Maggie Blackbird

Today, I have bestselling author A.L. Hawke in the interview chair. We’re discussing her latest series release, The Hawthorne University Witch Prequel, a romantasy, paranormal romance. Be sure to check out the sale. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

“Cursed the moment I fell in love with her.”

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1.  What inspired you to write this book?

A.L.:  The characters. When the Hawthorne University series was written, I focused on Cadence Hawthorne. But I’ll never forget a reader telling me that they wanted to learn more about Cadence’s antagonist—her teacher and witch mentor—Alondra. Then I thought of the fun of writing about characters in the 1990s.

So I embarked on creating the book Alondra, the first book in my prequel series. But Alondra always felt unfinished. I mean, there’s no cliffhangers, but I felt like there was so much more between her love relationship with Liam that it necessitated more stories. That made me write Book of Shadow.

In Book of Shadow, I “reversed” the last books of the Hawthorne series. In the last book of that series, Cadence learns to be evil to fight evil. Well, I wanted to see what would happen if Liam became evil in the prequel series. And, more particularly, what would happen if he became an evil witch like his girlfriend Alondra. That’s what Book of Shadow and Walpurgis are about. His and Alondra’s struggle with evil.

2.  Convince us why you feel your book is a must-read.

A.L.:  Aside from it being Halloween 😉 I mean, it’s a witchy dark fantasy romance. And not only is the book about witches, it’s real researched occult magic. For instance, the enemies in Book of Shadow and Walpurgis are a satanic cult based more on Thelema and Crowley magic than Wicca. So it’s interesting to see what happens when practitioners of moon witchcraft fight wizards and cult members practicing “real” magic’k’.

3.  Can you tell us a little about the book characters?

A.L.:  Alondra is a wicked witch quite sure of herself. Cadence is the opposite in the main series, unsure of herself and humble. Alondra has this same interaction in her romantic relationship to Liam in the prequel books (‘cause Liam is most similar to Cadence). So I think the fun of the series is this interaction between Alondra with Liam and, later, Alondra with Cadence Hawthorne.

4.  Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do you feel you have the reins?

A.L.  My characters lead every story. I watch from behind the scenes. Mostly, the whole story is created through their eyes. But there are some scenes that were created from settings. My book Haunting Joy, for instance, about a ghost romance was more created by the Vermont woods as a setting in my head. But even there, there wouldn’t be a story without the whimsical ghost character.

5.  Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?

A.L.  The entire series is a prequel to my bestselling Hawthorne University Witch Series. But it takes place twenty years ago, so that we can learn about Cadence’s teacher back when Cadence was a student. The series, now spanning thirteen books, has a ton of side stories and bingeworthy material to enjoy 😉 And you can start with this series or with Broomstick.

6.  Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?

A.L.:  All my contemporary romance books are cinematic. Particularly, the Hawthorne Witch series, including this prequel series, is written in present tense, first-person. I did that to create a more action-packed feel than some of my other novels. I find that perfect for cinema. Truly, I write with images in my mind, so it’s not hard to see those images put up on a silver screen. Trouble, of course, is cost. For now, I’ve settled with a love for creating audiobooks of all the novels and short stories. That’s been a blast, particularly with the amazing talents of my narrators, Alexa Elmy and Preston Geer.

7.  What is your favourite part of this book and why?

A.L.:  For Walpurgis, it’s fire. I don’t want to give away too much, but you can just look at the cover. Fire represents cleansing or burning away. Of course, in ancient times, witches were literally burned at the stake. Well, in Walpurgis, a little girl hunts witches. And she wants to burn them all—and the ones most threatened are the main characters Liam and Alondra.

8.  What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

A.L.:  I’ve always been fascinated by religious studies. All the studying I did about the occult made these witch projects really interesting. I also loved romance, the push and pull of love between a man fallen head over heels for a witch—but not only a witch, a bad witch. That femme fatale thing was loads of fun to write.

9.  What’s a fun fact or behind-the-scenes tidbit about the book or writing process?

A.L.:  I’ll tell you one. The hallucination or ritual scenes were extremely challenging. It’s all about showing imagery popping up in my imagination—sometimes connected with the plot or something with the occult—other times with no connection at all to anything. Just like in the book Ravens, I shut off all lights and turned off my computer screen, feeling for keys, so that I could try to directly jot down the happenings in my head. You can’t think these scenes. You’ve gotta approach it with disorder to get it right, I think. And I was happy with the result.

10.  What can we expect from you in the future?

A.L.:  Oh, boy… I’m in between projects. It took a lot out of me to spin out these two yarns, Book of Shadow and Walpurgis, in such a short time, so now I’m in a bit of a hiatus. I’m in the beginning stages of four possible projects: a conclusion to my Furies series, a vampire romance, a short story about Enora (another witch from the series), or a mythological story about Medusa in ancient Greece. I’ve always wanted to write a vampire book as a paranormal novelist so I’m probably going in that direction.

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Title: Walpurgis
Series: The Hawthorne University Witch Prequel Series, Book 3
Author: A.L. Hawke
Genre(s): Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Romantasy

Burn the Witch.

Blurb: Allie and I were meant to have a future together—one built on love, not fear. But here in Hawthorne, shadows lengthen, and whispers drift through the woods like curses. So when Alondra falls mysteriously ill, I know exactly who’s behind it.

