Hello Melissa, welcome to Fang-tastic Books
Can you tell readers a little bit about
yourself and what inspired to write in this particular genre?
Thanks for having me at Fang-tastic Books. I didn’t set out to publish e-only, or
e-first, books, but when the opportunity arose, I couldn’t resist. I had my romantic suspense series, Deadly
Legends, and jumped at the opportunity to have it published. When I got the chance to write Storie’s tale
in Deceiving the Witch Next Door, I was thrilled. Magical realism in a contemporary world is
right up my alley. E is a very fun and
quick format and I adore bits of magic twisting within an ordinary world. It’s how I’d like the world to be.
What inspired you to write this
book?
The whole concept for the Storiebook Café, the bookstore/café in
the book, was inspired by a store of the same name in a little Texas town
called Glen Rose. Glen Rose is a cute
little town, and the owner of the store, also named Storie, just sparked this
idea. I asked her if I could base a book
off of her store and name, she said, “Of course!”, and I went to town writing!
Basically, Storie is a down-on-her-luck witch who’s not very
good or experienced at what she does (for a variety of reasons). She and her friend, Harper, set up a
bookshop/café in Bloomington, and she runs into Reid Malone, a man she once had
a, um, run-in with years ago. They don’t
see eye to eye on things and sparks fly.
It’s a lot of fun!
Please tell us about your latest
release.
I’d love to J Deceiving the
Witch Next Door is a short contemporary romance with a light paranormal
twist. It’s about Storie Bell and Reid
Malone and the love story that began for them twelve years prior to when the
actual story takes place. It’s Southern,
a little spicy, and a lot of fun.
What is your favorite scene from the
book? Could you share a little bit of it, without spoilers of course?
The moment when Storie first
realizes that maybe Reid Malone isn’t so bad is a favorite of mine. She thinks he’s going to do (and want) one
thing, but he does something different and that surprises her. It felt right and was a great way to bring
them together, even if later in the scene a big conflict rips them apart again.
What is the most interesting thing
you have physically done for book related research purposes?
I
visited a nudist resort when I was researching Bare-Naked Lola, the 3rd
book in my Lola Cruz mystery series.
Talk about surreal. It was a very
interesting experience.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s
block? How do you deal with it?
Sometimes,
when writing sex scenes, I struggle a little bit. My mom is my biggest fan and when she
first bought Sacrifice of Passion, I was horrified that she’d be reading the
sex scenes. She laughed and said she
knew she’d be shocked that I knew the things I wrote about! I’m 46 with 5 kids, so I got a good chuckle
out of that. Still, I always think, holy smokes, my parents might read this!
What are your guilty pleasures in
life?
I’ve
recently had to give up dairy, which has been a struggle. I love cheese and have a café mocha
addiction. I’ve adapted to soy mochas
and lattes, and use coconut milk at home, but I still do miss cheese. That would be my guilty pleasure at the
moment, only I can’t have it, so it’s more guilt-free!
What was the last amazing book you
read?
The
Room. I still haunts me. It’s tragic and compelling and a great book.
Where is your favorite place to
read? Do you have a cozy corner or special reading spot?
My
nighttime ritual includes reading just before I go to bed. I have the NOOK app on my iPad and that’s
typically what I read on these days. If
I don’t read just before bed, something feels off.
What can readers expect next from
you?
I’m
working on the next book in my Magical Dressmaking cozy mystery series. Book 4, A Custo-Fit Crime, comes out in July. It is a cozy mystery series which also takes
place in small town Texas, and like Deceiving the Witch Next Door, it has a bit
of magic woven in to make things interesting.
Where can readers find you on the
web?
Would you like to leave readers with
a little teaser or excerpt from the book?
Of course! Here’s an excerpt:
© 2012 Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
Prologue
Eight years ago…
Bloomington, Texas wasn’t far
from Austin, but to Reid Malone, it might as well have been light years away.
Thank God for the lake. No matter how much he hungered for city life, this
place—especially on a day like today—was his solace.
He parked on the bluff in the
trees near the old haunted fishing cabin, popped open a beer, and readied his
fishing pole. Maybe it was college life and worrying only about himself that he
had missed back when he was stuck in his hometown. Back here he had his dad and
the bar to worry about. He needed to earn a little cash over the summer, but he
was already counting the days till he could get back to the city and put his
newly minted diploma to use.
