I am beside myself today.  One of my newest favorites is on the blog today.  I have to date read all of Molly’s books and I have loved every single one of them.  Please give a warm welcome to 1st time guest Molly Harper.

Molly, can you please share with us a little about yourself

I am a newspaper-reporter-turned-church-secretary-turned-romance-novelist and author of the Nice Girls vampire series and the Naked Werewolf series. I spent a lot of time in the school and public libraries growing up and repeatedly checked out the same the non-fiction paranormal studies section.  I loved fictional stories about ghosts and witches and vampires, but the idea that these beings were studied as fact was fascinating to me.  This interest in the “weird side” stayed with me through adulthood.  So when I finally decided to write a book, it was natural that I would write a paranormal story.  And because the most popular of my newspaper columns involved me injuring or humiliating myself in some way, I decided to write the most embarrassing way possible to become a vampire.  So my heroine, Jane, was fired from her job, received a restaurant gift certificate instead of a severance check, mistaken for a deer by a drunk hunter, shot and turned into a vampire in the first chapter.

I am married to my high school sweetheart, David, who serves as the inspiration for most of my leading men. We have two children and live in our hometown in western Kentucky.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

Yes, my mom loves to tell the story about an eight-year-old me lugging out her college typewriter and setting up a “Writers office” in the living room.  I wrote a short story about my class taking a trip around the world and losing a kid in each city.   Shades of  Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians” but with more geography. Mom was disturbed, but entertained.

What is your most interesting writing quirk?

When I get stuck, I go get a Perrier.  I used to drink Coke, but I gave them up.  If the cold bubbly liquid doesn’t jump-start my brain, I go take a shower.  I get all of my best story-resolving ideas in the shower.  I have tried to persuade my husband to install a whiteboard in there, but so far, no luck.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?

A WITCH’S HANDBOOK OF KISSES AND CURSES is the latest spin off to my Half-Moon Hollow series and will be released in late May.  The story focuses on Nola Leary, a witch who searches Jane’s bookshop for four magical objects that will secure her family’s magical legacy.  Complication One: Her grandfather was Mr. Wainwright and the artifacts are lost somewhere in what is now Jane Jameson’s book shop. Complication Two: her new neighbor, Jed Trudeau, who keeps turning up half naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn’t need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous  – and distracting, did she mention distracting? – as it sounds.  Can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?

The book will be available in print, ebook and audio.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

I’ve made it no secret that the vampire Dick Cheney is one of my favorite characters to work with, which is why he gets all of the best lines.  I had letters from readers asking about his family line and why I “ended it” with Mr. Wainwright, so I decided to give Dick more family members to emotionally traumatize.  Writing him as a bumbling, protective, doting grandpa figure was a source of hilarity for me.

Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?

NO!  Actually, I’m working on a ghost story called BETTER HOMES AND HAUNTINGS, about a crew of people renovating a remote Gilded Era mansion near Newport, RI.  It’s been a lot of fun trying to come up with the scariest “haunted house” scenarios possible.  At one point, I actually scared myself staying up late to write a sequence in which a character finds an unexpected occupant in his bed.  I was so freaked out by some of the imagery that it took some stern self-talk to get me to back to my room and get in bed.  If my husband had rolled over unexpectedly or made a suspicious “ghostlike” noise, I probably would have ended up sleeping on the couch.

Who is the one author that you would love to meet someday and why?

Stephen King, but I don’t think I’m cool enough to pull off a conversation without fan-girling all over him.  And Nora Roberts, because she is the queen.

What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone that wants to get into writing?

Writers write.  It sounds cliché.  But I meet people who seem to think that if they buy the right book on craft, take the right class, or join the right writing circle, it will guarantee their success. And while those things are valid uses of a writer’s time, sitting down and putting words on paper is what will further your story and make you a better writer.

Can you share with us something off your bucket list.

Visit Greece.  I’ve studied Greek mythology and history for years and I would love to see some of the sites linked to some of the divine stories.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

Hourglass by Myra McIntyre

Defiance by CJ Redwyne

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Learn more about Molly here: 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr |

Blogs:

Singleundeadfemale.blogspot.com

www.whinesisters.com

Amazon | B&N

Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy, Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.

Complication One: The artifacts are lost somewhere in vampire Jane Jameson’s occult bookshop. Complication Two: Her new neighbor Jed Trudeau keeps turning up half-naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn’t need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it sounds, especially since Jed’s got the face of an angel and the abs of a washboard. Can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?

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