Posts Tagged ‘witches’

SMALL TOWN, BIG MAGIC

Author: Hazel Beck

ISBN: 9781525804717

Publication Date: August 23, 2022

Publisher: Graydon House

Synopsis

For fans of THE EX HEX and PAYBACK’S A WITCH, a fun, witchy rom-com in which a bookstore owner who is fighting to revitalize a small midwestern town clashes with her rival, the mayor, and uncovers not only a clandestine group that wields a dark magic to control the idyllic river hamlet, but hidden powers she never knew she possessed.

There’s no such thing as witches…right?

 

Emerson Wilde has built the life of her dreams. Youngest Chamber of Commerce president in St. Cyprian history, successful indie bookstore owner, and lucky enough to have her best friends as found family? Done.

But when Emerson is attacked by creatures that shouldn’t be real, and kills them with what can only be called magic, Emerson finds that the past decade of her life has been…a lie. St. Cyprian isn’t your average Midwestern river town—it’s a haven for witches. When Emerson failed a power test years ago, she was stripped of her magical memories. Turns out, Emerson’s friends are all witches.

 

And so is she.

 

That’s not all, though: evil is lurking in the charming streets of St. Cyprian. Emerson will need to learn to control what’s inside of her, remember her magic, and deal with old, complicated feelings for her childhood friend–cranky-yet-gorgeous local farmer Jacob North—to defeat an enemy that hides in the rivers and shadows of everything she loves.

Even before she had magic, Emerson would have done anything for St. Cyprian, but now she’ll have to risk not just her livelihood…but her life.

 

Buy Links: BookShop / Harlequin / B&N / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Powell’s

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Enjoy this peek inside:

If you google my name—something I only do every other Tuesday because ego surfing is an indulgence and I keep my indulgences on a strict schedule—the first twenty hits are about the hanging of Sarah Emerson Wilde in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts.

Guess why.

Only after all those witch hits—three pages in—will you get to me, Emerson Wilde. Not a tragically executed woman accused of witchcraft by overwrought zealots, but a bookstore owner and chamber of commerce president. The youngest chamber of commerce president in the history of St. Cyprian, Missouri, not that I like to brag.

Men are applauded for embellishing the truth while women are seen as very confident for telling the truth—and very confident is never a compliment.

If you slog past all the Crucible references and sad YouTube videos from disaffected teens with too much eye makeup, you might read about how my committed rejuvenation efforts have brought ten new businesses to St. Cyprian in the past five years. You might read about our Christmas around the World Festival which, thanks to my hard work and total commitment, brings people from—you guessed it—all around the world. You could read any number of articles about what I’ve done to help St. Cyprian, because it’s not a good day unless I’ve done something to support the town I love best.

And I pride myself on making every day a good day.

Even if most people read about Sarah and the witch trials and stop there, I know the truth about her. I learned all about my notorious ancestor while researching a presentation for my fourth-grade class.

My peers might have preferred Skip Simon’s bold and unlikely claims that he was a direct descendent of the outlaw Jesse James, but learning about Sarah changed my life. The reality of Sarah Emerson Wilde is that she was a fierce feminist who wanted to play by her own rules. A nonconformist who wasn’t interested in playing the perfect Puritan, and therefore a direct threat to the Powers That Be. Following her own rules, ignoring theirs, and trumpeting her independence got her killed.

Sarah wasn’t only a tragic figure. She was also a fierce martyr who would have hated being called either.

In retrospect, it was maybe too much for Miss Timpkin’s fourth-grade class.

But ever since then I’ve considered Sarah my guiding light. I’m proud to have such an exceptional, indomitable woman in my family tree. My great-grandmother times nine, to be precise. I’ve always felt that I owe it to myself, the Wilde name, and Sarah to be a strong, independent woman who doesn’t let the patriarchy or anything else get her down for long.

“And I don’t,” I announce brightly to the quiet of the early-morning kitchen of my family’s historic house.

It’s a Tuesday in March and I have plans. I always have plans. It’s what I do, but these are particularly epic, even for me. I might have been born too late to speak feminist truth to Puritan patriarchal power, but I have my own calling.

I am here to make St. Cyprian a better place.

Don’t laugh.

You can’t fix the world until you sort out your own backyard. I intend to do both.

Since my first St. Cyprian community project with my second-grade class, I have put everything I am into this shining jewel of a river town, the people lucky enough to live here, and the shops that carve out their spots on the cobbled streets—like my own intensely independent bookstore.

For all the women who came before me who weren’t allowed. Or those who carved out their way and were shunned for it.

Fist pumps optional.

I pump a few on my own in the kitchen, because there are few things in this life that psyche a girl up more than a fist pump. One of those things is coffee. Another is sugar. Combine all three and I’m ready to face the day.

But first I need to face my roommate.

My roomie and best friend, Georgie Pendell, grew up in the rickety old house next door, but moved in with me when she could no longer bear another moment of agony in her parents’ house—her dramatic words, not mine. She’s been here five years, sprawled out over the third floor and using the extra bedroom I’d assumed she’d make into an office as a library instead.

Mind you, what Georgie calls a library gives me hives. It’s an overflowing catastrophe of books piled into tottery towers that she refuses to let me organize for her. The last time I tried to go inside, the door only opened about two inches before hitting one of her stacks.

She insists it’s exactly the way she wants it.

And that’s fine, because Wilde House is big enough for the both of us. In fact, bigger than we need. With my parents gone living the high life in Europe and my sister’s defection to who knows where after our high school graduation, the house had seemed too big. I had been thrown for a loop when both my sister and parents left St. Cyprian within a year of each other—though I’d rallied the way I always do. My sister, Rebekah, had always been a free spirit. My parents had always been socially ambitious—so why not take that as far as it could go on the Continent? I had the town. I had my friends. I got to live in this piece of history with my grandmother. Yet when my grandmother died a few years later and left me here alone, the old house felt like an ominous, rattling thing that might swallow me whole. Winter had seemed to seep in, cruel and unforgiving. The halls had seemed too long, the lights too dim.

Possibly I was grieving. The loss of Grandma. The loss of my family, who I knew had their reasons for staying away, in Rebekah’s case because she always had reasons no matter how little she communicated those reasons. Or returning only for the funeral, in my parents’ case, and then rushing back to their European adventure.

It felt a little stormy there for a while.

My silly, happy, eccentric best friend moving in has been like letting in the sunshine.