Dark clouds pooled in the
distance. A storm was coming in, and it made him breathe easier. There was
nothing like the vast Texas sky. In the distance, loud rolling thunder cracked
and flashes of lightning streaked through it. Before long, the sky would open,
the rain would fall, and the temperature would drop twenty degrees in a matter
of minutes. Being here helped put things in perspective for him. The big sky
and the power of the storm helped him relax. When he spent time at the
lake, he stopped taking things so seriously and the long summer months ahead
seem manageable.
The thunder cracked again, and
that’s when he saw her.
Storie Bell.
She tore over the dirt road in
her daddy’s beat-up old truck, the tires kicking dirt until she skidded to a
stop not a hundred yards from him. But she never looked his way. He cast out
his line, just watching her. What was she was doing here by herself?
It took her a good while to get
out of the cab, but when she did, he nearly dropped his pole. Jesus, she was
gorgeous. He’d seen Storie around town a few times and he knew she was pretty
in an offbeat way, but now? In her cutoff jeans and white T-shirt knotted below
her breasts—luscious, beautiful breasts, from what he could see—she was all
curves and flesh and bronzed skin. Her hair, like no color he’d ever seen, shimmered
in the fading afternoon sunlight. The coppery tint was almost otherworldly, he
thought, leaning forward in his lawn chair.
He’d heard tales about her
strange behavior and quirky habits, but all he could think was that she was a
damn siren. A girl next door who could bring a man to his knees with one crook
of her finger.
She released the tailgate and
climbed into the back of her daddy’s truck, standing on the edge, raising her
arms like she was trying to harness the thunder that was slowly rolling in. At
first he thought she was just trying to capture a breeze and stay cool in the
humid July heat, but then the clouds moved faster and turned in the sky in time
with her rotating hands. He couldn’t tell what she was up to, but a silent
alarm sounded in his head. “What the hell?”
He was so enthralled that he
finally gave up trying to fish. He tossed what was left of his beer into the
garbage and moved into the shadows of the trees. She might need help, he
reasoned. What woman came out to the lake in this kind of weather unless
something was wrong?
His attention never wavered as he
got closer. God, she was beautiful. And now he had the best view he could get
out here in the open. He didn’t know her, and certainly wouldn’t act on his
attraction for her, but hell if he didn’t want to memorize every last detail of
her face and body now that he was seeing it spotlighted as she stood on the
tailgate.
She moved like a blade of grass,
softly swaying in the fading sunlight. Her arms stretched upward, her head tilted
back. She stiffened, just for a split second, and a shudder passed through her.
Thunder cracked overhead, a flash of lightning sparked through the dark
clouds…was it seconds later?
He stared at the sky. That wasn’t
right. The order was wrong. Lightning came first. Thunder came from the shock
wave from the heat, then cooled off the lightning bolt.
Before he could wonder about it
any more, Storie jumped down from the tailgate and plowed headlong into the
lake. Somewhere in the distance, a cat wailed, as if sounding the alarm. Shit.
Reid jumped up, starting toward the water’s edge. “Christ, woman, what are you
doing? You don’t swim during a lightning storm!”
She kept going, striding forward
against the force of the water. He froze, waiting. Watching. She stalked
through the muck, finally bringing her arms overhead and diving under the
water.
A network of light broke through
the clouds, a crash of thunder following. The right order this time. Maybe he’d
imagined the reversal.
His breath clogged his throat as
he counted to ten in his head, waiting for her to break the surface. Ten came
and went. And then fifteen. He searched the dark water. Where the hell was she?
Something had to have really
upset her for her to come up to the lake alone with a storm brewing, and what
in the damnation had she been trying to do up there on the tailgate? Had she
been drinking? Was she trying to get electrocuted? Could she even swim? Oh,
Christ, if she were drowning…
Without another thought, he
ripped off his shirt as he raced to the water’s edge.
He just hoped they both didn’t
get electrocuted.
He dove under the water, but it
was brown and murky and he couldn’t see. He swam, breaking the surface to get
some air, then ducking down again to keep searching. Above him, the sky flashed
with light. The boom of the thunder traveled through the water like a muffled
drum.
For a brief moment, the lightning
allowed him to see under the water, but there was no sign of her. Panic swarmed
his cells until he could hardly think. He was too late.
But then his arm brushed
something that recoiled from his touch. Storie!
He kicked off the soft, smooth
bottom, pushing himself in the direction he thought she’d gone. He peered in
front of him, frantically searching until he made contact again. This time, he
shot out of the water, dragging in a ragged breath and getting his bearings.
