Mary Montague Sikes grew up near the bloody Civil War battlefields of Central Virginia where thousands died. Those early years in a landscape where tears still flowed sparked her interest in the psychic and the paranormal that carries over into her writing today. Sikes loves to travel, especially to the Caribbean and Jamaica where she discovered the legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall Great House that inspired her first novel, Hearts Across Forever. More psychic encounters in Sedona, Arizona led to her novel, Eagle Rising. Adventures in Antigua became the book, Secrets by the Sea. Then, an escapade in Trinidad developed into the story of Night Watch. Her love of "Indiana Jones" type quests took her to the Maya Ruins of Palenque and eventually directed her to write Jungle Jeopardy.She has been told by readers that her novel, Daddy's Christmas Angel, set in a small fictitious American town, is the "best book I've ever read". The romance is a little like "Sleepless in Seattle" and has a happy ending.Always looking for new writing challenges and adventures, Sikes currently is visiting some of the most picturesque National Parks of the western United States, and she plans to paint and write about them. Her travels and paintings could result in another coffee table book similar to Hotels to Remember which she researched and developed a few years ago.