Organizational challenges aside, having her here makes these early mornings with the whole of Wilde House creaking around me, like it’s singing its own song while I wake, feel less…lonely.

Not that I allow loneliness in my life. I swat it down like an obnoxious fly anytime it pops up. Because loneliness is a betrayal of all the women who came before me and I am not going to be the Wilde who lets them down. I’m the current caretaker of this landmark of a house that’s been in my family some three hundred years, since the first Wilde wisely made the long trek away from the Massachusetts Colony and settled down in this part of Missouri where two great rivers meet, the Mississippi and the Missouri. I like the idea of roots that deep and rivers that tangle together. I like this house that towers above me with its uneven floors and oddly shaped rooms. I like where it sits in town, on one end of Main Street like a punctuation mark.

And I really like that my best friend is always right here, within reach.

Because before I head off to my beloved Confluence Books today, I need to get Georgie on board for an Official Friend Meeting tonight. Being a young, ambitious, independent woman in charge of the chamber of commerce in the most charming river town in Missouri—and therefore America—comes with its challenges. A strong leader knows when to lean in to her community, and I do. My friends are always the first people I turn to when I need some help.

I tell myself that I would do that even if my family was still here. That my friends are my family. My parents and sister are the black sheep—not me. Their leaving, their lack of contact entirely or bright, shallow, early-morning messages from abroad is their choice.

And their loss.

My friends stayed. They love St. Cyprian and loved my grandmother too. They are mine, and I am theirs. Just like this town I love so much.

Still, sometimes I like to make a gathering official because that makes it more likely we’ll get to the constructive advice more quickly.

I head for the curving narrow stairs that will take me up into the house’s turret. It’s never been my favorite part of the house—it makes me think of princesses and fairy tales and other embarrassingly romantic things that have no place in a practical, independent life—but it suits Georgie to the bone. Like it was made for her.

I eye the newel post as I start up the stairs because it’s shaped like a grinning dragon and I’ve never understood it. The Wildes are the least fanciful people alive. Pragmatism and quiet determination would be our coat of arms if we had such a thing, but we’re Midwesterners, thank you. Coats of arms are far too showy.

The dragon grins at me like it knows things I don’t.

“That is unlikely,” I tell it, then close my eyes, despairing of myself.

There is no room in my life for the kind of whimsy that results in discussions with inanimate objects. Especially a dragon. A sometimes creepy dragon who hunches at the foot of the banister like he’s guarding the house.

“Stop it,” I mutter at myself—and possibly at him—as I head upstairs.

Once on the third floor, I eye Georgie’s library door as I pass it, itching to get in there and establish some order, but sometimes friendship comes before logic. Or intelligible shelving systems. At the end of the hall, her bedroom door is ajar, and I can see Georgie herself sitting on the wood-planked floor facing the two huge turret windows that take up most of the outside wall. They are flung wide open to the cool spring air and she has her face lifted to the sunrise.

Her curly red hair swirls around her, and she’s wearing enough bracelets on her wrist to perform a symphony of tinkling metal sounds. Like the half hippie, half free spirit she claims to be.

Georgie’s family also has roots in Puritan Massachusetts witch trials but unlike me, she loves getting lost in all that witchcraft nonsense. She pretends she has various supernatural powers to annoy me, but mostly she likes the trappings. What she solemnly calls crystal lore and sage burning. She likes to talk to her cat as if he can understand her and claims his meows are detailed replies that she, naturally, can comprehend perfectly. And she steadfastly claims to believe that Ellowyn, one of our other closest friends, can brew teas that cure colds, repair broken hearts, and curse weak-willed men.

There’s something comforting about how Georgie wholeheartedly embraces the silliness, like this daily ritual of hers. The morning light streams in, making the colorful crystals she’s arranged around her in a circle glow.

As I stand in the doorway, she gets to her feet and begins to collect her debris. Her crystals are the only item she owns that I have ever seen her keep in some kind of order. I used to try to help her pick up the various rocks, but she would tell me things like I put the malachite with the quartz and everyone knows that’s wrong, or that reds and blues shouldn’t touch on Wednesdays, obviously. I finally gave up.

I’ll admit that sometimes I have to shove my hands in my pockets to keep from helping again anyway.

“What brings you to my lair this early in the morning?” she asks without looking at me. I know this is to give the impression that she divined my presence when it’s more likely she heard the creaky board out in the hallway.

She does something dramatic with her fingers in the air, and at the same time a breeze shifts through the wind chimes she has hanging in her windows. A funny little coincidence.

I ignore it. “You’re free tonight, right?”

“Sadly no. In a shocking twist that will surprise everyone who’s ever met me or seen me attempt to dance, I’m running away to Spain, where I will dedicate myself to the study of flamenco. And possibly also tapas and wine.”

In other words, yes, she’s free.

“I need to call a meeting.”

Georgie sighs and looks over her shoulder at me. “Not every get-together needs to be a meeting with a cause.”

I smile winsomely at her. “But some do.”

“Is this about those flyers I helped you put up yesterday?”

I smile even more broadly. If there was an award for best flyer, that one would win it. But then, I’m excellent at flyers. “That flyer was about the new and improved Redbud Festival, Georgie.”

“Yes, I know. I also know that anytime you try to new and improve something in this town, the plague that is Skip Simon descends on you like the locust he is.”

“He hasn’t. Yet.”

“But he will.”

He will. He always does.

I sigh. “Yes, he will. He can’t resist. But I don’t want to fight him.” This time is implied. “I want to find a way to get through to him. Preferably without embarrassing him in front of the whole town.”

Because the only thing I’ve ever been able to do when it came to Skip Simon, from another old and well-to-do local family here in St. Cyprian like mine, was embarrass him.

Publicly.

His unearned victory against me in fourth grade notwithstanding.

There was the kickball game. You’d think a grown man wouldn’t still be mad that a girl had accidentally smashed his face with a kickball in gym class, both breaking his nose and making him the laughingstock of the fifth grade, but Skip had brought it up at least twice in the past six months alone.

There was the olive branch incident. Except it wasn’t an olive branch. It was an extra helping of the fish sticks from the cafeteria that everyone knew he loved. I’d thought he’d find those fish sticks within the hour and maybe we could bury the hatchet. Instead, he’d come back from a week’s vacation—that he claimed was the flu, but he had a tan from lying on the beach in Mexico—to find everyone calling him Stinky Simon. And hadn’t believed I’d been out that same week because I really did come down with the flu before I could take the fish sticks offering back out of his locker.

