Title: The Gifts of Our Mothers
Author: Hazel Black
Series: The Witches of Auburn #1
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Release Date: October 2, 2017
In the dark woods I’m forbidden to go into, lying on top of the one person I swore I’d stay away from, and hiding from the men who chased him, I hold still as Ike Kennedy whispers in my ear, “Don’t leave me.”
The questions of why my mother packed up our lives and moved us to Auburn, New Jersey when she, herself, fled here twenty years ago, plague me every day. Her past and the people in this town loom over our family with a haunting understanding of the coven I was born into, but realize I know nothing about. The enemies I heard stories about as a child attack without warning or regard for human life, but I don’t know who they are.
I’m Ever Ayars. I can fly. I can disappear. I can move things with my mind, but my gifts are my only clarity. Lost within a new school, new friends, and a new life, there is only one thing I know for sure.
I’m not leaving Ike Kennedy.
💫📚📅💫The next two installments of The Witches of Auburn are releasing the same day!💫📅📚💫
There’s something intriguing about witches. They’re beautiful and cunning and yet mortals like the rest of us. They have children and meetings and hair appointments to keep. I like to think all the women I know are some type of powerful witch, I just might have delved a little further into the notion in THE WITCHES OF AUBURN. Now that I’ve written the first three installments of the series, I’m completely obsessed with these women. They are no different than your best friend, your neighbor, or the woman working the drive thru window at the bank, except they could set you on fire if need be. What’s not to love?
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process(outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
Without a doubt, the parts of the process I like best are the first draft and the cover design. Both are filled with creativity without boundaries. (At least for me. I have the actual covers designed by a professional.) I could write first drafts every day of my life. It’s the multiple rounds of editing that feels like work, but they are a necessary evil.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
I love a tragic love story and anything with suspense. Those books are not as easy to find as it sounds. I troll commercial fiction best sellers to find books that interest me. I wish I had more time to read and explore other genres. Every New Years “read more” is my resolution. I’ve been not-so-consistently working on it since 2015!
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
Stephen King. He is a genius. Not one word is wasted in his work. I love his process, his perspective, and of course, his novels and short stories.
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
This is definitely a later in life venture. I’d left a 15-year corporate career to finish my elementary teacher certification at the exact time my state’s education budget was severely cut. While I was working on my post-grad education courses, a professor had commented that I had a unique writing style and should write more. With time finally on my hands, I sat down and wrote. The story from there to selling my first book to Hachette is as random and lucky as the decision to put the first word on paper. I’ve been incredibly lucky in a business that has tremendous opportunities and an unending string of disappointments.
Hazel Black graduated from Rutgers University and returned to her hometown in rural South Jersey. Her mother encouraged her to take some time and find herself. After three months of searching, she began to bounce checks, her neighbors began to talk, and her mother told her to find a job.
She settled into corporate America, learning systems and practices and the bureaucracy that slows them. Hazel quickly discovered her creativity and gift for story telling as a corporate trainer and spent years perfecting her presentation skills and studying diversity. It was during this time she became an avid observer of the characters she met and the heartaches they endured. Her years of study taught her that laughter, even the completely inappropriate kind, was the key to survival.
She currently lives in New Jersey with her family and a misbehaving beagle named Odin. As an avid swimmer, if Hazel is not with her family and friends, she’d rather be underwater. While she enjoys many genres, she is, and always has been, a sucker for a love story…the more screwed up the better.
Hazel Black writes contemporary romance as Eliza Freed. To keep up with all new releases and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter here.
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The Gifts of Our Mothers #1
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