Witches, Magic and Voodoo. Autumn Dance by Jacqueline Paige.

 

Today it's my pleasure to interview Jacqueline Paige, author of Autumn Dance (Book IV in the Magic Seasons series). Congratulations on your recent release, Jacqueline!
 

Book Description

At the autumn gathering twelve angry and determined witches use their power to draw out the killer before anyone else can become a victim.

With his magic ability Dade has control like no other— if he had that in his everyday life he could have the one thing he wants.

 

Coralee is a woman that represents grace and simplicity.  She has the skill of being able to feel emotion, aura and see beyond the now.  The pain sometimes associated with this gift has forced her to live her life from a distance.  She decided early in life what she wanted, and returned from her years away at school set to obtain her biggest dream. Unfortunately she has found the past few years lacking just that as she waits for the man she wants to stop and look at her instead of every female that throws themselves in his path.  

 

Dade is a man that follows life simply, yet his charitable personality brings him a wealth of   satisfaction.  He is the first to lend a hand, the last to stay and help and the one everyone calls when something goes wrong.  Even though his own generous nature fills his life, he still manages to find time enough to get himself into a mess at every turn and spends most of the time imploring forgiveness from the one sexy voodoo woman he can’t seem to get close to. 

Interview

 

SKY:   What inspired you to write this book?

 

JACQUELINE:   I originally started with a single story, From Beltane Magic, but then it grew into so much more.  Autumn Dance is the fourth book in the Magic Seasons series.  At the very beginning I based a lot of the story on the festivals I had traveled too for two years, but once the characters let themselves be known I couldn’t stop writing.

 

SKY:   How did you come up with the title?

 

JACQUELINE:   I tried to keep the titles in the series seasonal with the pagan calendar for the most part, but the title for this one wasn’t hard.  Dade and Cora had been dancing around each other for years so I thought is was definitely an Autumn Dance they would have.

 

SKY:   Tell us about your book cover and how it relates to your story.

 

JACQUELINE:   Blaise Kilgallen did a wonderful job on the cover.  It’s like she picked the image of the characters out of my head and took a picture of them then placed them on a wonderfully fall oriented cover.  She has done the covers for this whole series, except the third, and truthfully I can’t wait until the fifth and final book is ready so she can awe me again.

 

SKY:   Tell us about your favorite writing environment. Is it indoors, outdoors, a special room, etc.

 

JACQUELINE:   I can almost write anywhere really, but when I need to really get deep into a scene or dig around a bit to find where the characters are going I prefer a quiet corner in my bedroom with the lighting low and an actual pen and paper in hand to hash it out.

 

SKY:  It’s time to promo. What is your favorite marketing tool?

 

JACQUELINE:   Aside from the absolute obvious of using a virtual book tour company, as I have signed on for life with Bewitching Book Tours, I like to do contests.  I love giving people the chance to win things!  I actually have a huge on-going contest for the entire Magic Seasons series that doesn’t end until December.  Don’t look but here comes a big promo plug … http://jacqpaige.blogspot.ca/2012/05/blessed-beltane.html

 

SKY:   How long have you been writing? How long have you been published?

 

JACQUELINE:   I only started to give this writing thing a serious go in 2006.  After that I sat on everything I wrote until finally submitting something in 2009, since then it has been a whirlwind of edits and deadlines.  But I love it.

 

SKY:   What genre/genres do you prefer to write? Are there other genres you’d like to write in the future?

 

JACQUELINE:   I always write paranormal, sometimes with a taste of suspense but mostly just finding that right match in the paranormal world for the odd characters that live in my head.  Up to this point I have been doing definite adult and have dabbled a little in light erotica, but I do have plans to do some paranormal YA and upper YA.  I think it would be a challenge to come up with something younger readers would enjoy.

 

SKY:   Do you prefer to write short stories, novellas or novels? Why?

 

JACQUELINE:   I prefer long novels, for sure.  I have tried to do novella’s and it’s been a struggle.  I always have too much plot to fit into a certain word length or maybe my characters are just attention seekers and go for the long story.  As far as short stories go, I tried one and it was painful to try to pick and choose what parts to keep and which one to hack out to keep the word count down.  Most definitely have long winded fingers on the keyboard. 

 

SKY:  It was a pleasure having you over today, Jacqueline. Wishing you much success!

Excerpt 

 

Steven slumped down in the seat as Dade drove them back to Cora’s to unload everything.  Closing his eyes he sighed.  Sleep! Soon!

 

“Do you know where I can get a horse?”

He opened his eyes and looked at Dade.  “There’s a horse on the list?”

Dade looked at him and frowned.  “What? No!”

Steven sat back up.  “Should I even ask what the hell you want a horse for?”