There was the unfortunate field trip to Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home in Hannibal. The riverboat incident a year later. The ninth-grade intercom thing that even my own friends didn’t entirely believe was an accident, but how was I supposed to know that it could be so easily turned on? Or that Skip and his freshman year girlfriend would choose to use that room to make out in?

Classmates made unfortunate slurping sounds at him for years.

Then there’d been prom. Our parents had urged us to go together despite the many years of discord. They thought our two old St. Cyprian families should be friendlier, and obviously my rebellious sister wasn’t the one to approach for cordiality of any kind. And when they’d had a few drinks, our parents tended to wax rhapsodic about how they’d always had hopes for Skip and me.

Neither Skip nor I shared these hopes.

But we’d agreed all the same, because St. Cyprian is a small town. And because it made sense to make an effort. Okay, that was me, but he was briefly less jerky about things. We even called our awkward plans peace talks.

Then I stood him up.

It was an accident, but no one believed that.

My position, then and now, is that when your always-problematic sister “loses” your favorite science teacher’s chinchilla, you can hardly be concerned about a dance. You initiate search and rescue, in a prom dress, because it’s the poor, lost chinchilla that matters. And given that I was the one who found Mr. Churchilla, you’d think Skip would have forgiven me.

But he didn’t. Especially when the rumor went around that I’d always plotted to stand him up. As if I would descend to playing teen rom-com movie games with Skip. Plus, there was another rumor that Skip himself had actually been planning to embarrass me with something far more cringeworthy than his choice of white tuxedo.

I wish I could say we’d left such silly adolescent issues behind, but on the day of Skip’s coronation—I mean, election, if you could call it that when his grand and formidable mother basically forced everyone she knows into voting for her precious spoiled baby—as mayor of St. Cyprian, I led a town cleanup service project. I had no idea the cleaning substance we’d used in the community center would make the floor abnormally slippery. I was wearing shoes with decent treads.

But Skip was not. He tripped, fell flat on his face and, yes, broke his nose again.

Yes, he blamed me.

The harder I tried to be nice to Skip, the worse I seemed to embarrass him. Over time, he moved on from any actual incidents to simply blaming me by rote. If there is any bad word breathed about him on the cobbled streets of St. Cyprian, he assumes it’s my fault.

But he’s the mayor. What mayor is universally adored? Welcome to politics.

An argument he does not find compelling, sadly. I’ve tried.

Skip might not believe this, but while he can certainly schmooze with the best of them, he isn’t liked by all and sundry. He is mayor here because his family is powerful and because he vowed to keep the town as it is. The sad truth is, no matter how many progressive folks live here, a great many people in the greater St. Cyprian area are afraid of change.

That doesn’t mean they like Skip personally. Yet somehow the blame for any negativity aimed at him or his office or his campaign gets put on my shoulders. When he decides I’m wrong, which is pretty much anytime I get out there and try to change things for the better, he really goes after me.

This is why I need my friends to help me brainstorm ways to deal with Skip’s eventual, inevitable response to my new ideas for the Redbud Festival. Because I’m certainly not going to stop trying to improve St. Cyprian and its tourist-attracting, revenue-producing festivals to appease Mayor Stinky Simon.

Excerpted from Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck. Copyright © 2022 by Megan Crane and Nicole Helm. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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Author Bio:

 

 

HAZEL BECK is the magical partnership of a river witch and an earth witch. Together, they have collected two husbands, three familiars, two children, five degrees, and written around 200 books. As one, their books will delight with breathtaking magic, emotional romance, and stories of witches you won’t soon forget. You can find them at www.Hazel-Beck.com.

 

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Instagram

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Coven at Callington Tour Banner

Coven At Callington

The Cauldron Effect #1

by Shereen Vedam

Coven at Callington cover

Synopsis

A kidnapped child. A witch on the warpath. A church guard in crisis.
 
In the year of our Lord 1815, Thomas Drake Saint-Clair, Earl of Braden, a Guard of the Green Cross, is tasked by his archbishop to rescue a missing boy and return him to his warlock father. The order lands Braden in the middle of an unholy war between witches and warlocks and shoves him headlong past a sacred line he’d sworn never to cross.
 
Newly confirmed Coven Protectress, Merryn Pendraven, rushes to rescue a witch’s son. She’s convinced the same evil warlock who was responsible for her younger brother’s death is behind this kidnapping, too. She has no intention of letting this vile villain get away with the same crime, twice.
 
When Merryn discovers Braden is also on the case, she’s tempted to join forces. Yet, how can she truly trust him when her aunt has warned that Braden’s second secret charge is to destroy their coven? Finding love in this cauldron of trouble might prove to be Merryn’s deadliest mission and Braden’s complete undoing.
 
If you liked A Discovery of Witches and Dr. Strange or Mr. Norrell, you’ll love Coven at Callington, an anime-inspired witchy tale that will whisk you away on a rip-roaring Regency ride.
 
Purchase links:
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Author Shereen Vedam

Shereen Vedam

Once upon a time, USA Today bestselling author Shereen Vedam read fantasy and romance novels to entertain herself. Now she writes heartwarming tales braided with threads of magic and love and mystery elements woven in for good measure.
 
Shereen’s a fan of resourceful women, intriguing men, and happily-ever-after endings. If her stories whisk you away to a different realm for a few hours, then Shereen will have achieved one of her life goals.
 
Connect:

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

 

This is a really fun meme!

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find a sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Then go over to Freda’s Voice and leave your link so we can visit your 56!

My 56 for this week is from:

 Grudging

Birth Of Saints #1

by Michelle Hauck

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Genre: Fantasy

From Page 56 in the paperback.

He’s picked Sancha out as a colt when he’d first begun his apprenticeship with the peleton. Or perhaps Sancha had picked him. Whichever the case, only death would part them now.

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Read on if you want to know more.

Synopsis

A world of chivalry and witchcraft…and the invaders who would destroy everything.

The North has invaded, bringing a cruel religion and no mercy. The ciudades-estados who have stood in their way have been razed to nothing, and now the horde is before the gates of Colina Hermosa…demanding blood.

On a mission of desperation, a small group escapes the besieged city in search of the one thing that might stem the tide of Northerners: the witches of the southern swamps.

The Women of the Song.

