A candy shop owner writes romance novels that are both naughty and nice.

by Mick Kelly . photo by Matt Rose

In her candy store, you can buy sweet treats in several flavors—like French mint, turtle fudge or maple cream. But her romance novels come in only two flavors—wild and mild—and if you order up a “wild,” better hang onto your hat.

Marcy Gallagher may at first seem to be the bubbly, wholesome co-owner of the Kilwin’s fudge shop on Battery Park Avenue in downtown Asheville. (And she is.) But since a battle with breast cancer a few years back, she’s been coming out of her shell a bit, taking risks that she might not have in years past. She and her husband, Thomas Gallagher, left their six-figure salaries in sunny Florida and moved to Asheville to buy a Kilwin’s in 2008 (the candy shop has more than 70 locations in 27 states). Now, Thomas, an attorney, does pro bono work for Pisgah Legal Services, and Gallagher—who showed up in an episode of the Lifetime channel’s On the Road with Austin & Santino this winter—has become a regular writer for a fill-in-the-blank-style personalized romance novel site, yournovel.com.

Founded by another couple in the early 1990s, yournovel.com lets people star in their own pulpy romance novels. Simply decide which setting you’d like (a beach, a golf getaway or a cruise, for example) and make a list of 25 of you and your beau’s basic characteristics, like cologne type, eye color and nicknames. Out comes a steamy romance starring the two of you, starting for around $50 for a paperback. “We get a hoot writing them. People get a hoot reading them,” says Gallagher, who notes that most people—including her in-laws—are shocked to hear about her new sideline hobby. “I said to Tom, ‘Whatever we do in life now, let’s bring joy to other people.’ It feels so good inside.”

Indeed. Flip open the pages of Rome: Diamonds, Danger and Desire by Marcy Thomas (Gallagher’s pseudonym), and you won’t be able to put it down. “When she began to fondle his manhood, he interrupted his exploration, gazed into her blue eyes, and then kissed her with fiery need,” a line from the book reads. (Insert your own eye color if it’s not blue.)

Gallagher has written six of the 30 or so books available on the site, and she keeps a short stack of samples in the fudge shop downtown—for adult Kilwin’s customers only, of course. Though he was sheepish to admit it at first, her husband now likes helping her cook up both new ice cream flavors and new plotlines for her books. Gallagher says: “He loves telling people his second job is being a research assistant for a romance novelist.”

For more, check out www.kilwins.com and www.yournovel.com.