The clouds had grown darker, but
it was still light enough to see. Bubbles popped where he thought she was. So
she’d come up for air. He lunged, but then stopped as her head appeared,
breaking through the surface of the water. And then, just as he’d imagined it,
she rose like a mermaid, water cascading off her dark hair, off her skin, off
the T-shirt clinging to her body.
“You’re okay.” He exhaled,
catching his breath and reorganizing his thoughts.
Wide-eyed, she gasped, turning to
him. He wasn’t positive, but her eyes looked red-rimmed, as if she’d been
crying. She blinked and sank back down so that only her shoulders and head were
above water. Her eyebrows knitted together and she dipped her chin, peering at
him. “Reid Malone? Is that you?” She didn’t wait for an answer before asking,
“What in tarnation are you doing? You scared me half to death!”
That made two of them. “I thought
you were drowning.”
“I wasn’t.” She’d reached the
part of the lake where she could stand. This time when she rose from the water,
she was like a phoenix, all fire and glory against the backdrop of the orange,
yellow, and red streaking the horizon. She walked toward her truck, water dripping
from her cutoffs, from the white T-shirt still knotted at her rib cage.
“Yeah, I can see that,” he said,
coming out of the water behind her. He swallowed, stifling every bit of his
physical reaction to seeing her. “Next time you’re not drowning,” he said with
a low growl, “I’ll just leave you to it.”
She stopped at the tailgate,
putting one hand on the edge of the beat-up truck, and then, like the damn
siren he knew she was, she turned to face him, catching his stare. “You do
that, Reid,” she said, real slow, her soft Southern accent as luscious as her
body. She hestitated for a moment, her eyes glistening, then as if she’d
bolstered her strength, her gaze flicked to his chest—and below, before rising
to his eyes again. “And you can just take yourself a good long look, because
this has been a crap day. I’m leaving Bloomington in the morning, and this is
the last you’ll ever see of me.”
He heard what she said. Crap day.
Leaving Bloomington. But all he could do was swallow and drink her in. Long
legs, curvy hips in those low-rise shorts heavy with water, the corners of the
pockets slipping down farther than the edge of the shorts themselves. And that
T-shirt, sticking to her body, plastered against her dark, taut nipples and the
curves of her breasts.
Oh yeah, he took a good long
look—every bit of her seared into his brain, from the light dusting of freckles
across her nose to the tips of her toes.
And everything in between.
Deceiving the Witch Next Door
Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
Blurb:
A witch trying to blend in in a small southern town is hard enough, but now he’s seriously testing her strict No Kissing Mortal Men policy.
But even witches don’t have a spell for that.
Reid knows there’s much more to Storie than meets the eye. But right now he has only one mission: to infiltrate her shop so he can snatch the elusive secret ingredient to his father’s million-dollar moonshine recipe.
Once he does, he can go back to the city and get out of his small hometown, a place in which he has no future. But as the days go by, he can’t help falling for Storie in every way…and every encounter brings him closer to finding out what happens when you try to deceive a witch.
About Author:
Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, gave up teaching middle and high school kids in Northern California to write full-time amidst horses and Longhorns in North Texas. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.
Paranormal romance has long been a genre grounded in heavy world-building and dark, tortured heroes. We love those traditional paranormals at Entangled and have an amazing selection under our Select and Edge imprints.
Book series like Rosalie Lario’s Demons of Infernum, Tiffany Allee’s Files from the Otherworlder Enforcement Agency books, and Nina Croft’s brand new Order novels are just a few of Entangled's offerings.
But if there’s one thing we know about paranormal romance, it’s that it breaks rules. All kinds of rules. And that’s where the Covet imprint comes in. Covets are firmly grounded in the contemporary world, but each novel brings in supernatural twists, breaking the contemporary and paranormal rules, alike.
Covets have all the sexiness, emotion, and happily ever after that readers have come to expect and love from Entangled. With our launch this month, we’re bringing five titles to the forefront of this rule-breaking imprint. Greek gods, witches, demons, shifters, vampires … there’s something for everyone.
To find out more about our launch titles, chat with authors, participate in special events, and to find out what books you’ll be coveting next, visit the Entangled website, follow us on Twitter, and LIKE our Facebook page. We have lots of exciting events coming up, and Round Two of our launch in May!
Take a look at the first Covets, and start adding to your TBR pile.
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