But when tragedy strikes their negotiations, all that is left is a single untried knight and a witch who has never given voice to her power. And time is running out.

A lyrical tale of honor and magic, Grudging is the opening salvo in the Book of Saints trilogy.

AMAZON

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Leave your link and I’ll drop by your 56.

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This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry.

 It’s always a pleasure to share more books by Kathryn Meyer Griffith. I’ve read many of her books and plan to read everything she writes.

For today, I’m sharing my review of Witches.

After reading my review, head on over to Sherry’s blog at fundinmental for more and check out her review.

And this is an extra special event. We have two more bloggers joining us, sharing their reviews.

Check out Barb’s review at her blog Booker T’s Farm.

and Stormi’s review at Books, Movies, Reviews, Oh My!

All four blogs have exclusive giveaways, so be sure to visit all of them.

 Four chances to win!

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Witches

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

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Genre: Horror / Paranormal / Fantasy

My Review

Nothing like some witches to keep me reading into the wee hours. I should add that I’ve read many of Kathryn’s books and that always happens.

The age old battle of good vs. evil is portrayed by white magic and black magic.

Some things never change. Even for witches in present times. Amanda is still grieving over the loss of her beloved and just wants to get through each day. Living in a small town, her unusual ways raise suspicion and she’s the likely culprit for the town folks when the murders begin.

It’s Salem all over again as the town turns on Amanda, calling her a witch, shunning her, and casting the first stone.

As Amanda begins her own investigation, she stumbles into a dark and deadly plot involving dark magic and demons. Now, she’s desperate to reveal the truth before she’s outed by a posse and hung until dead.

A fun thing was the talking familiars. They came in all shapes and sizes and had very vocal opinions. It was also fun to see witches trying to hide what they were from the modern world. They all had different levels of power and couldn’t just twitch their noses and appear somewhere. Even witches had to use cell phones and airplanes.

I thought it worked really well for the story when the author took her story back in time to the witch trials. The contrasts and similarities of life as a witch was intriguing and kept the story moving quickly.

I thought I knew how this would end and worried that it wouldn’t work. That it would be awkward and rushed. Not so. I give kudos to Kathryn for surprising me and pulling it off.

  5  Stars

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Synopsis

There are witches in the world…some are good and some of them are downright evil.
Amanda Givens is careful how she uses her benevolent powers. She doesn’t want the people of Canaan, Connecticut to know they have a witch among them…even a good white witch. For years, she’s lived quietly in a remote cabin with Amadeus, her quirky feline familiar. At first with her husband, Jake, the love of her life, until a car accident; but now alone after his death. But when she’s wrongly blamed for a rash of ritualistic murders committed by a satanic cult, she knows she can no longer hide. She’s the one the cult is after and she is the only one who can stop them and prove her innocence. Yet as punishment for fighting and destroying the cult, she’s drawn back in time by the ghost of the dark witch, Rachel Coxe, who was drowned for practicing black magic in the 17th century. Now, as Amanda tries to rehabilitate Rachel’s reputation in an effort to save lives, as well as her own, and falls in love all over again with Joshua, her reincarnated dead husband from the future, she has to rely on a sister’s love and magical knowledge, and a powerful sect of witches named the Guardians, to help her get home safely.

Purchase on Amazon

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Why I wrote Witches

By Kathryn Meyer Griffith

 

In 1991 I’d already been writing for about twenty years, on and off (though there was a long gap where I didn’t write because of a divorce, the finding of a full time job to support myself and my son, and a remarriage…life) when I contracted my fourth novel, my first of four to Zebra paperbacks, a romantic horror called Vampire Blood, about a family of vampires who run a movie theater in a small town. I’d already had a fifth novel, The Last Vampire, completed and in with them when they asked me for another novel.

Got anything about witches, they asked. Witches are hot right now. Hmmm.

For many years I’d played around with an idea about a present day white witch who finds a diary of a long dead witch–either good or bad, I hadn’t decided–in her old house’s attic, or basement, or under a floorboard. The story would have been about the good witch reliving the other dead witch’s life through the diary. In my head I’d always called that possible book Rachel’s Diary.

So in 1991 or 1992 I began the witch book and it quickly metamorphosed into a story of a present day good witch, Amanda Givens, who’s yanked into a perilous seventeenth century past by an evil witch, Rachel Coxe, to take her place…and possibly, unless Amanda can change the evil witch’s history, die a horrible death as an accused witch. I had the idea then to actually send Amanda into the past to live (for a while) the other witch’s life. Of course, being a good witch, Amanda, changes the other witch’s unsavory reputation but still ends up in a prison waiting to die for Rachel’s earlier crimes. The story, simply put, would be how Amanda overcomes her trials and tribulations, finds her lost eternal love again in the past, and finds a way to return to the present alive. In the process, learning some important life lessons about accepting what life has dealt her and the value of sisters, friendships and the love of those around her. Or, in other words, a story of good versus evil and, in the end, good wins and is rewarded. I also threw in a few touches of humor in the form of three precocious witches’ familiars…a mind-reading and speaking ancient cat called Amadeus, a mouse, Tituba, and a tiny bat, Gibbiewackett…all with feisty personalities and quirks of their own.

I was excited about the book as I was writing it and when it was done, pleased with it, but had no idea that over the years it’d become one of the jewels of my writing career and a book my fans would love as much as they did. I loved the cat face cover Zebra did for it in 1993 (a rare occurrence as I’d learned the hard way that covers weren’t always what I’d envisioned and in the early days I had no choice but to accept whatever the publisher’s gave me…and some weren’t so hot, let me tell you!); but I love Dawne Dominique’s new 2015 cover just as much with the witch and her cat.

Witches originally came out in 1993 and did well. I noticed soon after as I went on to publish other books I continued to get admiration for it and requests for a sequel (though I haven’t been able to do another one so far…but maybe in the future). Readers loved the three sisters, Amadeus and Amanda, Gibbiewackett and Tituba. In those days I was too busy working full time as a graphic artist, living my life and writing new books to notice. It went into a second printing in 2000 and after that, sadly, went out of print until 2010. But my fans never forgot it. I’d find comments on it and discussions on the Internet…even customer reviews raving about it years and years later. I tried talking Zebra into reissuing it but after Zebra and I parted ways in 1994 there was no talking them into it.

