract. He knew that castles are expensive to live in, and judges have empathy for abandoned wives with small children clinging to them. (Because Oona had screamed for two hours in the preschool entryway, until Maura finally just snapped her back into her carseat and ran red lights to get to the courthouse on time, and then felt guilty for endangering her child, who was still sobbing and covered with snot and graham cracker crumbs.)

So Maura moved to an ancient castle in Kilkenny, with her own two children, plus the two teens from her husband’s first marriage. They wanted to come but didn’t explain why—and here’s one important thing about Maura. She isn’t the type to pry and insist people tell her things, and she doesn’t look down on children like they don’t know their own mind. She figured there was a reason, and she was out of inner strength by then, but she could make it through the day. At least, through the next hour. So she made it through one hour and one day at a time, until she got them to Ireland and all four kids enrolled in school.

And she had her own castle. Her own space, to cook what she liked and sing if she wanted to. And things started to get…a little less bad. A little less heavy.

But then the castle had ideas of its own.

The castle had always had ideas of its own; after all, it was built on a faerie hill, thousands of years ago in the days of Finn McCool. The Veil has always been thin in that place; the Peaceful Valley has always been nearby; knights and leprechauns and horned women have always been passing through.

The real estate listing never mentioned that.

Good thing Maura is a folklorist, or her family might not survive…

Raindrops slide down the windscreen of the Peugeot, and condensation creeps up the windows as we let the minutes tick by. We got to Cork airport early, but Aiden and Kaylee haven’t changed their minds. No way, no how are they getting on that plane back to America.

Aiden lifts his phone and snaps a picture of the distinctive swoop of the departures building, then turns and gets me in the frame. Ca-tip. Ca-tip. He hunches and his thumbs fly over the screen.

“Okay,” Aiden says. “Done. It’s official now.”

He’s trying to prove that I did my best to drop them off, but I know it won’t be enough. The teens’ biological parents are both going to blame me for violating the custody agreement.

Within seconds, my phone buzzes against my leg. In the back seat, Kaylee’s pings, then dings, then chirps. Aiden, who at 16 always plans ahead, switched his to silent mode before unleashing the storm of recriminations. I should have done the same. I close my eyes and lean my head against the cold window. Buzz, buzz, chirp, ding.

“Are you sure you won’t get out…” My voice can’t turn this into a question.

“Have we missed the plane yet?” Kaylee demands.

“No,” Aiden and I say together.

We sit without talking. More pings.

Amber: Please.
Please please please please please.
One mother to another. Please.

In my heart of hearts, I sympathize with Amber. I’d want to see my children for Christmas, too.

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The Castle in Kilkenny Series:

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Christy Matheson writes award-winning fiction about friends, family, and finding one’s place in an ever-changing world.

She is the author of "The Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales" novella series. Each one sets a traditional Irish fairy tale within a modern blended family, perfect for readers wanting a cozy family adventure.

Christy's regular historical work (sans fantasy elements) can be found in the award-winning "Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women," of which she is also an editor. Her Regency novels are represented by Kristina Sutton-Lennon and have won pre-publication awards for women’s fiction.

Christy is also an embroidery artist, classically trained pianist, and sews all of her own clothes. She lives in Oregon, on a country property that fondly reminds her of a Regency estate (except with a swing set instead of faux Greek ruins), with her husband, five children, three Shelties, one bunny, and an improbable quantity of art supplies.

Places to find Christy Matheson:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page

You can follow The White Deer of Kildare Blog Tour here.

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