Desperation drags me into the darkest corners of my magic—places where I no longer fear the spells I once vowed never to cast. Even joining a coven of the wicked no longer feels like betrayal. The deeper I descend, the more I uncover about the witch who haunts me… and the shadow that may not belong to her alone.

Walpurgis Night approaches—the night witches burn. But what happens when it’s the warlock who strikes the match… willing to burn everything—my heart, my soul—to save the one I love?

Check out the kickstarter page for Walpurgis by going here!

**New Release! On Sale for Only $2.99 until 10/31!**

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Title: Book of Shadow
Series: The Hawthorne University Witch Prequel Series, Book 2
Author: A.L. Hawke
Genre(s): Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Romantasy

Cursed the moment I fell in love with her.

Blurb: While home in Raleigh for semester break, I didn’t expect my girlfriend, Alondra, to ask me for a favor: present my Book of Shadows to the leader of a satanic cult. She was looking for a new male witch for her coven. Of course, she knew it wouldn’t be me.

But when a curse took hold of our college campus—and the spirits I thought I’d left behind came back—I realized I couldn’t keep the book closed much longer.

Now something dark surrounds me. Is it the work of the wizard with the devilish goatee? Or is it a little girl possessed by something far worse?

I lit a dark shadow, and now I feel only confusion. Whatever this darkness is, it’s coming for Alondra, our family, and every witch in Hawthorne.

Check out an audio sample on Soundcloud!

**Only .99cents 10/20 – 10/31!**

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Title: Alondra
Series: The Hawthorne University Witch Prequel Series, Book 1
Author: A.L. Hawke
Genre(s): Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Romantasy

I fell in love with a goth, but she’s a witch.

Blurb: Starting school at Hawthorne University was not going well, until I met my classmate Alondra. Allie was different. She was goth. But she was also mysterious, confident and fun. I was into that. My name’s Liam. My friends call me Lee.

Things got weird after I accompanied her to her haunts. Poltergeists and demons attacked little girls. I watched Alondra help exorcise these ghosts, but some of their evil stuck to me.

Well, being attracted to a witch was one thing; dating one was quite another. It seemed the closer I got to Allie, the more her witchcraft endangered my friends. And my soul. You decide. I chronicled everything here in her book.

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In a dark corner in the ugly three-story building we call the Taylor Library lies a secret enclave known only to me and a select few nerds matriculating through Hawthorne U. I’m sitting alone there in one of the brown leather recliners, with dim lights overhead, studying my textbook. That’s when I notice small pieces of white paper floating down like snow onto my page. Then comes more. I look up and my girlfriend is standing over me, holding two books under her arm and letting torn paper spill over my book. Her long black hair is fixed in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a black button-down with a checkered skirt and black leggings. She’s makeup-less. Even her lips are red. The getup would almost be preppy, if it weren’t so black.

I shouldn’t be that surprised to find her. See, she’s one of the nerds who knows about my secret spot. And she’s got a big irritating grimace.

I glower at her. I’m really pissed. She pouts.

Then I look back down at my book and ignore her. She grunts.

“Found you.”

I lift an eyebrow. I sigh, shake my head, and turn to the next page.

She walks over to the recliner across from me and tries to slide it over. This is really funny because the chair must weigh, like, a thousand pounds. She sighs and gives up. Then she comes back over and sits on the couch beside me, but a bit too far—which I like—and heaves a big sigh.

“Sorry, Liam,” she says. “Didn’t mean to disturb your studying.”

“I’m not mad about that.”

“Oh… good.” Then she irritatingly puts one of her books to the side on the couch and opens the other one. She scoots back, pulls out a highlighter from her purse, and starts studying, as if we planned to study here together all along.

I look at her, but she doesn’t look up from her book. She just says, “Hi.”

“What are you doing?”

“Studying,” she says with a shrug, staring at her textbook.

I get up.

She grunts again, thinking I’m leaving, I suppose.

“I’m mad that you two didn’t say a damn word about what happened last night the whole drive home,” I confess, falling back in my chair. “When I awoke in the morning, dazed like last time, Jane was back to being your best friend and yapping with you about clothes and the newest fucking movie that just hit theaters. Why? You never explained anything. It was like Hilltop Bluff. I woke up to you telling Alice that the ghost was gone and all was well.”

“It was.”

“Jane fell into my arms terrified as if needing protection,” I say, shaking my head. “Protection from you.”

“Maybe you dreamed that?” Alondra quips. She laughs at my expression. I don’t. She seems like she’s in a really good mood, which actually upsets me more. “Oh, come on, Lee, Jane and I have had our differences. We fight and we make up. We made up. It happens all the time. Now it’s over. I heard her argument and I agreed. I won’t do that to her again.”

“What did you do to her?”

“Well…” She stops because, right then, a student with glasses and a backpack walks down the steps.

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A.L. Hawke is the author of the bestselling Hawthorne University Witch series. The author lives in Southern California torching the midnight candle over lovers against a backdrop of machines, nymphs, magic, spice & mayhem.

Follow A.L.: Website | X | Instagram | Threads | TikTok | Bookbub | Amazon | Goodreads

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