Then in 2010 when Damnation Books contracted my 13th and 14th novels, the publisher asked about all (there was 7 at the time) my out-of-print Zebra and Leisure paperback backlist novels and if I’d like to have them reissued as new paperbacks and, for the first time ever, in e-books. Sure, that’d be great! I told them. And, as they say, the rest is history. Between June 2010 and July 2012 all 7 of them were updated, rewritten and came out again. Of course, that meant a heck of a lot of rewriting. A lot of work. Those early novels went back thirty-two years and were first written in the days of snail mail and on an electric typewriter before the Internet, e-mails and Windows Track Changes (for editing). Oh, boy, did they need revising. As of today I can happily say all my fourteen older novels have been totally rewritten, even my very first published romantic horror novel, Evil Stalks the Night (originally a 1984 Leisure Books paperback). Then, later, between 2012 and 2015 I finally (after much fighting with my old publishers) got all my rights back to all my old novels and self-published ALL my 23 novels myself in eBooks, paperbacks and Audible audio books. I will never go back to publishers again because I’m finally making a living with my books–and it’s great to have complete control for the first time in 45 years of writing.

I’ve often been asked what I think of e-books and I have to say it feels strange, all these years later, to be so into them. I think it’s fantastic to be able to put hundreds of books on one little lightweight hand-held contraption and sell them as inexpensively as we do. I started publishing e-books four years ago and have seen such great changes in even that short a time. With a chuckle I recall a writer’s convention I attended in 1990–yes, that far back–and the main topic back then was…OMG the electronic books are coming! They’re going to make us authors obsolete! Print books are going to die a terrible lonely death…etc., etc. Lack and alas, what are we going to do? Ha, ha. It’s ironic that 26 years later I’m in love with e-books and self-publishing. It is the present and the future. Though I think there’ll always be room for print books as well as electronic ones as many people still like to feel a real book in their hands.

So Witches…I rereleased it again in 2015 with a brand new cover and I’m thrilled. The cover is still of Amadeus, the magical cat, but now Amanda, the white witch, is also on it. As always my cover artist, Dawne Dominique, did an amazing job. I’m proud of the book, it has held up pretty well, I think. I hope it finds many more readers and fans.

So that’s the story of Witches…the little book that wouldn’t die.

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About the Author
Kathryn Meyer Griffith

About Kathryn Meyer Griffithlook for all my NEW covers! on my older books.

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-four years ago now, and have had twenty-three (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance, two thrillers, and four murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last ten novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my Dinosaur Lake novels and Spookie Town Mysteries (Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away and Ghosts Beneath Us) are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-seven years; have a son and two grandchildren and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have a quirky cat, Sasha, and the three of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk/classic rock singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *Finalist* for her horror novel The Last Vampire ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS * Finalist * for her thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

*All Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s books can be found HERE.

*All her Audible.com audio books HERE.

Novels and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:

Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose, Blood Forge, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire (2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Horror category), Witches, The Nameless One short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper (The First Spookie Town Murder Mystery), All Things Slip Away (The Second Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Ghosts Beneath Us (The Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Egyptian Heart, Winter’s Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don’t Look Back, Agnes, Before the End: A Time of Demons, The Woman in Crimson, Human No Longer, Four Spooky Short Stories Collection, Forever and Always Romantic Short, Night carnival Short Story, Dinosaur Lake (2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Thriller/Adventure category), Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising and Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation

Author Links

Twitter / Blog  / Author’s Den / Facebook / Goodreads / Amazon

 

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GIVEAWAY
Three winners!
 
Up for grabs:
Three winners will receive an eBook copy or an audible copy.
(Winner’s choice)

To enter, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:

“If you were a witch, what animal would you choose for a familiar?”

Giveaway ends November 8th.

This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry at fundinmental.

Now hop on over and check out Sherry’s review, and enter for another chance to win  HERE.

Check out Barb’s review at Booker T’s Farm and enter her giveaway HERE.

And check out Stormi’s review at Books, Movies, Reviews, Oh My! and enter her giveaway HERE

Each blog has their own individual giveaway for 4 chances to win!

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Other books I’ve read by the author.

Click on the covers for my reviews.

Full length novels.

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Short stories.

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For a list of my reviews go HERE

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I’ve read almost all of Michael’s books and enjoyed them immensely. This one was no exception. I had a rip roarin time and think you will too.

Enjoy the excerpt and trailer, along with my review.

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Witches Protection Program

Michael Phillip Cash

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Publisher:  Chelshire, INC.

Date of Publication:  May 14, 2015

ISBN:  1511411341 / ASIN:  B00YANTA4K

Number of pages:  239 /Word Count:  45,518

Genre:  Witches, Action, Adventure

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My Review

Poor Wes. He’s failed again and now he’s been given one last chance to prove himself qualified to be in law enforcement. He’s sure it’s a prank when he’s assigned to the Witches Protection Program.

It’s no hoax. But it takes some convincing for Wes to believe in witches. He gets it in spades.

His first assignment, protect a witch, heiress Morgan Pendragon, from her evil aunt. Her aunt is cooking up a diabolical scheme to rule the world.

Wes will have to catch on quick if he’s to save Morgan and himself from a witches brew of trouble.

This was a fun story with some likable and not so likable characters. Got to take the good with the bad.

Wes is a pain in the beginning. Then he finds his place and becomes someone to cheer for.

Morgan is a reluctant witch, wanting nothing to do with her aunt or the other witches and their schemes. They’re not going to give her a choice though.

There’s some cool weapons, compelling characters, and a showdown at the end that I wish I could see for myself. Just imagine the pile-up when drivers look up and see witches flying in the sky.

I like a good witch, but I have a thing for the bad ones too. There’s one, Morgan’s aunt, who will chill you to the bone. Too powerful for anyone’s good.

Grab a broomstick and hang on tight. It’s a bumpy ride.

4 Stars

 

Synopsis:

Wes Rockville, a disgraced law enforcement agent, is given one last chance to prove himself and save his career when he’s reassigned to a 232 year old secret government organization. The Witches Protection Program.

His first assignment: uncover a billion-dollar Cosmetics company’s diabolical plan of using witchcraft for global domination, while protecting its heiress Morgan Pendragon from her aunt’s evil deeds. Reluctantly paired with veteran witch protector, Alastair Verne, Wes must learn to believe in both witches and himself.

Filled with adventure, suspense and a rousing good time, Michael Phillip Cash creates a tongue-in-cheek alternate reality where witches cast spells and wreak havoc in modern day New York City.