Dade smirked.  “You said you wanted to see me top all of you guys.”

Steven pinched the bridge of his nose for a second.  “And you need a horse to do this?”

Dade nodded.  “Yeah, a white one.”

Steven put his head down and chuckled.  “Do you even know how to ride a horse, I’m assuming you planning on riding it.”

Dade shrugged.  “How hard can it be?”

“Oh! I can’t get in shit for taking pictures this time.”  He took a calming breath trying not to laugh again.  “I have a patient, well his parents own a horse farm, if you’re serious.”

Dade grinned.  “I’m serious.”

He leaned over towards him.  “You’re not going to ride a horse into Cora’s house are you? 
 

Heart Book I in Animal Trilogy

 

Three women without knowledge of their true heritage...

Three men that have waited for their mate all of their lives...

Hearts and tempers collide with wild passions and animal instincts in the Animal Trilogy
Heart

Torn from her sheltered life, Rayne is alone and scared after she discovers her fiancé is not the man she thought he was.  Unable to accept the corrupt world he belongs to, she flees to the furthest possible location she can reach on her own.  Nothing could ever prepare her for the journey and what she finds out when she arrives.

Is she strong enough to survive on her own?

The epitome of the lone wolf, Devin stays in the wilderness and far away from people, avoiding the decision of whether to accept his title as leader and alpha of the pack.  One alluring woman stirs up his resolve and passion when she disturbs his solitary world.  The man inside is tempted in a way he can’t understand but his wolf knows he’s found his mate.

Can he have her without succumbing to the responsibilities waiting for him?

To be released November 1st  at Eternal Press.  

Excerpt
 
If nothing else she was warmer now.  How long would the rain last?  Do I want to wait it out and then try to find a washroom – in the dark?  Rayne shook her head before she could go any further with that thought. There was no way she was getting out of this car until it was light out, rain or no rain.  How many hours until daylight?  She debated very briefly whether she could squirm around and reach the purse to get her phone.  Highly doubtful.  Besides being cocooned in the puffy material, the phone was off for a reason and turning it on just to check the time wasn’t worth the risk of Aiden being able to trace the location.  Truthfully she didn’t know if that was possible even though all the movies referenced it being so, but understanding what type of man Aiden was and what he was capable of, she wasn’t taking any chances.

Working one arm free from the bag, she shifted far enough forward to reach the ignition; he couldn’t track the cars clock.  Turning the key, her heart sunk when she noted the time, there were too many hours left until dawn.  She looked out the windshield and froze, her heart jumped into her throat. Afraid to so much as breathe, Rayne stared at the animal a few feet away from the headlight.  Her brain first said dog, but that was no dog.  That was a wolf; it had to be a wolf.  Were wolves that big?  It seemed bigger than in any pictures she’d seen.

She sat there looking at it, not sure if she should honk the horn or just sit and try not to get hysterical waiting for it to leave.  The car may be metal, but the roof was something this animal could probably get through. As she continued to stare at it she couldn’t help thinking it was a beautiful creature. It’s grey and brown fur looked soft and thick, not that she’d ever be able to find out if it was.  It was the way the haunting grey eyes watched her that made her decide not to honk the horn or scream as loud as she could, which had crossed her mind briefly.  Rayne was fairly certain it was as surprised to see her as she was to see it.  Didn’t wolves travel as group?  A pack?  She wanted to look around and see if there were more in the trees, but the logical part of her brain said she was better off not knowing.  Never argue with the logical part.

She was sure she stopped breathing all together when it took a step closer to the car and then turned quickly back towards the trees.  As she was reaching for the keys it stopped and looked back at her for the length of two heart beats before it bolted into the trees and disappeared.

Turning off the key, she sat in the dark leaning back against the seat while she tried to remind her body how to take air in. In this moment with her heart beating so loud she could hear it, or at least it felt that way, Rayne reached the decision that she was not getting out of the car until daylight, and even then was questionable.  One more conclusion was also not turning the lights on again; her mental state was much better not knowing what else was outside of the car.  She checked to make sure the door was locked, she did know a wolf wouldn’t just walk up and use the door handle, but she felt better knowing that she was locked in and more importantly other things were locked out.

Pulling her arm back into the sleeping bag, Rayne shuffled down as far as she could and closed her eyes.  The sooner she slept, the closer daylight was to getting here.  Over the noise of the water beating off the car, she thought she heard a howl.

About the Author

Jacqueline Paige is a world class multi-tasker being a mother to five adventurous and unpredictable children, a cafe manager and having a colossal imagination that allows her to step outside of reality into a world of paranormal romance —with just a touch of suspense.
 
Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region she lives in by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.
 
Her first book was published in 2009 and since then has published ten.  She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.

You can find all of Jacqueline’s books at her Website.