Amazon    BN

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Check out the Excerpt

“Follow me, kid.” She led him down a gray hallway with mulberry-colored carpet, more plush than anything he’d ever seen in a governmental office. The place had to be a city block wide, with corridors branching off to other conduits. Here and there, a doorway opened. Wes saw that many were filled with groups of people sitting at polished conference tables. Some rooms were dark, with shades drawn, the light of a presentation on screens peeking through the slats of the blinds. Staff walked through the hallways, nodding to each other. Some were in pairs. All had a badge hanging on a chain or attached to a pocket. He squinted, but he couldn’t make out the impression on the shield. Forget about attempting to read it. He shrugged; while it looked official, it was unfamiliar. For a person who grew up with an entire family in law enforcement, he found it odd that he’d never seen it before.

“What is this place?” he asked.

“This is where the magic happens,” she told him cryptically.

She opened the door, whispering, “Prepare to be amazed.” Then, with a giant pop of her gum, she disappeared.

“Where…” Wes turned, looking for the woman, but couldn’t see her anywhere. “Where is…”

“Oh, she’s gone. Come in already,” a male voice ordered impatiently.

Wes spun to the speaker, his eyes settling on a small man seated at a glass desk. He was in a neat gray suit but wore a black turtleneck, which made him look like some odd, eccentric leftover from the beatnik generation. He was older than Wes’s father, Wes guessed somewhere north of sixty, with the thickening middle of a sedentary life, a tanned complexion, and silver hair. His chubby face sported a neatly trimmed goatee. Wes wondered where his beret might be. The man studied Wes with interested black eyes that glowed with merriment.

“What kind of department is this?”

“Mr. Wesley Paul Rockville. Son of Harris and Melinda, brother to Lauren and Andrew. Tough act to follow. Runt of the litter?”

Wes bristled, wondering where this pint-size dude got off calling him a runt. At six foot three, he was hardly considered small. “I fail to see what this has got to do with my reassignment,” he said icily.

The older man ignored him. “The young gun who had his free will sucked right out of him.”

“No one took my free will!” Wes shouted, his face hot.

“I think Miss Genevieve Fox did a pretty nice number on you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Alastair cocked his head, a smile playing on his lips.

“I don’t think this is funny, um…Alastair. I’m getting out of here.”  Wes had had enough. He was pissed and hungry.

“Sit down, Agent Rockville. It’s time you learned about your new assignment.”

About the Author:

Michael Phillip Cash

Michael Phillip Cash is an award-winning and best-selling novelist of horror, paranormal, and science fiction novels.  He’s written ten books including the best-selling “Brood X”, “Stillwell”, “The Flip”, “The After House”, “The Hanging Tree”, “Witches Protection Program”, “Pokergeist”, “Monsterland”, “The History Major”, and “Battle for Darracia” series. Michael’s books are on the Amazon best-seller list and have also won numerous awards. Additionally, he is a screenwriter with 14 specs under his belt. Michael resides on the North Shore of Long Island.

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

Gods of Chaos (Daughter of Chaos #2) by Jen McConnel

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

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Gods of Chaos

The gods of chaos cannot be trusted.

When Darlena Agara declared to follow Red Magic last fall, she had no idea what she was getting into. Since then, however, she’s had a crash course in danger, deceit, and destruction. In an effort to gain an ally, Darlena heads to Scotland in search of another Red Witch, but she didn’t count on the new obstacles (and crazy gods) that await her.

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Title: Gods of Chaos (Daughter of Chaos #2)
Publication date: March 31, 2015
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Jen McConnel

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Jen McConnel

Jen McConnel now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. When she isn’t crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.

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Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

(Winners will receive their book on release day)

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I love short stories and anthologies.
This collection has some authors I know and some new ones so I’m especially excited about it.
And it’s now available for you!
Come on in.
Learn how to be a better witch!
And stay tuned for my review in December.
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Rehab is for Witches
Anthology
Various Authors
Published By- SideStreet Cookie Publishing
Publication Date- October 31st, 2014


Welcome to Little Raven: an unsullied, beautiful woodland hamlet in the heart of the Midwest. The sort of place where furry creatures romp about and spend their days bursting into song.
Actually, that’s a giant pack of lies.
Little Raven is a town…for witches.
And some of those witches might have bent the rules. A teensy bit. When six magical miscreants dabble with black magic, they end up together at Incantations, the town’s rehab center for witches gone awry. It’s a slap on the wrist for naughty witches. Pretty much a daycare center so they don’t wander off and start turning people into newts on a whim. Each witch must work through her addiction to black magic, and follow the tenets designed to lead them back to the path of the straight and narrow, as boring as that sounds. Even if following the tenets sucks worse than a group round of kum-bay-ya. Which sucks. Horribly.
We will admit we are powerless over magic—that our lives have become unmanageable.
We will make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of the Goddess as we understand Her.
We will make a searching and fearless moral and magical inventory of ourselves.
We will admit to the Goddess, to ourselves, and to another being the exact nature of our magical wrongs.
We will make a list of all persons or beings we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all.
We will make direct amends to such beings whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
We are entirely ready to bow before the Goddess and have Her remove all our defect of character, even at the risk of being entirely stripped of our magic.
But this is just the start. There’s something rotten in Little Raven, something that seeks to take all the magic it can, and devour the inhabitants in the process. It will take the strength and power of all the witches to defeat the darkness seeping into their town, beat it back, and be rid of it forever…and maybe just make it through rehab while they’re saving the world.


The Authors & Titles-
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Tara S. Wood – A Trunk Full of Peril
Tyffani Clark Kemp – A Diary Full of Names
Cynthia Valero – A Cauldron Full of Goodbyes
Miranda Stork – A Closet Full of Demons
J. A. Howell – A Basement Full of Secrets
Elle J Rossi – A Suitcase Full of Revenge

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 Get your copy at these links

Goodreads ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon UK 

I’ll be reviewing this on December third for the tour.

I’m almost finished reading this anthology and can tell you it’s witchy fun!

See you in December!

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

 

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 Welcome to my stop on the review tour for Spelled by Kate St. Clair.

This is a novella about witches and I really enjoyed it. Come on in and see!

 

Title: Spelled
Author: Kate St.Clair
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
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My Review
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Spelled is a story about witches. Four sisters. One brother. Five witches. A family who just lost their mother.
The oldest, Georgia steps in and fills her mothers shoes, making sure her younger siblings get to school and such.
After they discover they’re witches, the four girls start to practice spells and such, excited about finding their new powers.
Their brother Wyatt doesn’t want anything to do with their little get togethers and goes off on his own.
What this family doesn’t know is, magic has a price, and it’s not always good.
I come from a family of four girls and 2 boys, me being the youngest. I was curious about these characters.  Blood runs thicker than water,or magic, but the rivalry between siblings can be strong.
It fell to the eldest, Georgia,  to assume the role of mother to her younger sisters, Abby, the youngest, Charlotte and Callie; the twins, and Wyatt the younger brother.
I was especially interested in the twins. Was the psychic connection between them stronger because they were witches? Did they share their powers?
It was no easy thing to go from sister to mother, but Georgia is smart, strong, and determined. She has to be as she has a bit of a reputation. Her last school burned to the ground, and a suspected murder victim was found in the ashes. Georgia is still the prime suspect, but charges were never brought.
With magic comes others with magic, others who want theirs.
When danger threatens, Georgia stands between it and her family.
She’s going to need help. They all are. Is the mysterious boy, Luke, the one to do it? I wonder.
Being a novella, the author wastes no time getting to the action, and there’s plenty of it. Once the characters became familiar to me, it was a mad dash to the end. An uncertain end. Who says it’s always going to be a happy ending? That suspense made me devour this book in one night.
While this is the first book in the Amethyst Series, the author does wrap in up. No huge cliffhanger, but there is a lead to the next adventure.
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4 Stars
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Synopsis

Misfortune seems to follow the Sayers family. Georgia has tried to reestablish normality since her mother died, and she’s no closer to escaping her strange past when a mysterious fire destroys the only other high school in her tiny Texas town. Georgia is thrown into the company of Luke, a cryptic senior who brings her face to face with the truth about her heritage. Her loving, perfect mother created her family for the singular purpose of birthing five of the most powerful witches in the world, capable of terrifying magic. Now that she knows the truth, can Georgia keep her siblings safe? Who is behind the dark cult that’s after her family? And does Luke know more about her powers than even Georgia does?

Buy Links

Amazon | Black Hill Press

 
Author Bio
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Kate was born in a tiny town outside of Austin, TX. At fourteen, she was accepted to a creative writing program at Oxford University in England. She attended boarding schools in Texas and California. When not writing, she’s contending with her activity ADD, which entails horseback riding, aerial silks, and playing with her menagerie or rescued animals.

Social Media Links
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

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Grab your popcorn and cop a seat!

It’s time for Thursday Theatre!

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Got some goodies for you tonight!

I have the trailer for The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter – The Complete Series

and I’ll also be posting my review.

I won this a while ago and for the life of me can’t remember where I won it from. I want to thank them and the author for a signed edition of this collection.  I’ve read it twice!

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My Review

Chloe is awakened in the middle of the night when they come for her mother.

She barely has time to accept they’re vampires before her mother is viciously murdered before her eyes.

Before they can whisk Chloe away, vampire hunters crash the scene and rescue her. She’s taken to live with her grandfather, Luke, and 18 year old Drew, another hunter. They have a gated community where they live and train as hunters. It’s like their own private town.

That’s when 14-year-old Chloe finds out she’s descended from a long line of hunters, her mother being a very powerful one. But they hadn’t attacked to get her mother. They’d been coming for Chloe, and when she discovers who her father is, her thirst for revenge becomes her greatest priority.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFmjVKBjGJg]

You spend over a year with Chloe, as she trains and studies and trains some more.

There are two young men that she attracts. Drew, who lives with her grandfather. He’s belligerent, but inside he’s worried about her and tries to toughen her up for her own safety. And Gavin, the school’s heart throb, wants to get to know her better. It’s not really a love triangle and the romance fleshes out the story without being the focal point.

Everything seems to be rushing towards Chloe’s sixteenth birthday. Why does her father need her? What special ability will she get?

Chloe comes across as genuine. She’s becoming a young woman, brushing up against romance, training to defend her very life, and coping with the loss of her mother. She’s forced to grow up fast and think on the run.

I’m tempted to call this collection a serial. There are 6 stories in all, and each picks up where the last one left off, like episodes. They are not overly long, which makes for quick reading, there are no information gaps, and the colorful secondary characters are easy to remember.

This is a clean young adult read. The romance is sweet with no sexual content.

I’d recommend you buy the complete set. You’ll breeze through these in no time and at $4.99 ebook and $8.99 for print, they’re a steal!

I hear there’s to be more about Chloe in The Arcadia Falls Series. I’m looking forward to more.

A couple of fun things.

With everyone being hunters, there favorite gifts to give and receive are weapons. Can you picture Chloe’s pink handled handgun?

And did you know vampires go to the dentist. Yep. When they need help with their fangs, they go to Deadly Smiles.

4 STARS

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Jennifer Malone Wright

Jennifer Malone Wright

Jennifer Malone Wright is best known for her short story series, The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter. Other works include the follow up to The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter series called The Arcadia Falls Chronicles and her vampire novel called The Birth of Jaiden. Jennifer also co-authors a series called Once Upon A Zombie Apocalypse as well as another project which hasn’t been announced yet.

She resides in the beautiful mountains of northern Idaho with her husband and five children where she practices preparing for the zombie apocalypse. Just kidding!

But seriously, between the craziness of taking care of her children, Jennifer has little time left for herself. The time she does have left, usually leading far into the night, is spent working on her beloved fiction or chatting with her equally crazy friends.

Jennifer also loves coffee, has a passionate affair with red bull, wishes the sushi were better where she lives and dances while she cleans.

Website / Goodreads / Amazon / Twitter

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Check out The Witch On Twisted Oak.

I have a lot to show you today.

Susan is talking about her book covers and I have a sneak peek from inside her book.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

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Enjoy this guest post by Susan Muller

I recently had the good fortune to attend a workshop by Mark Cocker, founder of Smashwords. While his talk was geared toward indie publishing, his advice applied to everyone.

His most important piece of advice was to write a fantastic book. Then do it again.

Next, he said that writing is a business and most writers don’t make much money, so be careful what you spend your money on. Professional editing and your book cover are not places to skimp. Your book cover is the first thing people see. Be sure it makes the right impression.

This was a subject I heard discussed over and over at RWA Nationals Atlanta.

Some of the advice I knew, but hearing it again made an impression. For instance: your cover should target your reader. If you have vampires on your cover, there better be vampires in the story. If your cover features a couple in a deep lip-lock, the story shouldn’t be a sweet romance. It’s the feel or impression the cover gives that’s important.

Your covers should bear some similarity to each other so that the reader can recognize your work. The picture can be different, but keep the same font and placement of the title and author name.

One piece of advice surprised me. Your name is more important than the title of the book. That should be the first thing the reader sees.

I didn’t know any of these things when my first book came out. I wish I had. The font for the title of that book is hard to read in the thumbnail version. When my second book came out, I realized this was a series and the two covers should resemble each other. I even made sure the title hinted at a connection.

When my publisher sent me the two page questionnaire for cover information, I filled it out in excruciating detail.

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In my first book, The Secrets on Forest Bend, the cop is standing on the left, looking toward the right. In the next book, The Witch on Twisted Oak, the cop is standing on the right, looking toward the left. The image of a badge and gun are switched, also.

The Witch on Twisted Oak (Occult Series #2)

Both covers feature the silhouette of a woman walking away and a building in the background. On one cover, it’s a house, and on the other it’s a lake cabin, indicating where the story takes place. On the second cover, my name is featured inside a box, making it more prominent.

I got lucky on the cover of The Witch on Twisted Oak. My hero is a 6’8” Hispanic guy. Photos don’t show height, so I didn’t have to worry about that part. I was very specific about who I wanted on the cover, and I got him. I even found the exact photo that would fit, and my cover artist, Rae Monet, did just what I asked.

Last February I attended a workshop on marketing and branding. The speaker was cover model and founder of Romance Novel Covers (RNC,) Jimmy Thomas. I already knew he had a wide fan base. Books sold on the basis of his photo alone.

When I saw him, I realized I had found my Ruben Marquez.

Here are my two covers, my first book, The Secrets on Forest Bend, and my new release, The Witch on Twisted Oak. Tell me what you think. Did I manage to convey what I wanted?

The next book in the series, Voodoo on Bayou Lafonte, will be out in January. My cop is half Jewish and half Cajun with a touch of Native American thrown in. If you know a model who will fit that description, let me know. This might be a tough one.

**Here’s a short excerpt from The Witch on Twisted Oak.**

 

Ruben’s desk looked just as it had when he left on Friday. No little elves had come in and cleared it for him.

“Morning, partner. You look like shit.” Adam gazed at him over the rim of his coffee mug.

“Thanks. You look like sunshine yourself.” Actually, Adam did look pretty good. Smiling. Who smiled at 8:00 on Monday morning? Someone who’d had a better weekend than he had.

“Ready to go catch us a bad guy?”

“Couldn’t happen too soon for me. Someone broke into Tessa Reyna’s house on Saturday. I’ve had her stashed at my cabin all weekend.”

Adam’s eyebrows rose. “Was she hurt? Any idea who did it?”

“No, and no. Not unless I have a report hidden here somewhere about fingerprints.” Ruben shuffled through his in box. Nothing.

He glanced at Adam. “I’ll call Tessa and make sure she’s okay before we head out to question Jacinto.”

“She’s a witness, Ruben.” Adam sat his mug down and stared at him.

Wow, he must be serious. He let go of his coffee. He wouldn’t dare give me the same lecture I gave him about Jillian. Would he?

“I know exactly what she is and I don’t need a Romeo, even a reformed Romeo, to remind me.” I also know what she thinks she is; a witch with magical powers.

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Synopsis

A powerful psychic is brutally murdered.  Secrets are revealed.  An old enemy is out for revenge.

Detective Ruben Marquez is thrust back into his childhood memories when he investigates a gruesome murder that occurs only feet from his mother’s home.  Is the killer somehow connected to his own past?  Is the beautiful, mysterious daughter of the victim, someone he can trust?  Or is her revelation that she’s a witch a sign he should stay clear.  But how can he, when it appears she’s next on the murderer’s to-do list.

In the ultimate test of courage, he uses himself as bait to protect all he holds dear . . . his career, his family, and the Witch on Twisted Oak.

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Here’s a glimpse inside

Ruben stood beside her shattered back door, a huge mountain of a man in his bulletproof vest. A gun as large as he was hung from his side. His gold detective’s badge clipped to his belt looked out of place with his jeans and t-shirt.

“I’ve phoned this in, but you can’t stay here.”

What did he mean, not stay here? This was her home. The only place she’d ever felt truly safe. “It’ll be okay. I’ll get someone out to fix the door.”

He took her arm and placed her in front of the back door. “Look at that door. You had it locked, but one good kick and he was inside.” He turned her toward him and stared into her eyes. “You can’t stay here. It’s not safe until we catch him.”

He wasn’t going to keep her from her own house. She twisted out of his grip and ran inside. Her eyes darted from side to side, seeing the destruction but not taking it in fully.

She sank to the floor in the middle of her bedroom when he caught up with her.

“Who would do a thing like this?” She held up pieces of a broken orange and gold necklace. “I made this myself. And the shower curtain he ripped down in the bathroom? I hand painted that.”

He made a strange sound and she looked up. His face was flushed. Maybe he wasn’t as cold as she thought.

“You need to pack a small bag. Nothing much, just a few casual clothes. I’ll take you someplace safe.”

She glanced around the room. How could she pack? She’d never find two pieces that matched, or both of a pair of shoes. Her eyes fell on a pile of her underwear and bras, scattered across the floor and her breath caught.

Who did she mind the most seeing her underthings, a nameless, faceless intruder, or the man standing next to her?

Him. She knew him. He had no right to look at the contents of her drawers, her closets.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

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Susan C. Muller is a fourth generation Texan. She attended StephenF.AustinStateUniversity where she majored in Business Administration. She started her first novel at age eleven, but it wasn’t until after she had worked many years and raised a family that she returned to her first love, writing. She is a member of Northwest Houston RWA, Kiss of Death online RWA, and The Houston Writers Guild. Her novel, The Secrets on Forest Bend, has won several awards.

Susan and her husband, Sid, live in Spring, Texas with their rescue dog, Buster, a 120 pound black lab of advanced age. They have two children and four grandchildren. They love to travel and have been fortunate to see much of the world. Her favorite places include Kenya, New Zealand, and the Galapagos Islands. When not writing, she can be found doing volunteer work at a local hospital. She loves to read, travel, snorkel and take long walks.

Website:   http://susancmuller.com/

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